View Full Version : Chickens and other backyard animal ideas.
So, finally renting a house at least. Would like to buy but still not nailed down on location career wise. In the meantime finally renting a house. With that opportunity I figured you know, actually getting a dog. Problem is lease is pretty restrictive on breed outside the usual obvious ones. I also can't have reptiles period. (Because a snake in their apartment properties crawled up someones toilet...) I think I'm also restricted on like parrots. (Problem in a apartment but shouldn't be in a house.) Either way is ending up pretty limited on some of my choices for some animals/pets to keep. (Aside from my 125 and 55g Reef tanks.)
So one idea I had was perhaps Chickens. But I was looking for advice from anyone that may have these in a more small town instead of rural setting. Will be moving to miliken, and I think they are allowed. Thought I saw a house with some. I like the idea of chickens because they can be semi trained, become friendly/handleable, and bonus: Eggs for my ramen etc. Figured 1-2, possibly 3 or 4 depending on logistics.
My concerns are just the impact on the yard. Can I free range them sorta if I wing clip them. (Or will they still get over fences.) Or am I forced to do a covered run or chicken tractor. (Something that needs more land than just a backyard. The people I've seen with them are usually going more hardcore with close to a dozen chickens. I'd like to keep it very limited to limit the affect on the yard as well as keep it closer to pets than being a craigslist egg selling extravaganza.
So chicken advice or other suggestions what to do w/ my new found space?
I kinda laughed at the idea of turkey. But I'd want to deep fry it. Ducks's tasty too. Wouldn't ducks maybe be too noisy? Aside from 3 hens was going to pass on a rooster since I do have neighbors.
You'll want to determine the variety and breed, depending on what you're looking to spend. Many heirloom varieties are quite hearty in the cold temps that we get in the wintertime, and you're going to want to be sure you can keep them protected from predators.
Chickens need a flock. One chicken is going to be a very lonely chicken. Three chickens create a nice little flock. Check your municipal codes as well; most of them allow for chickens.
You'll need a shelter and to prepare yourself a brooder; chickens are usually started as day-old and require heat (but not TOO much heat) and plenty of fresh water and feed.
ow much land do you have available? Chickens love to eat grass, plants, bugs (and depending on the breed, mice.) This is good for your yard and vegetable garden, but some chickens enjoy tender garden plants with the rest of the critters. A fenced-in area will also be beneficial in the event of coyotes, fox, cats, loose dogs and birds of prey.
I do have advantage another supervisor/friend at work has a mini farm going now almost out near Nunn, and now has chickens, supposedly up to like a 100? Think exaggeration but I know at least like 20. So imagine he can help me some. So many breeds but Opringtons sound good? Looking around laughed my ass off when I saw chicken diapers for indoor chickens. Since I posted did figure out I need 2-3. (Unless I pull a crazy cat lady and keep a diapered bird with me, but I don't think we'll go there.) Kinda standard middle class yard. Grass to the fence, havn't move in yet so can't remember if there was a rocky/dusty area that would be ideal for a coop. I'd love it if I could get away with a small coop I can close at night for 3 birds and have them loose in the yard during the day. (Predation an issue though.)
Orpingtons are a very good breed, and having a friend with a mini farm is terrific for providing some stock as well as advice.
The fact that you're renting means you'll have to clear it with the landlord (I'd imagine), but as long as you can reassure them you're not going to have diapered chickens roaming through the house, and you're not going to have roosters, I can't imagine what their objections would be.
Predation is a big issue; what kind of fence does the yard have?
There's a lot of chicken coop plans available online.
Standard suburban type fence, 6 or 8ft ish. Only got to see the place once before I was debating something like this. (Was thinking more dog, but I'm limited to pretty much useless yap yap's.) I've also got such a huge open unfinished basement wish I could put that good use. Insane roommate briefly considered handgun ran before I smacked him. I did see/hear of a long while back someone who had a roost built into a corner of the basement that went through the dugout/side basement window up a ladder into the yard. (Window could still open/close.)
Yap yaps definitely have their place- those little ankle biters are one of the best burglar alarms around.
The idea of a roost built into the basement with a window access makes me a little uneasy, personally. Chicken poo can be whiffy, and if a chicken can get in the house, it also stands to reason that other things may follow.
How long do you look to rent there?
At least a year, that is the other concern, so a coop would have to be transportable, or if I moved to somewhere else I couldn't have them I could turn around and sell. THat's why I had the concern for turning the yard into a dust bowl since it is a rental. (Hoping full yard access it will be ok, vs if they had a 20 foot coop/run built on the lawn obviously that area would get torn up bad. )
Let me dig around. I think I have plans for a portable chicken coop stashed somewhere that I can PM you when I find it. I've been considering doing the chicken thing, too- but I know it's going to cost some initial money, so I'm planning for 2014 or 2015.
