# New chickens



## Mvillecowboy (Mar 1, 2012)

Well I did it, I finally got my chickens. Promised my daughter is would get her chickens when she turned 9 and we stopped into tsc yesterday and they were .50 cents a peace. I hadn't planned on getting them for a few more weeks but I could not pass up the price. She got to pick them out so we got 2 sebright bantums, 3 barred rock Plymouth, 1 isa brown, 1 new hampshire red, 2 austrolop, 1 buff orphington and a sliver lace Wyandotte. This should be interesting to say the least. I am gonna be building the coop over spring break, I will post pics on the build as I go.


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## Martian (Apr 28, 2011)

cool, my daughter incubated some duck eggs for school when she was in the 3rd grade, we had then for a long time right up until our idiot neighbors dogs killed them. Now they have new dogs, ( who get out all the time), and we keep finding adult chickens from down the street. I told them, it was just a matter of time that their dogs get shot. good luck to you and your daughter


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## hypox (Jan 23, 2000)

My Sliver Laced Wyandotte's just turned 5 years old and are still laying strong.


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## jasonvanorder (Feb 23, 2009)

I just moved our 8 out to the coop yesterday. First year for us having chickens. We got 2 Isa browns 2 Rhode Island Reds 2 Barred Rock and 2 White leghorn roosters that we were told were hens. The funny thing is after moving them yesterday our mastiff/pit mix sat by the door pouting the rest of the night cause "his" chicks were gone.


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## justincasei812 (Dec 30, 2012)

We have had chickens for a year now. We went small with five to begin with and in the fall we got six more. All of the chickens are now laying and we are getting 7-9 eggs a day. I would like to get a few more but the coop that I made will only fit a dozen max @ 4x8'. Our Isa browns lay very well even through the winter months. Spend a lot of time with them while they are young, this helps a lot when they get older and will not be as flighty. Ours come to us when called and just love treats. backyardchickens.com is a great site if you have any questions as well.


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## Mvillecowboy (Mar 1, 2012)

justincasei812 said:


> Spend a lot of time with them while they are young, this helps a lot when they get older and will not be as flighty. Ours come to us when called and just love treats. backyardchickens.com is a great site if you have any questions as well.


Yep I have been on that site a lot! It is a great site.


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## Crawfish (May 7, 2002)

Mvillecowboy said:


> Well I did it, I finally got my chickens. ... This should be interesting to say the least. I am gonna be building the coop over


I'm in the same boat. My kids picked out 2 black australorps, 2 RI reds, 2 Plymouth rocks for our first chickens last week. Also planning on building coop and run next week. I'd like to oversize it a little to allow room for growth next spring. Let's keep this thread going with pics and progress. 

Mine were getting stinky, but I figured out this morning it was due to the water soaking into the wood chips. They kept emptying the water (quart jar) overnight, and I figured out they were kicking wood chips into it, then the wood chips would wick all the water out. The 6" of bedding was soaked. Got the waterer up on a board now, but if the couple runts would grow a bit I will be able to hang the it up off the bedding.

Thinking of going to water nipples for the bottom of a bucket but I didn't know if they were big enough to use those.


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## Mvillecowboy (Mar 1, 2012)

Crawfish said:


> Mine were getting stinky, but I figured out this morning it was due to the water soaking into the wood chips. They kept emptying the water (quart jar) overnight, and I figured out they were kicking wood chips into it, then the wood chips would wick all the water out. The 6" of bedding was soaked. Got the waterer up on a board now, but if the couple runts would grow a bit I will be able to hang the it up off the bedding.
> 
> Thinking of going to water nipples for the bottom of a bucket but I didn't know if they were big enough to use those.


I was just about to tell you to raise it up on a wood block they will be less apt to do that. I was having the opposite problem they were putting the wood chips in the water lol. I was just reading about the watering nipples I like the idea but I think you might be right they are too small right now. I also threw a few small 1x2s in there as a perch for them to climb on and they seem to love it! 
I planned on starting my coop build Friday (at the start of my kids spring break) and I will be posting pics on here as I am going. I am not a professional by any means but I have been doing a lot of reading and my grandparents had chickens when I was a kid out on their farm so I have a good idea of where to start.


