Considering chickens
 

Are there better laying hens for low desert? What kind should I look for?
I'm looking at building something like this.

http://www.chicken-coop.co.uk/images...ttage%20II.jpg

Re: Considering chickens
 

Also interested. How loud, how stinky?

Re: Considering chickens
 

[QUOTE=EE_;2152757]Are there better laying hens for low desert? What kind should I look for?
I'm looking at building something like this.

QUOTE]

I think the "rule of thumb" is 4 square feet per bird, anything less than that and I bet you will see problems with them getting after each other. Sooooo, I wouldn't plan on having too big a "herd" in that coop. While it is cute, you may want to supersize it!

Re: Considering chickens
 

sad, funny or frustrating:

Re: Considering chickens
 

Keep their coop clean and you won't even know they are there.

Hens you can hear maybe 75-100 yards away when they are talking, roosters every bit of 1/4 mile maybe 1/2 mile depending upon wind direction and terrain. If your neighbors are close, they currently like you, you like them and you want to stay friends, you may not want to get a rooster. Contrary to popular belief, it's not just an early morning thing, it's any time of day when he wants to prove himself.

Re: Considering chickens
 

You will want to check the breed of bird. Get one that is somewhat heat tolerant.

We have 13, and the pen in approx 40x50. It does get stinky when it rains.

Re: Considering chickens
 

Here's a site that has good info and to purchase chicks. (cold or heat tolerant)

http://www.mypetchicken.com/default.aspx

Re: Considering chickens
 

In a city setting you might consider buying bantams, as they are smaller and more docile than larger breeds. Silkie bantams come to mind, as well as cochins. Roosters can be a problem, but 1 ought to be ok if you get a maternal breed. Just give your neighbors eggs, and theyll smile when they hear your rooster crow.

Re: Considering chickens
 

My little tractor has about 10 s.f. of floor space and three nesting boxes. My chickens rarely use the nesting boxes and prefer to lay their eggs on the ground under the floor of the tractor. What is nice about a tractor is that it is very easy to move to fresh ground so you don't end up with dead grass. I have a run attached that is 4 foot wide by 8 foot long. I currently have two birds in mine but believe that I could keep up to 6 with no problems.

As far as sound goes, my hens are very quiet - I live on a few acres but even in a suburban neighborhood they would not disturb neighbors - rooster is probably a different story (I've never had one).

As far as smell goes - yes they stink - last fall I put them in the garage for an extended weekend and regretted it. It takes about 2 weeks for my coop to get dirty enough that I need to change the litter. I have never smelled an odor from outside but when you open the door to the tractor after a week or two it definitely smells bad.

IMHO they are much easier to keep than a cat or dog (and cheaper) - similar to keeping fish (require about the same amount of work).

Re: Considering chickens
 

http://www.backyardchickens.com has lots of information and plans for tractors.
http://www.thecitychicken.com/ likewise.

There are lots of others.

Re: Considering chickens
 

I can hear the neighbors roo from more than 1/3 mile away.

Even at 2 arces for us, and 4 for the neighbor, he came to the fence the other day and informed my that my rooster was 'broken' and couldn't tell time.

Re: Considering chickens
 

Yeah I think in any suburban type neighborhood setting you might want to avoid roosters.
One of my neighbors gets mad if I cut "his" grass by a few inches with my lawn tractor (the grass in question is actually an easment between us) - has also scolded me for trimming "his" trees when the limbs grow into my yard and hit me in the head when I mow (again the trees in question were on a cemetary's property not his). If he could find any reason that my chickens are offensive I would have heard from him by now. He did come over when I first put them out and so far all he has said is that they are "pretty cool". I have a hard time imagining how a few hens could really bother anyone.

Re: Considering chickens
 

I have friends who have 4 hens (no roosters) in their city backyard. They do let the hens out most days for a couple of hours before sunset. When the sun starts to set, they come back in a single file line.

Other than scooping out the poop, they say it is pretty easy. The only downside occurs when the hens are out and they need to get them back in the coop. Hens are not very cooperative. They can fly, but only for short distances, atleast, my friend says so.

If you have a garden, let the hens go wild in there. Theywill eat the bugs off the plants.

I have been considering getting some for my property. At mypetchicken.com they have all the materials you need (feed, cages (cheap), hens. . .everything).

