So, I built a chicken coop today...

[weasel01]

My gal pal and I purchased a "sub micro" farm a couple years ago and we both just love it.

No neighbors , rolling meadows ...the only thing missing? a couple chickens.

We have never owned chickens before and dont really know what we are getting into but today we built the nicest darn chicken coop in town.

We have 3 laying hens on the way should arrive tomorrow....


Any words of advice?

[nhmaf]

Get some really good chicken wire and fix up the chicken coop well, because fox, racoons, bob cats, lions, and fisher cats (relatives of weasels) will all be wanting to dine on chicken @ night - leastways up here we've got to look out for all those.

The manure will do a wonder on your gardens, if you can tolerate the smell.  some folks might even pay you for it.

Rhode Island Reds are a popular chicken up here wrt egg laying longevity, size, and just being a nice bird to look at.

[Darwin_R65]

Ivor biggun sang a song about his big rhode island red.

But that doesn't help here.

[montmil]

Ampy the Chicken Man! I really thought this thread was going to be about a garage for your Beemer. Really.

My brother, the Texas Aggie, tried raising chickens some years ago but they all continued to die. He called our County Agent who asked bro' if he'd planted them feet up or feet down. Feet down, bubba answered.

CoAgent says, Better send me a soil sample.   Aggies. Sheesh.

Monte

[weasel01]

Thanks guys!

We have 2 rhode island reds and one white leghorn on the way....

[Bengt_Phorqs]

Pardon my ignorance, but what is a "sub-micro" farm?

[montmil]

Pardon my ignorance, but what is a "sub-micro" farm?

I have talked to a couple Californy-types who say they grow avocados on their 40x50 FOOT "avocado farm".  [smiley=Oscar.gif]

Guess I could start running beef cattle in my back yard and file for an agricultural exemption on my property taxes.

Monte

[weasel01]

Monte is pretty much dead on... basically it is a teeny tiny farm setting that is surrounded by green space and since it's a rural setting it is zoned farm friendly.

4 acre field out my back door is my private RC airport.
(runway and heliport)

The cool thing is it is only a 10 minute drive to downtown and 10 minutes to the interstate.

When I lived in southern Germany back in the 1980's I lived near a farm that sold fresh eggs that were like nothing I've ever had from a grocery store.

I'm hoping to raise some happy chickens that make eggs like I remember.

[Bengt_Phorqs]

Sounds like a nice place.  In Texas we would call it an "oleo ranch" because it's a cheaper spread.  Just don't let those birds "fowl" up your long distance riding schedule. [smiley=thumbsup.gif]

[Ed Miller]

Go to Mother Earth News and look up their "chicken tractor" especially if you want to mostly feed them grass, bugs, and other stuff they're supposed to eat.  The eggs will be better.

In fact, they probably have a billion articles regarding chickens; it gets old after a while.  

[montmil]

One of those birds is a rooster, right?

[weasel01]

No Sir, just 3 hens.

[weasel01]

Well we got our chickens and they are really interesting.

We set them loose in the garden and they stayed with us as we worked in the garden...always no more than 3 feet away at all times eating bugs and scratchin' around.

This was of course post flood.....central kentucky had some of the worst rainfall on record.
1 hour to the west got 6.5" of rain in 75 minutes and the damage is extensive the track they run the Kentucky derby on had deeper water than the 1936 flood which was up until today the worst on record.

Here in Lexington we got about 3" in 2 hours and there was scary as hell.

I drove across town (in my pickup)right after the storm and like an idiot drove across a bridge over a creek that was flash flooding as I drove thru it...I made it but as soon as I went across it became uncrossable...wow.

I got home and we were spared but lots of homes on the way looked like major damage....

We had deep standing water in places all over town and then 2 hours later the water drained off and the sun came out...go figure.

So we played with our chickens...

[Altritter]

Ivor biggun sang a song about his big rhode island red.

But that doesn't help here.

Kin to Panama Red?  [smiley=wink.gif]