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Chicken Coup & Run Questions
Posted on 11/8/24 at 10:20 am
Posted on 11/8/24 at 10:20 am
So I'm a few weeks into my chicken owning life and need to get started on my coop and run. I currently have 12 birds between 1 and 3 weeks old (first batch i bought didn't all make it)...
I was going to build a chicken tractor but found a spot in my yard that i think i might want to build a coop/animal area and run. The whole area would be about 16x48, possibly longer, and I'll probably build a 16x12 lean-to shed with part of that being a coop and part being some storage and potentially a pigpen later if I pull the trigger on that.
For the rest of the open area, I will build a 4' fence with some sort of hardware mesh or hog panels. I also want to do something above the 4' fence that will keep the chickens in and other predators out. I'm picturing an 8' post at each corner with cable ran between and some sort of mesh or netting above. I live adjacent to a neighborhood and also have a pond with some typical pond critters so i don't need the girls running around unchecked or going to close to the pond unprotected.
Any thoughts on that plan? Any pics or tips?
I was going to build a chicken tractor but found a spot in my yard that i think i might want to build a coop/animal area and run. The whole area would be about 16x48, possibly longer, and I'll probably build a 16x12 lean-to shed with part of that being a coop and part being some storage and potentially a pigpen later if I pull the trigger on that.
For the rest of the open area, I will build a 4' fence with some sort of hardware mesh or hog panels. I also want to do something above the 4' fence that will keep the chickens in and other predators out. I'm picturing an 8' post at each corner with cable ran between and some sort of mesh or netting above. I live adjacent to a neighborhood and also have a pond with some typical pond critters so i don't need the girls running around unchecked or going to close to the pond unprotected.
Any thoughts on that plan? Any pics or tips?
6
Posted on 11/8/24 at 10:40 am to poochie
Chickens are vile and nasty creatures. I couldn’t eat chicken or eggs for a year after raising them. Glad they’re gone.
Posted on 11/8/24 at 10:40 am to WHATASHAME
quote:
Chickens are vile and nasty creatures. I couldn’t eat chicken or eggs for a year after raising them. Glad they’re gone.
Thank you for your input. Any tips or comments on what went wrong so we can learn?
This post was edited on 11/8/24 at 10:41 am
Posted on 11/8/24 at 10:51 am to poochie
They crap on everything. In their food and water is the worst. Hang the feeder and have a waterer that they can’t perch on. Make sure they can’t perch on their laying boxes. They will eat each other. Pluck the feathers clean on the weak. Just be ready for shenanigans of the highest order.
This post was edited on 11/8/24 at 10:52 am
Posted on 11/8/24 at 11:25 am to WHATASHAME
That hasn't been my experience at all. Sure they shite everywhere but it depends on your coop setup on how nasty it is.
We have 45ish chickens in 2 separate flocks.
Flock 1 - 18 chickens
These have an 8x8 coop, it was the first one I built and I would do certain things differently (did next coop). It is raised off the ground, which is nice because they like to hang out under it in the shade. It's a pain because the ceiling goes from 6 feet to 5 feet so I hit my damn head on it all the time. This flock has a run that is about 30x50. With 8 foot of chicken wire, there is also an 8x16 covered area of the run so they can get out when it's raining without being soaked. They have a shite shelf and 4 nesting boxes, the nesting boxes are useless they never use them.
Flock 2 - 25ish chicken I can't keep up with it
For this one I built a 16x8 shed/coop. 8x8 portion for the coop and the other half is for storage of their food and such. It has a roof off the back to cover their food and water. This run is about 20x30, with either 8 or 6 foot chicken wire. We have silkies in this one so they don't get out, but the big chickens will absolutely get out of a 6 foot fence. Hell of they are determined they will get out of an 8 foot fence.
Both coops we have shite shelves with roosting bars above. This is where they sleep, the shelves are boxed in and we keep sand in them so we can poop scoop similar to litter. Poop goes in the garden. On the coop floors we use a combination of sand, Damascus earth, and coop refresh to keep the smell down.
Do not feed or water them inside the coop, they will make it more of a mess. Each run has a 20 gallon garbage can converted to a waterer. Each run also has a 20 gallon garbage can converted to a feeder.
The shenanigans will stop if you help set the pecking order. Each run has a dominant rooster that keeps the peace. If you have enough birds you can have more than 1 rooster, think 10 hens to 1 rooster and everyone is happy. Each coop also has an automatic door that is on a timer to open and close daily. No door = dead chickens when the predators come out at night.
