Backyard Chicken Keeping: There's Poop Everywhere!

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Pet Island > Backyard Chicken Keeping: There's Poop Everywhere!

bewbies: Sep 23, 2003; Fun Shoe

I love your reason for deciding to get chickens in the first place.

I usually buy eggs at the local farmer's market for around $4 a dozen, which kills me as its 4x more than the crap at Wal-Mart, but they are so, so much better. Could you estimate your total cost per egg? Like, cost of chicken + feed + your time caring for them + whatever else I don't know?

Also from somewhere I got that chickens are particularly foul livestock (no pun) in terms of smell and whatnot, is that accurate?

# ¿ Jun 9, 2011 04:37

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# ¿ May 4, 2024 23:51

bewbies: Sep 23, 2003; Fun Shoe

So I've been looking for this thread for a few days. I finally find it this morning and open it up and lo and behold I'd made a post on the first page like 3 years ago. Ha.

Anyway, I've finally decided to go ahead do the chickens thing. I'd like to get 4-5 egg layers, probably chicks. I've drawn up a plan for a coop and run, the coop is 4'x5'x4', the run is 9x5. Is that going to be enough space for that many hens?

I assume things will be ok if I don't bury hardware cloth in the ground? I was going to make a "mobile" coop I live in the middle of a medium sized city and I don't think there are any predators around here other than a handful of cats.

I do know that I'll need to protect the chicks while they're brooding; does anyone have a good cheap idea for a cat proof brooder? I'm going to be keeping them in my garage; the average daytime high around here for the next month is in the mid 90s, should I still do a heat lamp setup?

The local chicken selection seems pretty poor. Is there a well regarded online chicken operation that will ship only 5 chicks?

# ¿ Jun 18, 2014 14:58

bewbies: Sep 23, 2003; Fun Shoe

Velvet Sparrow posted:

Space--roughly 4 square feet per bird, more spce is always better to cut down on issues like squabbles, feather picking, bullying, etc.

Should you bury the wire? YES. Predators and vermin work very hard, usually while you and the birds are sleeping, to get a chicken dinner or to the chicken's food. I can't tell you how many sad stories I've heard from people who say, 'I wish I had listened...' If you choose NOT to bury the wire in the run, make sure your birds are cooped securely every single night to protect them (a coop and a run are two different things).

Depending on how old your chicks are and how warm your daytime temps are, you MAY be able to skate by without a brooder light during the day--but you'll need a heat source at night anyway, so I'd get one and use it.

Online supplier of small numbers of chicks-- https://mypetchicken.com. Pricier than regular hatcheries because they have to add a heat pack to the shipping box.

Thanks, couple more questions:

I am usually out of town for work at least 2 nights a week. Will the chickens be ok if I just leave them in the run overnight, and not put them into the coop? Or will they just go in the coop on their own? Also, we have a couple of cats that run around...will they keep the nasties like racoons and rats away? I've never seen anything in my yard other than the cats.

I have a pretty substantial vegetable garden and I'd like to let the chickens have the run of my yard when I'm around...will I have to protect my garden from them? If so, what is the easiest/cheapest way to do this?

# ¿ Jun 19, 2014 14:49

bewbies: Sep 23, 2003; Fun Shoe

This seems like a pretty good deal. I was going to build my own coop but this costs about the same as what I priced out today and is way nicer than anything I could ever do. The issue is size...is it going to be too small for 5 chickens? If so, if you were me, would you build the coop yourself, or buy this one and reduce the flock to 3 or 4?

# ¿ Jul 12, 2014 00:24

bewbies: Sep 23, 2003; Fun Shoe

So I got my chicks off the internet about 6 weeks ago, they were "guaranteed" to all be female. I am starting to think that one is a rooster: (s)he is, I think, a Rhode Island Red, bigger than the other RIR chick I got, and has a much larger and redder comb. Plus (s)he really acts like in charge of everything.

Is there an easy way to tell for sure at this stage?

Here's a bad pic, offending potential rooster is closer to the camera.

# ¿ Jul 29, 2014 15:13

bewbies: Sep 23, 2003; Fun Shoe

At what point is it alright for me to just let my chickens out and about in my yard? We have cats around but no dogs or other predators and my backyard is fully fenced in and where they are is not visible from anywhere other than my back window. They're about 6 weeks old at this point and are maybe the size of a pigeon.

# ¿ Aug 3, 2014 17:10

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# ¿ May 4, 2024 23:51

bewbies: Sep 23, 2003; Fun Shoe

My neighbors utterly horrible dachsund got into our backyard when my chickens were out and about and hurt one of them pretty badly. My girlfriend who has gotten very attached to the chickens saw it and went full mama-bear on the dog and chased it down the street with a hockey stick. Chicken had a huge wound on her back and lost all but one tail feather...I was pretty sure she wasn't gonna make it. Gave her some aspirin and cleaned/disinfected the wound and put her in a little bed so she'd be comfy as she expired.

As of today she's running around with the flock just like nothing is wrong and her wound has healed so well it is almost gone. She has a little limp but otherwise seems just fine.

In conclusion I did not realize how tough chickens are.

# ¿ Sep 10, 2014 15:49

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Pet Island > Backyard Chicken Keeping: There's Poop Everywhere!