horatio 515 Posted March 13, 2014 Report Share Posted March 13, 2014 Title pretty much says it. Wife and I are looking at having a few chickens. Our village allows up to 5 (no roosters). We're thinking of just starting with 3 egg layers and seeing how it goes. I've read a bit online but I'm looking for some first hand expierience. Any advice? Thanks Quote Link to post Share on other sites
breid1970 327 Posted March 13, 2014 Report Share Posted March 13, 2014 No rosters? Well buy a cheap radio for music. Yes it helps and artificial lighting during winter. Rear opening cleaning roosts are great too. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
LuPiN8oR 333 Posted March 13, 2014 Report Share Posted March 13, 2014 I have had chickens for awhile now, it may help to have some details. Are you looking for ornamental birds, egg layers, meat birds.. etc? What kind of living conditions (chicken tractor, small coop free range during daytime, coop with closed run)? Your circumstances will dictate what works best for you. Feel free to pm me. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
breid1970 327 Posted March 13, 2014 Report Share Posted March 13, 2014 Think he wants egg layers. Free range is great till a red tail shows up. 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Matthew Hopkins 1,065 Posted March 13, 2014 Report Share Posted March 13, 2014 . Any advice? Thanks Any advice? yeah, watch out for this guy, he loves chicken Quote Link to post Share on other sites
D.C.MORRISON 494 Posted March 13, 2014 Report Share Posted March 13, 2014 (edited) We have been raising and keeping them for about eight years. the part of the country you are in, can have an effect on which breeds will be best for you. I like golden buff and buff orpington hens.they tend to be big. handle the cold well.are not sensitive or too flighty. The current batch started at thirty. had them sent U.S. mail. with a minimum of five, that could make things difficult. suppliers like rural king and tractor supply, have a minimum of six. we have never used any for meat. mainly because a pre- cooked hen is still 6.00. almost all of the kitchen scraps go to our chickens. but no onions,citrus fruit or apple seeds. Edited March 14, 2014 by DANE AXE 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
magsite20 1,664 Posted March 13, 2014 Report Share Posted March 13, 2014 my wife keeps bringing roosters home, no hens just roosters. damn dumb loud birds keep thinking they're buddies with the dogs, so far it hasn't worked well for 3 out of 4 so far. number 4 got saved by the wife once while the dog was busy killing the other one at the time, pretty sure at some point old number 4 will do something stupid up to and including walking out in front of a car expecting me to stop. good luck with the hens and be glad they bar the rooster pecker heads. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
liberty -r- death 1,445 Posted March 13, 2014 Report Share Posted March 13, 2014 We raised Australorps. Very good egg layers. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bvamp 604 Posted March 13, 2014 Report Share Posted March 13, 2014 I had a dozen rhode island reds when i was growing up. had problems with racoons, the occasional wild dog, and most of all RATS. would throw the manure and straw on my mulch pile for the garden 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Nailbomb 10,221 Posted March 13, 2014 Report Share Posted March 13, 2014 Good on you for doing your part. I'm failing sadly. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
6500rpm 670 Posted March 13, 2014 Report Share Posted March 13, 2014 My neighbor has 4 (and we live in the burbs) in a small, say 6x6x4 coupe. Semi loud at times, different breeds (I don't know what but some lay white and others lay tannish eggs). They eat damn near anything and being good neighbors they share-fresh eggs are yummy! The wife takes care of them when they're out of town and in general it doesn't seem like much work. Egg production is slower in the winter and I'd like to say they started laying eggs at about 6mo old. I don't know if you train the damn things or what, but he lets them roam the yard eating bugs and stuff in the day and at night they more or less head for the coupe with very little prodding. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
DLT 1,646 Posted March 13, 2014 Report Share Posted March 13, 2014 Grew up with hens in the backyard. Build them a nice house with a door you close at night to keep cats and possoms out. Open it in the morning. Pretty simple. Feed them and make sure they have water. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
LuPiN8oR 333 Posted March 13, 2014 Report Share Posted March 13, 2014 They instinctively go back to roost at night, we free range ours in the good months of the year. By far the biggest killer weve had hasnt been dogs, hawks, fox, or opossums--but raccoons. Make sure when building a coop to use hardware cloth and not "chicken wire--coons can reach right in and snag one if they roosted close enough. We have a few different breeds but the easiest ones temperment wise have been easter eggers and turkens (naked necks). Eggers lay different colored eggs (blue, purple-ish, etc) and the turkens lay brown eggs. Both are fairly prolific layers as well. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