The Great Ag

The Great Ag

Re: Considering chickens
 

We have 15 young hens that all began laying early this fall. Wife just added up the eggs for the past month, and they laid 69.25/week average. She has enough people that buy them that we have to be careful to keep some for ourselves.

Re: Considering chickens
 

The Great Ag, chickens let into the garden when there are veggies present will peck holes in and eat your veggies. They leave holes in tomatoes, peppers and squash, they like bean plants, and will eat a row of lettuce in minutes. We allow ours to scratch around in there in winter, but in summer you have to keep them out.

Sell a few eggs to pay for feed, and have free eggs and chicken crap for the garden. They are also funny to watch running around the yard, esp if youve had a few heinekens.

:23_31_2:

Re: Considering chickens
 

Do it! They are the most rewarding pets I've ever had: they're so funny and peaceful to watch, and then of course, there's the eggs. We have 17 hens in a suburban setting, and have no problems with neighbors, noise or smell. We have basically a double lot, about 3/4 acre, but our house is the exception: we're surrounded by 2-story tract homes on postage stamp lots. But the neighbors seem to enjoy looking at our chickens and stop and watch them as they pass by when they're out for a walk.

We first got a coop similar to the one you show, minus the yard enclosure, as we don't have much of a predator problem so they get let out to free-range all day. Then we had to build another coop because we got more chickens. Then a third; now we have a shantytown going. So I'd recommend getting a bigger coop than you expect to need, and that same advice was echoed all over the BYC site too so it seems to be a common theme...chickens are addictive! And there are economies of scale, having 8 probably isn't much more work or cost than 2 or 4.

We clean their coops about once or twice a month (more in the summer, but it's been so rainy lately it's hard to get out there). I notice the smell only when I stick my head into the coop to collect eggs when it's due for a cleaning. Some of ours are louder than others, some breeds like our buff orps and easter eggers seem generally quieter than some others like RIRs or orange comets. It could be more due to the individual hen than the breed though; I'm really not sure. We have one barred rock that never makes a sound, and another that has a loud tragic honk like a goose.

As for predators, we have had a couple of birds vanish, probably lost to the hawks. It's sad, but even so I wouldn't keep them caged up their whole lives. Others may need better protection for them; as I've said, I don't have many predators to contend with where I'm at. Even so they definitely need a very secure coop at night. Raccoons and other predators will easily tear through chicken wire, so stout h/w cloth is a must.

Definitely check out the chicken sites for more info. And let us know what you decide.

Re: Considering chickens
 

You would want to secure the run from the bottom, maybe with some type of ground covering to keep them safe in this type of a coop. I've read many horror stories on BYC about animals digging under the wall to get at the chickens. Dogs, weasels and other animals would definitely dig to get at the chickens if they can. A segment of h/w cloth on the bottom would eliminate that risk if the coop is to be placed on the ground.

Re: Considering chickens
 

About forty years ago I worked at a show chicken farm every day after my 8-4 job and on the weekends and I tell you after a week or two, even with daily showers and sometimes two, a guy started to smell like a chicken all the time. This guy had over a thousand chickens and there was something to do constantly. Clean brooder houses, culling, castrating, turning eggs under heat lamps, tending to flocks of chicks, trimming wing feathers, cleaning chickens that were going to show, etc. etc. The busiest part-time job I ever had but it paid pretty good. But the best part of it was that I got the pick of what was culled and I always had fresh chicken and layers for eggs.

Thanks for this thread - I am inspired! I have 3/4 of an acre out back of the barn and I think I will go back to tending chickens :yippee:

Re: Considering chickens
 

I am planning on it right now too!
I only want 3 to 5 hens. I will design something similar to the picture I posted, only with a bigger run.
My yard is fenced but I will probably take extra precautions and let the wire mesh run under the fence (about a foot) to be buried for digging varments.
I'm hoping to get away from work soon for a couple weeks to build it.
The wife will be picking out/buying the chicks and tending to them...I'll be eating the yummy eggs!

Re: Considering chickens
 

Sounds good, EE. Cassandra is right about varmints so yeah make sure and bury some heavy hardware cloth or staggered hog wire (to make the holes smaller).

I only want a few for laying too. I might get bantams. Good luck!