Actually, I think I saw it in a magazine. They call them "Chicken Tractors" and this is a good site that has a lot of pictures to give you an idea.
http://www.backyardchickens.com/a/chicken-tractors-mobile-chicken-coop-designs
Clearly, the people that have little houses with a porch and trim are a little more rabid about their pet chickens than others....
I also can't have reptiles period.
Concealed means CONCEALED.....precious few reptiles bark: how would the landlord know?
I wouldn't put it past them to have an inspection or two during my stay. Just based on the bad reviews I've seen on them in that other thread about land management places. Also, as far as reptiles I was interested in monitor's maybe another iguana, so kinda needs a lot of area/space/equipment vs a simple snake/small lizard setup. Though I do kinda miss leopard gecko's.
One of my renters got a chicken. I wasn't too happy about it but he bbq'd the next weekend and it wasn't around.
Also quail and pheasant should be considered
rabbit?
They can't enter without 24 hour notice unless it's an emergency.
Just curious but if a landlord is this restrictive why not find a different place to live?
Not a lot of options up here for house rentals. Especially working with window of current lease being up. No rabbits is also on the list. (I agree shit way too much.)
palepainter
06-01-2013, 09:51
I have had a flock of 30 for about 4 years now. Mixed group of breeds. Orpingtons, RI Reds, Brahmas. Easter Eggers, NH Red, Red and Black Stars. Avoid the smaller dainty imports like the Egyptian Fayomous. Not great egg layers and do not like the climate all that well. We produce close to 20 eggs a day with 3 roosters.
They are good for insect control, but do gravitate towards fresh new greens, no matter what they may be. They also manage mouse population quite well out here in the country. If you have ever seen a group of chickens devour a mouse, you know the inner dinosaur in them exists.
Our roosters do not have the piercing calls that some breeds do. All of our males are Brahmas. Kind of a muffled, low call.
The coup is a 8x6 custom built by myself, with roosting for all of them, as well as a egg laying area. Lots of ventilation is a must. No heat is needed in the winter with adults. Infact, the year I ran heat, I had deaths in the flock from Merrick's disease. good cleaning of the coup is a must, great job for the shorties. All in all, I recommend chickens for many reasons. We are completely sustainable from the flock we have if SHTF.
ChunkyMonkey
06-01-2013, 10:11
I have had a flock of 30 for about 4 years now. Mixed group of breeds. Orpingtons, RI Reds, Brahmas. Easter Eggers, NH Red, Red and Black Stars. Avoid the smaller dainty imports like the Egyptian Fayomous. Not great egg layers and do not like the climate all that well. We produce close to 20 eggs a day with 3 roosters.
They are good for insect control, but do gravitate towards fresh new greens, no matter what they may be. They also manage mouse population quite well out here in the country. If you have ever seen a group of chickens devour a mouse, you know the inner dinosaur in them exists.
Our roosters do not have the piercing calls that some breeds do. All of our males are Brahmas. Kind of a muffled, low call.
The coup is a 8x6 custom built by myself, with roosting for all of them, as well as a egg laying area. Lots of ventilation is a must. No heat is needed in the winter with adults. Infact, the year I ran heat, I had deaths in the flock from Merrick's disease. good cleaning of the coup is a must, great job for the shorties. All in all, I recommend chickens for many reasons. We are completely sustainable from the flock we have if SHTF.
Pict of the coop please.
Bwa ahaha. Hope to avoid doing this.
http://static2.mypetchicken.com/images/product_images/Large/MPC-product-diaper-on-chicken.jpghttp://19sunset.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/chicken-diaper-1.jpg
You could always buy s chicken tractor. They're pricey but will save you hastle. Try cconly.com.
As for the basement I would advise against as the poop can cause various lung diseases.
How about a Pygmy goat?
Then you won't need a lawn mower.
Someone suggested the goat. I kinda hate them. Not sure if they are allowed either. Tractor I was thinking of, but I'm under the impression with just a back lawn, if they are cooped up in that small area, even moving daily (tedious) they'd still shred the lawn.
JohnTRourke
06-01-2013, 15:26
Chickens 101
Chickens can be wonderful pets. They are incredibly entertaining and can even make your breakfast However, some common concerns people have about raising chickens include them running wild in the streets, being smelly, noisy and attracting predators. The City of Boulder has allowed chickens for quite a while now, and I’ve never seen one running down Pearl Street Mall. Smelly? Not necessarily. Noisy? They are much quieter than a barking dog. Attracting predators? Well those predators are already here and in any city. With proper and responsible management most of the concerns raised can be avoided and anyone can raise chickens. However, chickens aren’t appropriate for everybody. Not everybody is going to want them or be able to care for them.
