Chook Me!

Questions about CHICKENS!?

We're needing a little help building a chicken coop/house and keeping it on the cheaper side! So please answer anything that can help! Info that may help: *Located in Oklahoma *We have 4 chickens, and plan to get 2/3 more *We want them to have an "indoor" area *We have a guard dog to keep predators away *They'll just be used for "pets" and fresh eggs 1. Where did you purchase the materials to build your coop? 2. What kind of materials did you use? 3. How much did it cost? 4. Any special advice you have? Thanks! Ten points to most helpful!

Public Comments

1. My dad built my coop for me as a gift, so I can't tell you anything other than how big it is and how it looks. But I know a great website. www.backyardchickens.com they have pics, and blueprints... I love it I go there everyday and learn something new.
2. brahma is the quitest and easiest and most TAME chicken ever!! and they lay all year if u provide light
3. Sorry I really can't help you aside from leaving you this trustful website: www.mcmurrayhatchery.com I bought my chickens from them and I'm guessing they might have materials and products for pens/coops and such. ADVICE - Have you checked your chickens for mites? How to check them: Set your bird down on a flat surface and lift their tail. Check around their butt holes for little white/yellow/clear bugs. Mites are tiny bugs that suck on your chickens' blood. How to get rid of mites: You can buy this powder (they have it on the site that I showed you) that you apply around their butts once a week. Do that until the mites go away for good. How to get rid of the mites in the pen/coop: There's a spray you can buy that you mix with water and spray all around the pen/coop once every thirty days. You have to make sure the food and water it taken out, and that the pen/coop is completely cleaned before doing so. Let air dry for three hours and then you can put everything back in. However, I would wait a day or two before feeding them in there, if you do. FACTS (for the heck of it) - * There should only be one rooster per flock of hens. Two or more will be territorial and fight with each other. * The average hen will lay one egg per day, but depending on the breed every once in a while they may lay two a day. * If you would like the eggshell on your chickens to be harder you can buy them oyster shells at your local feedstore and mix it with the chicken food, or you can just feed them grass. * Fertilized eggs are said to taste better then nonfertilized. * The lifespan for a chicken is around 13 years. * Hens will enter a mode called being "broody" when they're protecting their chicks or sitting on eggs. This makes them act as though they're going to attack you, and it's just a phase. Hope this helps!
4. A picture is worth a 1000 words.... go to: backyardchickens.com You'll find pictures of dozens of coops, birds, forums, plans... you name it!
5. Chicken wire if you want them to have a little "yard of their own".. so about $20-50 at a hardware/lumber store depending on how big your enclosure is maybe more.. Then you'll need Ply wood, some 2X4s, and about 4-- 4X4s for the four corners of their nest house...really it all depends on what you want it to look like, and how big! So it can pretty much be free..or cost as much as $200.. You can scrounge up old lumber laying around, ask neighbors if they have junk wood, old wooden dog houses, or things of that nature that you can assemble and make into a chicken coop...or buy everything new. One of our chicken coops was a old dog house we got from the dump, that was put up 2 feet on old cinder blocks (we had just laying around the property). Then we used five old railroad ties left over from landscaping (standing up right in the ground) to wrap wire around. And with a small galvanised garden gate (also wrapped in wire) we installed it between two posts so we could have a door. We used a chain and clip to keep the door shut, and piled rocks that we found on the property around the bottom of th coop to keep digging intruders out. The other we got out of the newspaper with some chickens. It was about 10WX14LX6T including the nesting house that had a cooling fan, heat lamp, a door above each nest box, a door to get into the nest area, and a door into the little yard..it cost only $175. And was practically brand new, and made of wood and chicken wire. So really it can be as expensive or cheap as you want. --Straw/hay is the cheapest bedding..but it can mold and rott easily if it gets wet, so keep it dry! Also it has no aromatic hydrocarbons that can hurt your chickens respiratory system. Change bedding out frequently, don't let the bedding/nesting material....your coop,... or the nesting boxes, get filled up with poo! This attracts predators, as well as mites and other pests!!
6. We used sawmill lumber. We had laying boxes and roosts. Don't remember how much it cost but it wasn't much. Put a golf ball in each of your laying boxes. This will help your hens to lay in the same spot each time and it is also good for black snakes also called chicken snakes. Snakes will eat golf balls thinking they are eggs. They will then go off and die because they cannot digest the golf ball.
7. my dad built my chicken coop as well. he used a hardwood frame and normal chicken-wire and for the roof he used corrugated iron. we got the materials from our local hardware store. i don't think the materials cost too much, it depends on how large or small you want your coop to be. if you're not the do-it-yourself type, i'm sure there are already-made chicken coops that you can buy online or from your local pet store. (a good site for already-made coops is http://www.citychicks.com.au/c/147151/1/chicken-coops.html) rabbit cages work fine as well, just make sure there is a well-sheltered place for the chickens to sleep in! wooden boxes are good, we filled them with some sawdust or fresh straw for bedding. (make sure the boxes let the chickens get in & out easily!!) some chickens prefer a perch to a box, so make sure there is a sturdy (and preferably sheltered) perch in the coop as well as boxes, as chickens can be fussy and quickly change their minds (personal experience). any advice? well to check they have their bedding changed frequently to prevent mites, as well as fresh water & seed. to prevent mites, we dust them thoroughly with a mite-preventing powder.. which you can find in your local pet store usually. also, (every so often) maybe give them a couple of treats. ours like a small piece of cheese **don't give them TOO much, as they can get a sore stomach** or a small portion of leftovers from dinner. the main thing is (which im sure you do anyway) is show them some love! cuddle them (gently!!)! talk to them! pat them! they love all the attention! and if you're lucky, you'll get some lovely fresh eggs in return! good luck!