Getting chickens for the yard

Backyard Chickens website has a lot of useful information. Medicated feed isn’t necessary in my opinion. Just use the chick feed from Tractor Supply or whatever feed store you have in your area. Get a metal water tub from there as well for the chicks while they are little. I would not put the roost or nesting boxes under your back patio. They crap the most on the roost and under your back patio will be covered with crap. I would try to put a little something in the yard that is covered on at least 3 sides. Doesn’t have to be real high, just something to get them off the ground.

You trying to teach your kids how to walk or what?

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You will 100% regret getting chickens. They are dirty, loud, and STINK if you don’t clean their coup every single day.

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This guy is very wrong. We have 6 with a relatively small backyard and they don't make a mess or stink, and i sure as shite dont clean the coop* every day. Some tips for keeping it from stinking: put a roof over the "run" and put some play sand down a couple times a year. Dry ground + sand = no stink

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Got some Easter eggers and silkies.

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How old are they? Main problem with Silkies is they will always need to be in a temperature controlled environment. Easter Eggers will be fine as early as 8 weeks old being out and about at most temperatures but not the Silkies.

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Should I feed medicated feed?

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I do not use medicated but I did have my chicks vaccinated at birth.

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Can I use like a big rubber maid tote with a brooder lamp? If not what do I need for that?

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Yea that will work fine. Make sure your lamp isn't too close to the bottom. Make sure the chicks disperse around the tote. If they are huddled around the light, its too far away, if they are all around the outside of the tote, its too close to the chicks.

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I'm gonna start building a few nesting boxes and roost. It will be under the back porch which is about 10 feet off the ground. Any specific way to build the boxes?

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You don't need nesting boxes for 4 months. I'd be more worried about building them a coop with protection. They do not see well at night and every opossum, raccoon, and hawk will try and eat your chickens. Have them a place that they can be locked in at night, even if you are gonna have them free range. Note if they free range, you will likely lose chickens. Everything likes to eat chicken.

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They will be in the yard but it is fenced in chain link.

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Great. Having free ranged chickens is amazing. My last flock free ranged. Currently they do not. I moved and have very little space. I built them a great coop and run and they have a good life even though they do not get to free range.

Biggest thing for you is do research. It sounds like you haven't done nearly enough research to appropriately farm chickens. They can basically take care of themselves as long as you keep them safe; but I dont see evidence that you've thought far enough ahead to keep them safe.

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I had 16 of those mfers for far too long.

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That's quite the flock. Part of me loves just having a handful and living in the city. Another part of me wishes I lived in the country and could have 100's free range over acres of country pasture.

Currently my flock consists of (one of each): Easter Egger, Rhode Island Red, Golden Laced Wyandotte, Barred Rock, White Leghorn, White Rock.

A word of warning, everything wants to kill a chicken.

I've lost a few to hawks and an owl. Most recently a neighbors dog (Huskey) got out of his fenced yard during the day and got into our fenced yard and killed the 5 we had left.

Despite this we are about to start over because my kids and I enjoy having them around, but we live in a rural area and do some free ranging when we are home.

The coop we built is very secure and have never had an issue with their safety at night (owl hit in the late evening). We have had issues during the day with hawk attacks when they are young , pullet and pre-pullet stage.

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I wish I could let mine out more often but they eat everything in my garden. They love anything green.

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Such an important point for those new to backyard chickens. They will pull compulsively on every little shoot they can see. So don't let 'em near your vegetable garden when the plants are small, and don't let them near a newly sprouting lawn.

How did you build your coop? Thinking of kind of a taller than it is wide. Like maybe 4 feet high. 2-3 feet wide. Nesting boxes on left half roost on right half.

We went a bit overboard on the coop build, I decided to make it a larger "family" type project.

I bought treated lumber for framing, but used old pallet wood for everything else. I did most of the cutting, but the kids did the painting and assembly.

It's 6 to 7 feet tall, 6 feet wide and 4 feet deep. The bottom 4 feet is a heavily fended, but open air with a automatic door set on a timer. The top has it's own floor with an opening to a run to climb down, also has fenced/screened doors on the front for observation and the back has solid double doors for harvesting eggs and cleaning.
Inside the top floor are two roosting limbs and four next boxes. They only go in the coop to lay eggs and roots at night. I found 4 next boxes to be plenty room for 6 to 7 chickens.

I designed it to keep out foxes, coons, and coyotes during the night, which roam our property from time to time. It was very successful, but now I have to rebuild the fenced in yard area with stray dogs in mind.

Here are a few pics of our coop: