Anyone here raise chickens

[Crowbob]

Oranges grow on trees? Like right in the yard like that?

Weird.

[Cooper911SC]

We have predators here in the middle of suburbia too... Coyotes, Racoons, and Hawks.

The last two I have regular encounters with. 😕

The Hawks dive bomb but are a little too small to attack and carry off the chickens...they could strike and eat in place though.

Racoons at twilight/night are biggest threat.
Took this pic of the nest box earlier today, I guess we had a visitor last night!


As you likely know poultry is susceptible to disease. We lost Ethel our other Orpington to a likely respiratory disease in November '16.
Healthy one night, sick next AM, dead that night. 😞 Sad, but life. Awesome pet chicken. Gave us many a laugh walking right into house/kitchen to say "hi" and see what scraps we'd give her. LOL


That's me, the "crazy chicken guy".

And thanks for the omelets ladies!


Now that we're down to 2 chickens we plan to get 4 more chicks next month from a local hatchery. 2 Reds and 2 Orpingtons. 😄

[Cooper911SC]

Originally Posted by Crowbob

Oranges grow on trees? Like right in the yard like that?

Weird.

Ha! Funny but true. 🙂 We have 11 Valencia trees from the original orchard here. Planted between 1929&'31.

I pick and sell around 3,000lbs per season. (June to early Sept.)

If you ever find yourself in CA PM me and I'll set you up with some juice. Or an omelet.

[berettafan]

Copper that is so cool! Chickens seems to have neat personalities. Our area is dotted with massive chicken houses full of giant albino looking genetic freak shows for purdue and the like. Gross really.


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[wdfifteen]

Mrs WD says go for it. Looking for chicken coop plans now.

[vash]

i couldnt stand the roaches the chickens brought.

sucked the bugs were nocturnal and the birds were not. the chickens loved eating them. i did set a pit trap once and caught a hundred roaches..watching the birds mow thru them was super satisfying.

i had a small yard, and the roaches sucked. killing the birds when they quit laying sucked too. i nemed the birds after food. there was Curry, BBQ, Fried..etc.

[Cooper911SC]

Originally Posted by wdfifteen

Mrs WD says go for it. Looking for chicken coop plans now.

Check out Back Yard Chickens dot com

Lots of DIY info on chickens in general.

I looked at pics of various coops and what the general size needs for nest boxes and roosting bars etc.

Just penciled out a basic plan for mine and started building it with my Dad.

There are some amazingly elaborate coops out there!

[Rickysa]

There are some amazingly elaborate coops out there!

It's fun to spoil the girls

[Crowbob]

Chickens equals varmints.

It's a trade-off where I live. In my situation, the varmint population would literally explode beyond what it already is.

Forgzample, I recently discovered the socialist Nation of North American White Tail Deer had over the winter determined that my yard was a direct path to aid in their migratory habits. The beasts are quite efficient, I'd add.

All's I need are more foxes, squirrels, possums, skunks, coons, rats, turkeys, vultures, Bobcats, coyotes and groundhogs. Also snakes, rats, moles, voles and chipmunks. June bugs, lady bugs, hornets, wasps and Africanized honeybees notwithstanding. Mosquitos, black flies, horse flies, gnats, ants and gypsy moths.

[stevej37]

^^^ you forgot raccoons!
The deer in my area come thru every winter and strip the green junipers and leave nothing but bare branches.

Oops..just reread and saw you did include coons....they are all over my area.

[wdfifteen]

Thank you for all the replies. I've been contemplating a coop/run for 4 chickens. I'm thinking an area of 5x10 for the run as that's an efficient use of 2x4 8s and 10s. The coop would be separate from the run, as in the photo below (only with a taller run and smaller coop.) I want to be able to move it to a new spot on the property every few months.
I'm wracking my braid trying to come up with something to keep varmints from digging under the fence that will be portable. Cooper, it looks like you have concrete pavers down. I've come up with setting the bottom rails on 1x4s with 10" spikes driven in every 2". That's damn expensive. I'm also thinking about laying down pressure treated 2x12s and setting the bottom rails of the cage on them. Would a fox or coyote dig under a 2x12"? Also considering ripping up some 24" strips of exterior plywood. Same idea as the 2x12, but the critters would have to dig 2 feet horizontally to get under. I'm still thinking about it. Any brilliant ideas?

My neighbor had a couple of chickens and he locked them in the coop every night. I may do that. The primary daytime varmint here are hawks.

[Crowbob]

I was never able to raise chicken because they never seem to get past the omelet stage.

[Evans, Marv]

wdfifteen, My wife just showed me a picture on our local Facebook neighbors' page of a chicken coop looking almost exactly like that one. A bob car tore through one of the screened windows on the side of it & wiped out all the chickens last night.