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## justincasei812 (Dec 30, 2012)

We had problems with the chicks scratching throwing chips everywhere. When we got our chicks we used a large wire dog crate for the brooder. easy to clean with the slide out plastic pan under it. Straw stinks even worse when it gets wet. Maybe after putting the water up on some boards put it on a paper/ plastic plate to keep the chips away. 

Here is a pic of my coop. 4' x 8'. It is in our garage and I am using the dog door to go out to the run.


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## ibthetrout (Sep 24, 2003)

I've had chickens for 8 years now. I still have one that is from the original batch. They are a riot to watch sometimes. They will eat nearly anything. I have seen mine eat mice, frogs, and even once watched one peck the snot out of a sparrow that got too close and then proceeded to pluck and eat the sparrow. I feed mine all kinds of scraps......including chicken! Want to see something hilarious, put a head of cabbage on a string. It's like chicken tether ball! for those that don't already know, buy pullets (hens). Straight run chicks will leave you with more roosters than you care to deal with.


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## Mike (Nov 26, 2000)

Chicken math is in full force here. Started with 8 chickens last year, up to 22 this year. Agree with ibthetrout on spending a little more and buying pullets. Bought 19 straight run last year (both from breeders and the pullet bin at the farm store) ended up with 7 hens...

Mike


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## hypox (Jan 23, 2000)

I have been the luckiest person in the world with chickens. I bought 3 one year old SLW hens that laid 2 eggs the next morning. I did this 4 years ago. They still average 2 eggs/day and that is all the eggs two people can possibly eat for 4 years straight. Trust me.

We have a 4x4 coop w/one nesting box and it has a 4x4 completely enclosed run. Then they have an 4x8 covered (top only) outside run and an open (chicken wire all sides and top) 4x8 run......so they have PLENTY of space. In the fully enclosed coop area there a PVC feeder (externally loading) that will keep food for 2 weeks, and under the top only outside run is another optional feeder that lasts about a week and water in a bucket w/poultry nipples that lasts a month (with a thermostatically controlled heater for the winter). All this means we can leave them for up to 3 weeks at a time. It's completely predator proof.

That being said, we free range them (makes the eggs better and cuts down on the bugs) almost every day in the summer we are home and 1-2 times a week in the winter depending on the weather and/or snow cover. The coop is inside a fenced yard, but they fly over it and spend some time in the woods kicking leaves for bugs. It's hilarious when the wild turkey come around. They check each other out pretty hard, but never interact more than a couple stare downs. Even the deer and chickens interact. Chickens walk right up to deer and the deer usually kick them away. The chickens actually case fox and black squirrels away that are eating seed under the wild bird feeder that birds drop when eating. The chickens do this because they want the seeds themselves.

1 chicken was bit by a fox and attacked by a hawk but only lost a few feathers both times.

1 chicken was attached by a bald eagle but only lost a few feather and she was almost attacked by a fox (like inches).

1 has never had any close calls I am aware of.

Like I said, lucky.

Good luck everyone with your new adventure.


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## TK81 (Mar 28, 2009)

we have had free range chickens for about 10 years. lots of eggs and fun to watch. unfortunately we have lost our share to coyotes and hawks. we have a mix of everything from bantams to reds to silver lace Wyandottes and a few others. 5 pullet chicks in the dog kennel in the living room right now, soon to join the adults. we are done with roosters. too much attitude.


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## Mvillecowboy (Mar 1, 2012)

So I am starting my coop this week. I am planning on a 6'x7' house with 4 nesting boxes, the size was determined because I have a metal shed roof that I was going to use to save money but I might bump it up to 8'x8' just for ease of the build and room for expansion. This will be inside a 24'x14' pen that will be fully enclosed, but they will be free range when I am round, so most of the summer they will free range during the day. There will be a dusting bowl under the coop filled with contractors sand, diatomaceous earth, and organic soil. I might be doing too much but I wan it done right, and I don't mind going a little overboard on projects. 

I am thinking about using the Deep Litter Method inside the coop. have any of you guys used it? how does it work for you and what are you using for flooring? I was thinking sand, straw or white pine needles (I have a ton of them!)


