New to Homesteading need a chicken coop

[rmhtxdem]

Hello everyone I am new to the forum and this is my first post. I am new to homesteading and made a friend right away who happens to live less than a mile from me . Well I am going to start with some chickens. I do not plan on a lot just a small flock 10 max. Does anyone know where I can get chicken coop plans that work and are functional? I would like something I can move around my yard. I want to let my chickens loose when I am at home afternoons and weekends and somewhere where my chcks will be safe when I am at work.

[kan-green]

Try searching your nearest Craigslist for chicken coops. There are many people building them. You can buy one premade or get ideas to build your own. Also Google chicken coop tractor and see what comes up. I had some bookmarks for some good plans but lost them when I changed phones

[Wolf mom]

Welcome!

Go to:
Livestock Forums > Poultry ..... right here on HT!

Where do you live? Will a chicken tractor work or do you need to put them in a permenant coop when it's -40?

Don't get the chickens untill you have a place to put them. You don't want them living in your bathtub.

Try www.backyardchickens.com .

[RWDitto]

Where are you located?

[rmhtxdem]

Hi everybody and thank you for responding. Kan-green the chicken coop tractor looks really nice. Wolf-mom I should have done that first I think I will do that after posting this. Nimrod and RWDitto, I live in deep South Texas 25 miles from the border with Mexico. It never gets to -40 degrees . Well more reading for me now. My Father in-law gave us our first animal. A lamb so my son and I have lots of work ahead of us now.

[Sanza]

You also need a spot with good shade for the chickens in hot weather, more die from the heat then from the cold.
Welcome to HT and Good luck!

[HilltopDaisy]

I just wanted to say "Hello!!", and Welcome to HT! You will soon see that there is an abundance of wonderful reading material here. There is never enough time in a day to read all the amazing info!

[ninny]

Originally Posted by rmhtxdem

Hello everyone I am new to the forum and this is my first post. I am new to homesteading and made a friend right away who happens to live less than a mile from me . Well I am going to start with some chickens. I do not plan on a lot just a small flock 10 max. Does anyone know where I can get chicken coop plans that work and are functional? I would like something I can move around my yard. I want to let my chickens loose when I am at home afternoons and weekends and somewhere where my chcks will be safe when I am at work.

If I were you I'd cut the number of chickens back to 5. You do realize that if all ten chickens are laying and that's a likely possibility that you'll be getting 70 eggs a week. Can you eat/use 70 eggs a week? And remember, you're gonna have to feed these birds. Just a thought.....

.

[hercsmama]

We are just north of San Antonio, we have 38 laying hens and two Roo's. Get about 14-15 dozen eggs a week. I manage to keep the local food bank supplied pretty well! So unless you have a way of using, selling or donating those extra eggs, I agree, you might want to cut back to no more than 5-6.

[heavyrebel]

1) If you get teh Chickens, You will build a coop..lol. If they come, you will build.

2) Get the 10...the fattest can be good eating if you get a dual purpous bird.

3) Build a tractor that can be moved with a garden tractor if you have one, and over plan it for the moving around ease. We built our first tractor as a seperate entity from the coop...what a pain. Next coop will be a tractor, too, all in one as most everyone, except us, does/did.

4) have fun...chickens are great and easy, IMO.

[Vickie44]

Backyard Chickens website was interesting and links you to other sites. I started with three , now have ten.

Oh, and Welcome!

[DW]

Search the net or go to the library and check out some books. We are getting ready to build a NEW coop and have 2 ideas not decided which one, yet. There are two of us and we are only planning on 5 or 6 hens w/a rooster.

[bergere]

I just picked up a half off, display model storage shed, which will be my new Hen House.
Hate the color but can not beat half off.
Getting the floor sealed and will paint the inside walls white. So it will be very easy to clean.
I will also be putting in a small Hen House yard around it in the next couple of weeks.


Will have 25 chickens again... sell any extra eggs but they are here mainly to keep the nasty bugs and snakes at bay.

Good for you, in having chickens. They are a lot of fun to have around!

[bergere]

Double post... sorry....

[Joshie]

You don't need a shelter designed as a coop. We used a horse stall. I will tell you that we had chickens for a couple years. We got rid of them because they were too expensive and we couldn't even give them away. We never had more than ten to 15. The feed costs alone were $1/bird/week. It takes a good six to ten months of feed before they start producing so if you can find ten month or so old birds you might be in better shape.

You should also consider bedding and lighting costs. We have our own hay so used that. It doesn't work as well as shavings because it forms a mat and doesn't get up the stink as well either but we used what we had.Chickens need light to produce in the winter so I'd include them in a coop design. I would spend little to nothing on a coop at this point in case you find the cost too high. We figured we'd have to charge a good $3- $3.50/dozen to break even. Since grocery store eggs cost $1 or less that wasn't feasible. I put an ad on Craigslist and got one, yes, one response. They weren't willing to drive out here. They said they might have purchased them if we delivered them. <sigh>

[3DayFarm]

What part of south texas are you in, what town? Im from south texas as well

[rmhtxdem]

Thanks again to everyone. I think i am going 4 hens and 1 roo. I found a nice tractor plan I am going to use. Thanks again to everybody.