Chickens!

[giramomma]

Perhaps this should go in the train wreck thread. LOL.

DD1 wants to get chickens. We don't really have a compelling reason to say no, yet (or ever)

I have questions.

Can we keep chicks outside or do we need to wait until they are bigger/ready to lay before we leave them outside?

We are talking like 3 chickens max, so they don't need a ton of space. Does anyone have DYI coop recommendations? Since this is YM and all, it goes without saying that we are not dropping 1K on a chicken coop for three chickens.

Anything else that we should be aware of from an insiders perspective? We are urban, if that helps.

[minnesotapaintlady]

Outside, outside or in a coop that is outside?  Little chicks need to be under a heat lamp until they're about 6 weeks old, and with only 3 of them maybe a bit longer if it's cold because there won't be the "snuggle factor".  

[jerseygirl]

DD had chickens from about 8 to 12. Bought a dozen chicks from a nearby farm and they stayed indoors for 6? Weeks. Put them in a big old toy box. She took them out few times a day and they followed her like she was mother chicken. Jerseyguy built a chicken coop. When his mom who was raised on a farm came over, she said the chicks were all roosters. By that time they were pretty big so she slaughtered them - beheaded using an axe. She said you can eat them - tough as rubber bands! So threw away
She went with DD to get some new chicks and yelled at farmer for selling us only roosters,
Well chicks grew up we got one rooster. DD took care of feeding etc and collecting eggs. Eggs were absolutely delicious. She sold them to neighbors and we also ate them. Apparently one rooster is needed to protect the hens. DD gave up chickens when in middle school

[Sharon]

Make sure to critter proof your coop.  Either raccoons or possums dug under my coop and bit the heads off all my chickens about a week and a half after they had been moved outside.

I learned after all this that an adult raccoon can fit through a 4" opening.

[minnesotapaintlady]

Mar 18, 2023 9:59:54 GMT -5 jerseygirl said:

She went with DD to get some new chicks and yelled at farmer for selling us only roosters,

Well, to be fair to the farmer, they're pretty much almost impossible to tell apart.  There are professionals at hatcheries that "vent" check them, which is not something an amateur should do, you can easily harm the chick and it can take years to perfect the art.  They still make plenty of mistakes.  I've had chickens for years and until they start crowing it's often a mystery.

[Deleted]

Mar 18, 2023 10:01:24 GMT -5 Sharon said:

Make sure to critter proof your coop.  Either raccoons or possums dug under my coop and bit the heads off all my chickens about a week and a half after they had been moved outside.

I learned after all this that an adult raccoon can fit through a 4" opening.

Yes, and a good-sized snake can get through a 1/2" opening to get the eggs.  Around my neighborhood, hawks eradicate a lot of backyard chickens

[wvugurl26]

DH's brother kept his inside until they were a few months old. So far so good but they get shut up at night in a little coop. And the coop is inside an enclosed run. It's still pretty cold around here so I wouldn't put them outside just yet.

He's got 3 hens and a rooster. While the rooster protects the hens, he's going to be gone if he doesn't quit trying to attack humans in BIL's yard.

[giramomma]

Mar 18, 2023 9:13:18 GMT -5 minnesotapaintlady said:

Outside, outside or in a coop that is outside?  Little chicks need to be under a heat lamp until they're about 6 weeks old, and with only 3 of them maybe a bit longer if it's cold because there won't be the "snuggle factor".  

Outside in a coop. I don't know if we can do a heating lamp.

I think consensus is that we need to pick out birds that are a little older. DH does not want chicks in our basement. We really don't have another place to keep them. Our garage is barely big enough for a van and sedan.

Coop will be off the ground. Thinking of making it out of PVC pipes.

[minnesotapaintlady]

Yeah, they pretty much have to have supplemental heat until they get their feathers unless you keep them in the house and keep the temp pretty warm in there.  We keep chicks just in a kiddie pool with the heat lamp hanging over top on one side, but they start hopping out after a few weeks. I didn't care much if there were rogue chicks in the garage, but probably wouldn't want that in the house.

If I was in town and making a coop, I would do a tractor coop (one that has wheels on one side, so you can move it around) or at least make it easily portable.  A PVC pipe run probably would be.  Chickens are highly destructive and tear up the yard in the run until it's just mud with holes. My chickens even put big holes in the hard packed gravel barn aisle!  If you move it around they get fresh grass and bugs and you can repair the old spot. 

[jenpen]

If you're considering a rooster in an urban area, check your local ordinances. Many allow only female chickens (roosters are considered a noise nuisance in town).

[Tiny]

If one of your chicks turns out to be a rooster and your neighbors don't mind the crowing and you think you want to keep it because it gets along so well with everyone (it has known since it was a chick) - be aware the rooster may consider you and people he's familiar with as "OK"... everyone else is an intruder and will be dealt like one in scary Rooster fashion. Really, it will try to kill anyone it doesn't recognize - it remembers the age of dinosaurs.  (maybe my siblings rooster was just overly attached to the house and people who were around all the time....it tried to eat (ok ATTACK!!!) the mailman who was covering for the regular mailman. ) 

[NastyWoman]

Mar 19, 2023 14:31:36 GMT -5 Tiny said:

If one of your chicks turns out to be a rooster and your neighbors don't mind the crowing and you think you want to keep it because it gets along so well with everyone (it has known since it was a chick) - be aware the rooster may consider you and people he's familiar with as "OK"... everyone else is an intruder and will be dealt like one in scary Rooster fashion. Really, it will try to kill anyone it doesn't recognize - it remembers the age of dinosaurs.  (maybe my siblings rooster was just overly attached to the house and people who were around all the time....it tried to eat (ok ATTACK!!!) the mailman who was covering for the regular mailman. ) 

Am I the only one that now misses MPLs psycho rooster stories?

[raeoflyte]

I'd get pullets that are closer to laying age and can go outside right away. Watch craigslist for coops or if you're handy there are definitely free plans you can download. We started with a portable a-frame coop that we got for free from a friend who was upgrading. We used to let the chickens free range which led to a couple "great chicken massacres" over the years.

It's not cheaper than buying the good (expensive) eggs. Think about what you will do with them when they stop laying. Are you willing to keep non-laying hens for years and if not, do you have places to rehome them? Its not like re-homing a dog but small family farms can only take (and pay to support) so many non-laying hens.