Wherever you put the run, you will have 0 grass, nothing can survive chickens. Within a week it will be bare dirt, so place the run accordingly.
We feed normal food in the large feeders, give them scratch corn once a day, and on the weekend we purge the fridge and load them up with all our leftovers. We get about 20 eggs a day in various colors (green, blue, dark brown, light brown, cream). My wife sells what we don't eat for $5 a dozen.
Let me know what questions you have, I can post pics of the coops and runs if you want. Overall we love having them and they are pretty fun to watch. We have 2 that we call Thelma and Louise that are dead set on free ranging, they fly out over the 8 foot gate every day and roam the yard, hang out with the dogs, come pick at the cat through the window. They go back in every night.
We have 45ish chickens in 2 separate flocks.
Flock 1 - 18 chickens
These have an 8x8 coop, it was the first one I built and I would do certain things differently (did next coop). It is raised off the ground, which is nice because they like to hang out under it in the shade. It's a pain because the ceiling goes from 6 feet to 5 feet so I hit my damn head on it all the time. This flock has a run that is about 30x50. With 8 foot of chicken wire, there is also an 8x16 covered area of the run so they can get out when it's raining without being soaked. They have a shite shelf and 4 nesting boxes, the nesting boxes are useless they never use them.
Flock 2 - 25ish chicken I can't keep up with it
For this one I built a 16x8 shed/coop. 8x8 portion for the coop and the other half is for storage of their food and such. It has a roof off the back to cover their food and water. This run is about 20x30, with either 8 or 6 foot chicken wire. We have silkies in this one so they don't get out, but the big chickens will absolutely get out of a 6 foot fence. Hell of they are determined they will get out of an 8 foot fence.
Both coops we have shite shelves with roosting bars above. This is where they sleep, the shelves are boxed in and we keep sand in them so we can poop scoop similar to litter. Poop goes in the garden. On the coop floors we use a combination of sand, Damascus earth, and coop refresh to keep the smell down.
Do not feed or water them inside the coop, they will make it more of a mess. Each run has a 20 gallon garbage can converted to a waterer. Each run also has a 20 gallon garbage can converted to a feeder.
The shenanigans will stop if you help set the pecking order. Each run has a dominant rooster that keeps the peace. If you have enough birds you can have more than 1 rooster, think 10 hens to 1 rooster and everyone is happy. Each coop also has an automatic door that is on a timer to open and close daily. No door = dead chickens when the predators come out at night.
Wherever you put the run, you will have 0 grass, nothing can survive chickens. Within a week it will be bare dirt, so place the run accordingly.
We feed normal food in the large feeders, give them scratch corn once a day, and on the weekend we purge the fridge and load them up with all our leftovers. We get about 20 eggs a day in various colors (green, blue, dark brown, light brown, cream). My wife sells what we don't eat for $5 a dozen.
Let me know what questions you have, I can post pics of the coops and runs if you want. Overall we love having them and they are pretty fun to watch. We have 2 that we call Thelma and Louise that are dead set on free ranging, they fly out over the 8 foot gate every day and roam the yard, hang out with the dogs, come pick at the cat through the window. They go back in every night.
This post was edited on 11/8/24 at 11:26 am
Posted on 11/8/24 at 12:21 pm to BoogaBear
Booga can you share the pics of the setup, please? My wife and kids are on me about chickens and I don’t know how much longer I can fight them off!
We already have a coop and fully enclosed run but I am interested in your feed/water setup.
We already have a coop and fully enclosed run but I am interested in your feed/water setup.
Posted on 11/8/24 at 12:39 pm to BeerThirty
Posted on 11/8/24 at 1:15 pm to poochie
You could use 50% shade cloth- that would cool them off and also keep them in.
It’s cheap on Amazon.
It’s cheap on Amazon.
Posted on 11/8/24 at 2:16 pm to WHATASHAME
quote:They are only as dirty as you allow them to be. I live on a 1/2 acre in a neighborhood and have them for 18 months. Zero issues.. Sure they poop on the ground and it gets on their butt, no nasty! Its not like I'm holding them on my lap all day
Chickens are vile and nasty creatures. I couldn’t eat chicken or eggs for a year after raising them. Glad they’re gone.
Posted on 11/8/24 at 2:30 pm to TigerTatorTots
quote:
are only as dirty as you allow them to be
If you want to know what nasty is, raise some ducks from chicks. The dumbest most disgusting creature I've ever been around
Posted on 11/8/24 at 3:28 pm to TigerTatorTots
Not to de-rail the thread, but were you at a banquet last night, Tots?
