First day of summer, and the day before the arrival of 25 20-week-old, ready-to-lay Shaver Red Sex Link CHICKENS. Clearly, time to begin building out their new home. It shouldn’t take too long! :) Working on and off through the day, the frame went up, and by early evening, the plywood flooring is down, the door is built (on the right) and even a first plywood panel is up. A little more work tomorrow, and we should be good to go. No problem!
Ah HA! That’s the old farm stand we recognize there!
Ingenious use of available resources that is :)
EtienneG: Yes, indeed, repurposed. In all, that ends up being a fairly costly chickenhouse, built on a pile of rough-cut cedar with a zillion screws! But it is recycled. :)
Hey, can you explain what I’m seeing in your photo? I’d like to raise some chickens for eggs, but have no idea how to start.
-What is the room off to the right in the photo for? Do I need to build one?
-We have chicken snakes down here. Do you(?), and if you do, how do you protect your eggs from them?
-We also have coyotes and foxes. Will that chicken wire you are using keep them out?
I ask because the place that I’m hoping to build a coop is about 200 yards from the house, so the chickens will pretty much be on their own when trouble strikes. I’d like to give them a fighting chance.
Kevin: I’m not nearly an expert source of chicken info, this is only my second round of chickens, first was last season. I recommend doing a little reading to start, that’s always a good idea. You can try this Raising chickens 101 page, and there’s TONS more helpful chicken raising stuff online. Getting a book is also good. My one chicken book is Storey’s Guide to Raising Chickens. Storey is a publisher that I’ve found to be reliable for farm stuff.
In the pic, it’s just a double shed. It used to be an open-sided roadside veggie stand, and we added walls. Each room is 8’x10′. Still have to add windows and a chicken doors (there’s temporary ventilation and light through openings just below the roof on the back). One side is for the meat birds, the other for the laying hens.
We’ve so far allowing the meat birds to roam freely during the day. Nothing’s taken a run at them yet, but a fence will have to go up soon, as they’re roaming further from home every day.
A secure chicken coop and fencing is the usual way of protecting them from various predators. You can get details about the standard ways, online and in a good chicken book.
Hope that helps! Get chickens!! ;)
We’ve had chickens for years, and have had some seasons when we lose a few to hawks and foxes. When ours are out ranging, we like to make sure the have something to hide under if a hawk comes over. At night we close up the coop and rarely have any trouble.
In the past I had a chicken run that was covered with poultry wire. To keep things from burrowing under, I dug a trench around the perimeter, and put my wire down in it. Then I filled the trench with quickrete, and let it cure before covering it with dirt. Sounds extreme, but I never lost a chicken in that run.
Where did you get your shaver reds?