[Buckterrier]

Hawks also are predators for chickens. Ask me how I know. I have 4 Golden Comets. Have more than enough eggs. I give the excess to a local halfway house type place.
When you build your coop and or run bury the fencing about a foot down. Also if rats are a problem you'll need to go down that foot then out from the run another 2 feet. Again ask how I know. Hell I live in the country I didn't even know rats lived in the country!

[JavaBrewer]

Originally Posted by wdfifteen

That looks like an advertisement photo. IMO far too small for that many birds, even for nighttime roosting.

[Jeff Alton]

Matt Monson has had chickens for a few years as well. May be a good resource...

[DerkPerk]

If you plan on having a movable style coop, not sure how you'll prevent digging. I had an injured bird in a rabbit hutch just set on the ground and dig have something attempt to dig under a couple times.

I buried 2x10's around our large coop perimeter along with 2' wide stamped pavers around 3 of the 4 sides. I haven't had any issues with digging predators.

As Marv shared his story above, you'll need more than just screens on the sides. I recommend 1/4" welded wire and framed with lumber.

Your dimensions are plenty of room for 4 birds. We have 8 in a similar sized run and a 4x4 roosting area. We can but don't close the run off from the roosting coop unless it's really cold.


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[ben parrish]

Have had chickens for years. As a matter of fact, I just moved the coop today and am tripling the yard size in preparation for adding 12 more hens to the flock. Currently have Barred Rocks, Amercuanas, Orpington, Dominique and a game chicken. We have a good bit of property and let them free range each day but do lock them up each night. We have lost many over the years and it sucks but that is just the way it is. The wors loos I hade was on a Saturday morning around 6:30; I let the mout and went back inside for some coffee. My Labrador started barking and running off and back onto the porch. When I stepped outside I heard coyotes yelping and grabbed a shotgun and ran toward the barn...within 5 minutes, we lost 7 chickens and a huge rooster. I found five but it was too late. Only one hen made it and it was hours before she would come down from the top of the barn...poor thing called and called for hours looking for her flock.
We have also had something get into the coop when I forgot to close the yard gate and eaten the heads off two hens; just the heads.
Chicken are great and a lot of fun to watch. We will sit and watch them some afternoons referring to it as "chicken T.V..

[Cooper911SC]

Originally Posted by wdfifteen

Thank you for all the replies. I've been contemplating a coop/run for 4 chickens. I'm thinking an area of 5x10 for the run as that's an efficient use of 2x4 8s and 10s. The coop would be separate from the run, as in the photo below (only with a taller run and smaller coop.) I want to be able to move it to a new spot on the property every few months.
I'm wracking my braid trying to come up with something to keep varmints from digging under the fence that will be portable. Cooper, it looks like you have concrete pavers down. I've come up with setting the bottom rails on 1x4s with 10" spikes driven in every 2". That's damn expensive. I'm also thinking about laying down pressure treated 2x12s and setting the bottom rails of the cage on them. Would a fox or coyote dig under a 2x12"? Also considering ripping up some 24" strips of exterior plywood. Same idea as the 2x12, but the critters would have to dig 2 feet horizontally to get under. I'm still thinking about it. Any brilliant ideas?

My neighbor had a couple of chickens and he locked them in the coop every night. I may do that. The primary daytime varmint here are hawks.

I did 15.75"x15.75" pavers for the base.
I cheated the mud sill/base board inwards so there would be more block outside...there by making critters have to start digging further away.



I haven't had any problems with digging yet.
You can also fortify by digging down around the coop/run a few inches and then going out 12-16" burry poultry mesh or hardware mesh.

The critters will attempt to dig and then run into the mesh.

As far as making a movable run. You can keep the coop with a small run located somewhere permanent and then have a moveable run to protect from bird strike during the day.

That run can really be built out of lighter lumber, like 2"x2" framing to support the mesh. Will be easier to move. You can stake it down with steel concrete form stakes.

One thing you will quickly realize is that the chickens will "mow" through an area of grass/weeds 5'x10' in a week or less! You'll need to move that run frequently!

When we had the 4 Pullets out in their first temporary coop/run (run was about 3'x5') I had to move it weekly. They ate most anything green down to the dirt! Obviously they had scratch and feed available too...

Challenge will be getting the girls into that run each morning... They will automatically want to return to coop each night around dusk.

They just go in and roost, then I close them up tight.
My coop does not have any Windows. Just the nest box lid and a door for the chickens.

I agree with others comments, the coop needs to be robust and well secured.

My vet lost 3 chickens recently to coyotes. They chewed a corner off of his 1/2" plywood coop door to access...

[DerkPerk]

@ben parrish, mink will kill a chicken and only eat/take the heads.

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