Anyone have chickens?

[orangecrushcj7]

I was looking at the website for the place I buy my pellets from, and they had a link to thier annual poultry sale. Kind of peaked my interest. Inexpensive hobby that I think my year and a half old daughter will grow to enjoy too. And you can't beat fresh "free" eggs. So after discussing it, the wife and I decided to get some hens for egg purposes. I have no experience whatsoever with them. I have been reading about them on the net, and trying to learn as much as I can. We want 6 or so hens. We are considering 2 Barred Plymouth Rocks, 2 Buff Orpingtons, and 2 Golden Comets. Will these exist together well?
What is the mortality rate on them, getting them as days old chicks? If I want 6, should I order more and expect casualties before maturity?
I plan on building a small coop (4x8) attached to my shed for them once they get old enough to live outdoors (60 days old I am told). I have been looking at pictures of peoples coops online, and they all vary greatly. I have read they need 1.5sf of sheltered space per hen, 1 nest per 4 hens, and 8" of roosting space per hen. As an architect, I know I can design a coop for them better if I actually had a clue as to what a day in the life of a chicken was like. What exactly is the function of these parts? They sleep where? on the roosting bar, or in the nest? and why only 1 nest for 4 hens? they share the nest? where are the eggs layed, in the nest? does this nest have to be enclosed? Where do they eat? in the outside portion of the coop (the run)? how about water? where do they poop? do they have a particular spot they are going to go to all the time, or do they just go where ever, whenever the mood strikes them?
Any other advice?

 

[PAJerry]

I got chickens about a year ago and wish I had done it a long time ago. They are an easy and rewarding livestock. I have Golden Comets and Buff Orpingtons. The best place to get good info on everything about keeping chickens is www.backyardchickens.com .

 

[savageactor7]

Twice in our lives we've owned a half dozen or so White Leghorns. Just gave 'em cracked corn and water and a boxed area to roost and nest. Plenty of eggs for 2.

 

[colebrookman]

Check out www.backyardpoultrymag.com for some great info. Good luck.
Ed

 

[billb3]

they'll eat anything including each other.
they'll poop anywhere and everywhere.

buff orpingtons may be your 'typical farm chicken' someone thinks of when they picture the proverbial farm. good brown egg layers.
sex links if you're serious aboutegg production. They produce eggs at the expense of maintaining thier own bodies. They can be a bit 'ugly'.

When we had laying hens (always kept different types segregated in seperate coops or pens because there really is a 'pecking order' ) we spread an inch of concrete on the plywood floor to make scraping up the well saturated wood shavings spread on the floor to absorb thier pooping easier to clean and then wash out. Several times a year.


Plenty of ventilation in the Summer, they'll die in the heat.


Rats and mice will help themselves to grain in bags. We kept ours in metal garbage barrels. I still do the same with bird food.

You don't need a rooster unless you plan on letting the hens sit on eggs and hatch them in the Spring.
A rooster will also be very protective. A protective nuisance.
You'll also have little red blood splotches in the eggs with a rooster. (unless there's something wrong with him)

 

[Highbeam]

We have 5 hens (3 Rhode Island Reds, and 2 buff orpingtons that we like the looks of better) that I bought about 2 full years ago, all large brown eggs and the different breeds tend to hang out together but don't fight, it's kinda funny like a little racial experiment. My coop is a 4x8 tractor type with only half of it floored. The food and water are in the non-floored area since that is messy. All hens lay in one nest even though we started with two nests. I have pulled out a pile of 7 eggs from that one nest. My nest are actually large wide terra cotta pots that I throw some straw into. No rooster, no good for any reason other then making baby chicks and chicks are very cheap to buy so skip the rooster. Every one of my 5 chicks thrived, I had figured one or two would die off but nope. Mine all sleep in a pile in the floored area if it is cool outside and a couple will roost if it's hot. If I throw the heat lamp in there, which I do when it gets into the 20s, then they all ball up under the lamp. They poop everywhere all the time and it is a pile of soft oozy poo that dogs like to eat and that sticks to your feet. I don't think that they smell that bad unless you stick your head in a poopy coop.

Hey, they're a cheap project that you can just kill if you don't like. Minimal investment and maximum reward in terms of making your own food and involving the kids. I got the hens when my daughters were 3 and 5 and they think it is perfectly normal to go outside and get the warm eggs for eating vs. buying cold white crappy eggs from a market in a paper box. You WILL notice the difference in the eggs.

I started them out in a rabbit cage. Consider the two sides to housing chickens, the factories put them each in a tiny cage where they don't move and then the other side is the super pet lovers that think that all chickens should be free range. Either one will work so long as you meet the animals basic needs.

 

[dvellone]

Th backyardchicken site mentioned above is a great resource. Also, Storey's guide to raising chickens is a good reference to have at hand.

As far as mortality rate, when we first got chickens we were warned to get more in anticipation of losing a couple chicks and in the years we've ordered chicks we've never lost one. We do start them in the house making sure to keep the brooder temperature correct and draft-free. We keep waterers and feeders full and clean and add vitamin supplement to water. We also use medicated feed to prevent coccidia.

My own personal suggestion for the coop is to make it tall enough for you to easily enter for cleaning - make the coop easy to clean. My ceiling height is an average of 88" and where I live it is common to see sub-zero temperatures for extended periods. The coop is draft-free with adjustable vents at the eaves and the chickens weather the winter with ease. It's also a good idea to build a pen within the coop where you can isolate a hen if you need to (sickness, injury, etc).

Don't build the coop to the minimum space requirements. Try to make it larger and it'll stay much cleaner.

 

[MountainStoveGuy]

Can you keep chickens at high altitude? like 9000' ?

 

[Gooserider]

Can you keep chickens at high altitude? like 9000' ?

Don't know specifically about "keeping them" but when we were in HI last summer, we encountered wild chickens just about everywhere we went, including some of the very high altitude volcanic peaks... They certainly seemed happy enough every where we encountered them.... Supposedly these are birds that got "liberated" when Hurricane Inniki (sp?) came through and clobbered the islands back in the 50's, and that have prospered and multiplied ever since.

Attached are shots of a few that we encountered on Kailua

 

[orangecrushcj7]

I would be happy enough if I was liberated in Hawaii! Thanks for the info everybody.