Longmont permits up to 4 chickens and in Boulder County, 50 chickens are the equivalent of one Animal Unit (AU). Most cities have differing laws on how many chickens are allowed in a backyard, and you should check with your appropriate city agency for you to see if they are allowed and if so what conditions are placed upon them.
Egg production –So how many chickens do you need to feed your family? First, chickens are flock animals so don’t ever get only one chicken. Chickens can lay 1 egg a day once they reach adulthood at approximately 18-22 weeks old. Their egg cycle is approximately 25 hours. They are born with approximately 1000 ovum, meaning that they have the potential of laying only about 1000 eggs in their lifetime. As they get older they also decrease in productivity. So you can expect good production from a chicken for only about 2 to 2.5 years. They will lay for longer but a lot fewer eggs making them less economical to keep because their food ration remains the same.
Some chickens are bred to be high producing layers like the Leghorn, and the Red and Black Star breeds and you will get nearly an egg a day from them. Some of the more traditional dual purpose breeds like the Orpingtons lay fewer, 3-5 eggs a week on average. If you have an average mixed breed flock, plan on a 75% lay rate everyday; so if you want 4 eggs a day you should have approximately 6 laying chickens.
Just like us, chickens do not produce well when they are too hot or too cold. They can also slow down or completely stop production in the winter because they require about 14 hours of light a day. Some people supplement their light by adding a small light to their coop that comes on early in the morning to extend their day. Others choose to let their chickens have their natural rest over the winter. Other things can affect their rate of lay such as stress, molting, health, age, weather, lack of water, etc.
Note that you do not need a rooster for the chickens to lay eggs. Chickens will lay just fine without a rooster and most cities don’t allow roosters anyway. The only difference is that without a rooster, the egg is not fertilized and will not hatch.
Space - How much space a chicken requires depends on the breed of chicken you choose; heavy breeds like Orpingtons, Rocks, Australorps, and Jersey Giants require 4 sq ft. of coop space per bird while regular size breeds like Leghorns, Red Stars or Araucanas require only about 3 sq ft per bird and Bantam breeds only require 2 sq. ft.
The rule of thumb for run space (the fenced area that chickens can play in) should be about 10 sq feet per bird. This gives them room to dust bathe, play and stretch their wings a bit. The more they are out in the run the less they are inside soiling their coop so it’s a good idea to have a nice run for them to spend their day in.
You might think you can get away with a smaller area per bird, but that’s when trouble starts. Cramped chickens are not happy chickens. If chickens are overcrowded in a small space they start picking at each other causing bleeding and possibly even death. The coop will start to smell bad as litter management is difficult if there are too many birds in a small space.
Safety - Protecting your chickens from harm is an important responsibility. Coops should be good solid predator-safe houses. They need to be safe from dogs, foxes, snakes, skunks and coyotes (yes, there are coyotes even in the city). Many people have lost most their flock due to flimsily built coops and runs. Chickens will naturally return to the roost at dusk. So all you need to do is shut and lock the door after the sun goes down. It’s important that you lock them safely in their coops at dusk. No exceptions here, it only takes leaving the door open once to lose your entire flock.
The runs also need to be secure and need to be safe from flying and climbing predators such as hawks and owls. The modern day chicken wire has become too flimsy to keep out most predators. I’d suggest that you use welded wire and bury about a foot of wire into the ground or fold it out about a foot along the ground around the run to deter digging predators.
Feed - A good quality feed is critical for chickens. Chicks need a different feed than laying chickens. Baby chicks need to be eating starter feed until about 18 weeks of age. This feed is low in calcium which they don’t currently need and feeding them the layer ration will give them too much calcium that could endanger their kidneys.
Laying chickens need a good quality layer ration; this will give them the added necessary nutrients needed for egg production. Even with the added nutrients they will probably need additional calcium for shell strength. Most people feed crushed oyster shells in a separate feeder so they can eat what they need when they need it
Water is a critical part of chicken feeding. It’s important that they always have plenty of clean fresh water available. Never let them run out as it could take a week or more to recover after only a very short time without water. Laying eggs uses a lot of water, letting a chicken run out of water can easily and quickly lead to death.
Scratch is the chicken equivalent of candy to humans. Feeding just scratch grains is not a sufficient source of nutrients for chickens. It’s also not good to feed too much scratch in the summer as it may cause them to overheat. Chickens love scratch and if you need to move them around, just throw a little scratch wherever you want them to go.
