Another thing. The main reason we bought a wooden shed is DH is "construction challenged" and I would never had gotten a henhouse built by waiting for him to build it. So, I had to go that route.
Newbie chicken owner!
The first thing that you have to address is their pen/coop/henhouse.It has to be secure!! Their are to many things that want to eat your chickens.After they have given you a few eggs,you really don't want to lose them to predators! I'm an extremist,nothing can get into my coop/henhouse ,if you saw my chicken coop you would think I was raising pitbulls.8' by 52' chainlink fence run ,18"buried in the ground,covered with heavy gauge chicken wire.Sliding glass windows covered with heavy gauge mesh wire,you'd have to have bolt cutters to get into the henhouse,I dont't take any chances.I sleep very sound at night not worrying about them. I let them out of the pen,but I keep an eye on them.Keep them dry,give them plenty of fresh water,they have heated water dispenser's for winter, they eat almost anything,keep away from salty things.If they are egg layers give them laying mash and scratch feed.They like fresh table snacks,I give mine cottage cheese no salt(they love it),pasta with sauce,rice,lettuce,salmon (cooked) apples,grapes,pulp from my juicer, if they don't like it they won't eat it . I love them, their fun to watch I feed them only organic food.Maybe not necessary,but that's me. Don't feed them to much or they will get fat My eggs cost about 10 dollars apiece,the more they lay the cheaper they will get ,just kidding I love them. Good luck!
Too funny...we joke that we need to start taking donations for all these eggs we 'give away' since I seem to be constantly buying feed...or things to add to their coop. Sounds like our pens/houses are pretty similar. We have a setup with a lamp under the water to keep it from freezing and the house is even insulated. The pen is security fence from some goverment building property that someone gave me. I also sleep good at night. :)
great place for coop designs:
http://backyardchickens.com/coopdesigns.html
You'll get more ideas than you thought possible on this link. Hope this helps.
Megan
edited - link didn't work might have to cut and paste :(
This message was edited Jan 28, 2008 7:44 PM
thanks everyone for the help now my wife is really gonna go nuts about all the yard bird scheming, planning,etc... haha along with veggie garden and hunting season i should be busy till im 80 or so
Dont worry...I bet she will take to the chickens. I had to 'convince' my fiance that he likes chickens...and he is very protective of them now. I think chickens are good for relationships! haaha....
Mel, I know what you mean. When I started making noises about chickens, my dh kept saying he didn't want to live on a farm, having been raised on one. Well, after we got them, that lasted about three days. I would go out to feed them or some such, and the next thing I knew, he had taken over that job. Now, I'm lucky if I can go visit them about once a week. :o) (not really true, but it sounds right)
Same here...I was yelled out when he came home to find 3 day old chicks in the living room. THE VERY NEXT DAY...he said, 'So...do you think we should get them some more friends?' Hahaha...he loves the chickens now. Too bad he doesnt like the horses. He justifies it by saying that at least the chickens are paying their way in eggs. :)
Well, since we don't have horses, I can't say anything about those. But there are a LOT of horse people around here. Not only saddlebred, but also draft horses. They are used for logging. We live in a state forest, which is right next to a national forest. Hence the logging. Some people get their lots logged off and don't want heavy equipment there. So, they have it logged off using horses. If I were to have that done, I would use them too.
Granny, too funny about the shotgun! My hubby was the same way when I asked for chickens, he reluctantly gave in to me, and now he just loves them... it's so funny when he feeds the cows, they scramble over about as fast as the cows do, and just wait for the cows to spill food.
kinda funny reading these posts as my aunt wants to get chickens. she is retired and would like another hobby, my uncle is against it, so I tease him alot about getting yard birds and getting some for her as well. he always threatens me with bodily harm but im sure after they got em he would be good with them. He is funny, loves to grumble about stuff and then goes out of his way to be the very best at what he was grumbling about.
My DH built this coop. We have 6 RIR's. We have several acres and have hawks, cayotes, racoons, foxes and possums around. A neighbor who has been letting their chickens free range, has lost several chickens during the day to cayotes that have come into their yard and snatched chickens. Our coop and run are moveable. The run is covered with chicken wire also. We have a gate for access to a netted area. We have a net that we net off an area for them to range in and so far so good, no critters here. Here is a picture. We have a door on the side of the coop opposite from the window. The nest boxes are located next to the door with outside access, so that we can collect the eggs from outside the coop. Every night my girls go into the coop on their own. I do go out before dark and scatter some oats and scratch around their feeder and also in their litter. Usually when it starts to get dark they go into the coop and then I go out and shut their hatch. Which I can do outside the coop too.
Here is another picture before the nest boxes were added.
I really like it. It is very clean looking, and I bet the
chickens are very healthy and happy. It is the
original motor home.