Posted on 11/8/24 at 8:41 pm to bootlegger
quote:Hah yea, I thought that may have been you. Its been probably 8 years since I've seen you so I wasn't sure
Not to de-rail the thread, but were you at a banquet last night, Tots?
Posted on 11/9/24 at 3:14 pm to TigerTatorTots
Posted on 11/11/24 at 10:06 am to poochie
Everything loves to eat chickens. I've lost chickens to foxes, hawks, dogs, King Snakes, opossums and other chickens. Just when you think you have them protected, a completely different predator will show up to make a fool out of you.
I try to make my chickens happy with as much run space as possible. This makes them more in danger. I have around an acre of wooded growth area that has a 4' 2x4 welded wire fence around it. I converted a shed into a coop and put an automatic door in it (have to remember to change times when you have DST change!). I recently chicken wired off a 1/4 of the coop to make a section for new birds to get reacclomated to the coop/flock and to use it for when one goes broody to keep the flock from giving her new eggs..
Whatever you do, do not use chicken wire as a fence or to protect a tractor. Always use hardware cloth on all your animal tractors or you will be in for a quick surprise. Free ranging works up until it doesn't. I had a good year of free ranging and then we had a tornado come through that broke a lot of fences and had a group of dogs ravage my flock.
I try to make my chickens happy with as much run space as possible. This makes them more in danger. I have around an acre of wooded growth area that has a 4' 2x4 welded wire fence around it. I converted a shed into a coop and put an automatic door in it (have to remember to change times when you have DST change!). I recently chicken wired off a 1/4 of the coop to make a section for new birds to get reacclomated to the coop/flock and to use it for when one goes broody to keep the flock from giving her new eggs..
Whatever you do, do not use chicken wire as a fence or to protect a tractor. Always use hardware cloth on all your animal tractors or you will be in for a quick surprise. Free ranging works up until it doesn't. I had a good year of free ranging and then we had a tornado come through that broke a lot of fences and had a group of dogs ravage my flock.
Posted on 11/11/24 at 8:47 pm to poochie
Cover the run, less moisture the better, and shade and shade for the birds.
Get the coop elevated. Less moisture, and it makes cleaning out much easier.
I used buckets for feed/water. They figure out the nipples on the water bucket pretty quick.
Below are a couple of pictures from my coop I built this past year. It was a heck of a project but I’m very glad I did it.
Couldn’t agree more. But they are way more entertaining than chickens. A gagglefrick of waddling, goofy birds I could watch for hours.
Get the coop elevated. Less moisture, and it makes cleaning out much easier.
I used buckets for feed/water. They figure out the nipples on the water bucket pretty quick.
Below are a couple of pictures from my coop I built this past year. It was a heck of a project but I’m very glad I did it.
quote:
If you want to know what nasty is, raise some ducks from chicks. The dumbest most disgusting creature I've ever been around
Couldn’t agree more. But they are way more entertaining than chickens. A gagglefrick of waddling, goofy birds I could watch for hours.
Posted on 11/11/24 at 10:56 pm to poochie
If you have raccoons around you’ll either need electric fence strung across the top or netting. Do what you have to do to ensure nothing can dig under, will depend on the panel/wire you use. Elevate your coop enough such that rats can’t nest under it, might be the single biggest thing. Losing a chicken isn’t the worst thing in the world, they need to be replaced every few years anyway, but seeing every dash light come on in your vehicle because rats chewed through the wiring harness fricking sucks.
Posted on 3/11/25 at 9:56 am to poochie
so, it turns out that out of my 12, i have 11 hens and a rooster! i thought it was just big but noticed he had the skin on top of his beak. and of course the crowing!!
so, my question is do i immediately make gumbo with him or is he ok to stay. i don't need any fertilized eggs...
how should i handle this?
so, my question is do i immediately make gumbo with him or is he ok to stay. i don't need any fertilized eggs...
how should i handle this?
Posted on 3/11/25 at 10:16 am to BoogaBear
quote:
Each run has a 20 gallon garbage can converted to a waterer. Each run also has a 20 gallon garbage can converted to a feeder.
Do you have any plans or pictures of this?
nvm I see you already posted some. Thanks!
This post was edited on 3/11/25 at 10:21 am
Posted on 3/11/25 at 10:29 am to poochie
quote:
how should i handle this?
Where I live, I can not have a rooster so I didn't have option of keeping one. If I could I probably would keep one, though roosters tend to be aggressive. They do protect the chickens though. As to fertilized eggs, if you pick up eggs everyday, I don't think you would know that an egg is fertilized (I may be wrong on this though and will let someone with more experience answer).
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