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## ibthetrout (Sep 24, 2003)

Mvillecowboy said:


> So I am starting my coop this week. I am planning on a 6'x7' house with 4 nesting boxes, the size was determined because I have a metal shed roof that I was going to use to save money but I might bump it up to 8'x8' just for ease of the build and room for expansion. This will be inside a 24'x14' pen that will be fully enclosed, but they will be free range when I am round, so most of the summer they will free range during the day. There will be a dusting bowl under the coop filled with contractors sand, diatomaceous earth, and organic soil. I might be doing too much but I wan it done right, and I don't mind going a little overboard on projects.
> 
> I am thinking about using the Deep Litter Method inside the coop. have any of you guys used it? how does it work for you and what are you using for flooring? I was thinking sand, straw or white pine needles (I have a ton of them!)


"organic soil"? Do you live in the city or something?

I do the deep litter method. My floor is plywood with some left over sheet linoleum. I put 1x10 painted baseboard. I use wood chips. If it starts to smell I will dust it with DE. I turn it with a small rake once in a while. I change my litter twice a year, spring and summer. It all goes in my garden. Tomatoes seem to really love it.


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## Mvillecowboy (Mar 1, 2012)

ibthetrout said:


> "organic soil"? Do you live in the city or something?


lol I was wondering if anyone would catch that. no I live out in the sticks, all my dirt is organic lol just thought I would throw that in there for kicks. but I am going to use contractors sand and DE. 
how quickly do the wood chips break down? I read that they take a long time to break down which is why I was thinking straw or pine straw


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## jasonvanorder (Feb 23, 2009)

Well apparently my chickens are not the brightest. They are only 7 weeks old and have been out in the coop for a week now. Yesterday with the rain we kept them in the coop instead of letting them out to the run in the morning like normal. Well in the afternoon there was a good break in the rain so we let them out for a bit. Sure enough we got hit with another hard round of rain. Instead of going either in the coop or under it to get out of the rain they all tried to huddle in a corner under a board I put in to brace the corner. So here I am in a total downpour running around trying to catch waterlogged birds and toss them in the coop. Once they were in they were happy as could be. Maybe that was a good lesson for them


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## Mike (Nov 26, 2000)

Mvillecowboy said:


> I don't mind going a little overboard on projects.
> 
> I am thinking about using the Deep Litter Method inside the coop.


Careful, it's really easy to go overboard! We use pine shavings in the coop. Linoleum over plywood. There's a 'poop board' under the roost bar, makes clean up easy. We put a bunch of leaves in the run last fall, those are broken down to almost nothing now. 

My small coop has a metal roof - it started getting condensation when the temperature dropped. The coop in the above picture has a layer of plywood under the metal roof, no condensation issues this winter. Going to re-work the small coop this summer.

Mike


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## justincasei812 (Dec 30, 2012)

Mvillecowboy said:


> lol I was wondering if anyone would catch that. no I live out in the sticks, all my dirt is organic lol just thought I would throw that in there for kicks. but I am going to use contractors sand and DE.
> how quickly do the wood chips break down? I read that they take a long time to break down which is why I was thinking straw or pine straw


Our coop is made of cheap plywood so it could rot pretty quick with all the moisture, water spillage and anything else that is wet so I gathered all the old paint we had laying around mixed together and painted the floor and walls to help protect the wood. We use pine shavings or saw dust from projects for the most part. Before I put the shavings down I put down heavy plastic (leaf bags will do) to help protect the floors a little more and much easier to clean. I like the vinyl idea better than the plastic. Our coop is in the garage and with 10 birds it can start to stink after a couple of weeks. So I clean it out usually every other week or depending how much they have been out in the run or free ranging I can wait a third. We have a lot of woods around us so there are plenty of leaves. Chop them up with the lawn mower and put that in the run. I have compost in a few weeks that way and I really should use them in the coop too. If our coop was out in the yard I would attempt to do the deep litter method. 

After cleaning the coop I either bag and toss everything or I burn it. Get a good fire going first before you burn since everything will be moist to say the least. When I clean out the run a few times a yr. I use that as my compost for the flower beds and garden. 

Justin


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## justincasei812 (Dec 30, 2012)

Mike said:


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That is a very nice set up.


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