PFerris 76 Posted March 13, 2014 Report Share Posted March 13, 2014 We have speckled sussex's, calm medium size birds, brown egg layers. They will also sit if you have a rooster, that is why we have them. Last year we got some new hampshire reds, calm medium size birds, they are excellent brown egg layers. We got them as chicks in May and they started laying around Christmas and have layed all winter. Really great hens, we do not put lights on them in the winter and they layed anyway. We also raise heritage turkeys, Narraganset's. They lay and set as good as the chickens. Hawks are a real problem, I strung old fish net above my runs, it does not need to cover the run all the way. I have not lost a bird since, the hawks and eagles want nothing to do with those nets. You should get a few hens, nothing beats fresh eggs. Store bought eggs are full of god only knows what. You will enjoy them. 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
LuPiN8oR 333 Posted March 13, 2014 Report Share Posted March 13, 2014 Do you keep the turkeys and chickens together? Ive given thought to that exact breed of turkey. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Marc 147 Posted March 14, 2014 Report Share Posted March 14, 2014 Do you keep the turkeys and chickens together? Ive given thought to that exact breed of turkey. My parents kept chickens and turkeys together for a few years, never had a problem other then keeping them feed in the winter time. They quit keeping turkeys because of winter feed cost and the mess they left everywhere. If your a turkey hunter, raising domestic turkeys keeps the wild ones near the house...can't beat a real turkey call, lol. 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
horatio 515 Posted March 14, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 14, 2014 thanks for all the posts guys- i appreciate it. so far the two biggest things i've learned is raccoons are a problem and whoever gave the names to breeds of chickens must have been drunk i live about 35 southwest of chicago so temperature wise i see from -10 to 100 with 90 percent humidity over the year. i was planning on making the coop area closed in (hardware cloth) including the roof. we have hawks in the area. the coop area would be shaded and i could let them free range in the back yard, i sit on a little less than a quarter acre. free range might not work though as we do have a cat or two that roam the area. what kind of space should i consider for a coop for say, 3 egg layers and one meat chicken? i want to try the meat chicken basically for shits and giggles. i'll probably have a hell of time finding a butcher for one chicken. i'll probably just learn myself. what breeds work best in this area? i'm hoping to keep the investment in startup under $1500. figure with the price of eggs, i should break even in about 120 years. is that a realistic number? the coops i've seen online seem to lean to artistic over functional and they seem a bit expensive Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Billybobf 50 Posted March 14, 2014 Report Share Posted March 14, 2014 You don't need a butcher for a chicken! I hear for grouse you really don't need a butcher, supposedly if you pull on their legs just right their breast meat pops right out Quote Link to post Share on other sites
horatio 515 Posted March 14, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 14, 2014 also forgot to mention- if i do get to free range them, i do plan on adding a water feature ( big honkin pond/waterfall) in the backyard. would a chicken know not to fall in? i really dont want to have to fence it in Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Marc 147 Posted March 14, 2014 Report Share Posted March 14, 2014 Chickens go in the coop to sleep so they only need enough room to get in and out, YOU on the other hand are going to want to get in there without crawling around in the mess and hitting your head. give your egg layers some boxes big enough they can turn around in, about a foot or so off the floor of the coop with some straw bedding. Put a perching bar up high so everyone else is happy. give them their own door about 3 feet off the ground so they can come and go as they please during the day but you can close at night during the winter or if you have problems with other critters. Make sure there is good ventilation so they don't suffocate from there own poo gases and get a heat lamp above the perch bar and boxes for the winter. also forgot to mention- if i do get to free range them, i do plan on adding a water feature ( big honkin pond/waterfall) in the backyard. would a chicken know not to fall in? i really dont want to have to fence it in shouldn't be a problem, they will use it for a bath and it will get pretty nasty pretty fast. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