Chickens love treats, they eat a lot of the leftovers and scraps from the kitchen and they LOVE green grass. Letting them out to play in the backyard or pasture is good for them and hugely entertaining to watch. Free ranging may not be allowed by city ordinance so giving them handfuls of green grass will do.
Litter management - With proper management, you shouldn’t have to change the litter more than just a few times a year. Many people use pine shavings, they absorb the moisture and have the fresh pine smell. The chickens keep the littler fluffed up and you can aid in that by throwing a handful of scratch in the litter and they’ll search for seeds. Pine shavings also work well in the nesting boxes and you get much cleaner eggs from using shavings in the nesting boxes.
Other people like to use straw. The problem with straw is it gets smashed down and with the chicken droppings adding to it constantly you end up with something close to adobe. It’s very hard to clean up once it gets to this state.
With shavings you just put down about 4” or so, and as they soil the bedding, just mix it up and add a few inches of fresh shavings. This is actually a very beneficial way of handling the litter. It’s called the Deep Litter Method and I’d recommend you research it more as you decide how you want to handle the litter issue.
Noise- Chickens are not very noisy. They do bawk and squawk when they lay an egg, and I don’t blame them. But that’s about all you hear out of them. They are much quieter than barking dogs for sure and because they don’t lay at night, they make no noise after dark. There are however, some breeds that are noisier than others or the rare chicken who just can’t stop talking but those are exception rather than the rule. Roosters, of course, like to crow, whenever it is light out. They are very proud of being roosters and want the whole world to know it. But since most city ordinances don’t allow Roosters, this usually isn’t a problem.
Weather- Temperature can play havoc on chickens. There are some breeds that are better suited for cold winter weather than others. Your major concern here is keeping the water from freezing; adding a red heat lamp over the water supply to keep it thawed and also helps keep the coop a little warmer. You can also purchase heated waterers or heat pans that go under them.
Heat can be more of a problem than cold; after all they do have feathers to stay warm. Make sure they have a shaded area to get out of the sun, plenty of fresh water and well ventilated coop. Avoid feeding them scratch in the summer.
How to choose a chicken? There is a lot of information on choosing the right Chicken breed to meet your objective. Once you decide what your goal is, whether is be just for fun, egg production, or meat or both, then you can find many sources that will outline some of the basic breeds that meet those criteria. The best chart I’ve found that outlines most of these traits is the Henderson Chicken Chart and it is available online at: http://www.ithaca.edu/staff/jhenderson/chooks/chooks.html .
There is much to learn and know about raising chickens. More than can be covered in this short article. I recommend that you take the time to research chickens to decide if they are a good fit for you or not. It took me about 2 years of research before I managed to beat my husband over the head with all my knowledge so he would let me start my chicken venture.
Chickens don’t have to be as difficult as some people think. For those who have the minimal time and energy to put into raising them it can be very rewarding. They do require proper management to avoid the pit falls but their eggs are wonderful and fresh and you don’t have to go to the store to get them.
Resources:
Storey’s Guide to Rising Chickens by Gail Damarow
http://www.ithaca.edu/staff/jhenderson/chooks/chooks.html
http://animalscience.ucdavis.edu/Avian/pfs36.pdf
http://www.poultry.uga.edu/extension/tips/index.htm
My niece has chickens that her husband has the coop all hooked up to wifi. He can feed them, turn on the heat lamps, water them, and close the coop at night all from his I-Phone. He even has a camera in there so he can count them before shutting the door at night. I told him he should put in one of those grab cranes and we could try to catch them. He then thought a bought a app and was going to call it Pluck with a Chicken but we figured PETA would be all over him.
Holger Danske
06-01-2013, 18:32
Lurch,
if your neice can share more info I'd like to know more about the setup. Hate going down in a snowstorm to turn on the heat lamps for the birds.
op, of you feed your birds for egg production eg Layena then they will be too tough to eat. Found out the hard way.
As far as the heat lamp issue. Wouldn't a simple line ran to a switch near the house or some other more accessible outbuilding work? Possibly timers for the winter? If you know electronics and programing at all, people are finding amazing cheap things to do with ARDUINO controllers.
palepainter
06-02-2013, 08:05
Checken body temperature runs about 108 degrees. Thirty of them in there gets the temps well into the mid to high 40s even on subzero and single digit days. My coup is double wall insulated. Cedar lined to help with insect infestation. If there were a bug issue, the chickens would take care of that as well. The first year, we used heat and it allowed bacterial to grow in a very closed environment. So I wouldn't worry so much about heat unless you are dealing with hatchlings. In that case, it will only be needed for a few weeks at tops until their feathers take growth. Remember, ventilation is key, even in the cold.
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