LuPiN8oR 333 Posted March 14, 2014 Report Share Posted March 14, 2014 (edited) If you are handy at all you can build your own coop for a hell of alot less. I think for total costs (wood, nails, hardware cloth, hinges, shingles,) i spent around 200$ and i built TWO 5.5w x 8L x 3H coops with a 8L x 12w x 5H run between them! My design was different bc of the sloped terrain but when i can ill try to re draw the blueprints. You only need one coop tho so youll save even more. If youre really worried about chickens falling in water just stack some rocks up--theyll figure it out lol. Edited March 14, 2014 by LuPiN8oR Quote Link to post Share on other sites
kevinfreel 215 Posted March 14, 2014 Report Share Posted March 14, 2014 My mom has 3 chickens. I built a coop for them in less than a day for under a hundred bucks. If you want it pretty it'll cost more. The one I built is simple the lid is hinged and overhangs to keep them dry, and the have an eight by two run attached. During the day they are confined to the run and in the afternoon they get two hours or so of free range. I have butchered probably 20 birds or so and chickens are very easy. There's a few different methods for bleeding them out, when it comes to plucking almost boiling water is your friend. Scald the bird really quick and the feathers will just about fall out. Oh chickens can swim enough to get to dry land. I wouldn't worry about a pond. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
PFerris 76 Posted March 14, 2014 Report Share Posted March 14, 2014 Do you keep the turkeys and chickens together? Ive given thought to that exact breed of turkey. My parents kept chickens and turkeys together for a few years, never had a problem other then keeping them feed in the winter time. They quit keeping turkeys because of winter feed cost and the mess they left everywhere. If your a turkey hunter, raising domestic turkeys keeps the wild ones near the house...can't beat a real turkey call, lol. No, we keep them separate, it is recommend too. I have had several breeds till we got the narraganset's. I want a bird I could eat and it would reproduce so I did not have to buy them each year. The toms dress out about 30 and the hens 18. I am in Ohio if you are around I have some extra hens but am short on toms. The hens call the wild toms up to the pen in the spring. One jumped the fence last year and bred a hen, one of her broad had a gray and brown tip feather instead of grey and black and it grew bigger. I ate him, to keep the breed straight. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
horatio 515 Posted March 15, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 15, 2014 so i was just talking to one of the truck drivers at my company i dont see too often. he owns a small farm in oklahoma and told me an egg laying chickens wont lay eggs without a rooster around. is that true? he said the only other option is to get a certain type of feed that makes the chickens lay eggs, but than you're just eating the same stuff from the grocery store. is this true? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
kevinfreel 215 Posted March 15, 2014 Report Share Posted March 15, 2014 Hens will lay without a rooster as long as they are fed, comfortable, and not molting. Also if they don't have enough daylight they may stop or slow down. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
LuPiN8oR 333 Posted March 15, 2014 Report Share Posted March 15, 2014 Yeah, he has no idea what hes talkin about--hens will lay without a rooster around. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
D.C.MORRISON 494 Posted March 15, 2014 Report Share Posted March 15, 2014 The general public have a lot of false beliefs about chickens. 86 camaro is 100% right. No rooster is needed for egg production. Brown eggs are not more nutritious or better tasting. Everything depends on the hen's diet and health. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
RED333 1,025 Posted March 16, 2014 Report Share Posted March 16, 2014 We have 8, 3 sex link reds, 3 Australorps, and 2 Americans that lay blue or green eggs. I built tractors to move around the yard, gona build a bigger place and get 30 more chickens. You will lose a few so get more than you think you need. We started with 4 of each and lost a few. The pipe and wheels make it easey to move. The wheels are on steal rods that fit into the pipe. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
49north 7 Posted March 16, 2014 Report Share Posted March 16, 2014 Feed is expensive but the eggs are good. I like barred rocks, and gold sex-linked brands. Watch out of for raccoons, weasels, bobcats and coyotes. And most especially dogs.. I like the free-range cage bit but not my idea of low maintenance. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Maxwelhse 1,285 Posted March 16, 2014 Report Share Posted March 16, 2014 Ok... I've been lurking here for a spell, I've often thought about getting a couple of chickens, and my situation is much like fatty's (small lot, close neighbors)... That said (and I appreciated all of the feedback offered by those that have) how loud are chickens most of the time? I don't mind a bit of work (we eat the hell of out eggs in this house), but if they're going to disturb me while I'm trying to have a nap or whatever then I'll be happy to continue buying my eggs. Are they any louder than wild birds? I obviously have NO experience with them. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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