Chook Me!

question? please help??!! 10 points to best answer!?

you don't have to answer all of my questions, but I have some chicken questions. I am going to be a beginner chicken owner, and I have a couple of questions. First of all is the polyethylene, galvanized or plastic waterer better? Also what size would be the best for about 4-7 chickens? The sizes are 6, 14, 2, 4, 8, 5, or 7 gallon waterers. Also does mcmurray hatchery carry welsummer chickens? Is it ok to just leave the chickens in a large pen with the coop in it and they can just roam wherever. I would lock them up at night in the small run with enclosed top with coop. For the large pen and small run with enclosed top should I use non-climb horse fencing, welded wire, or poultry netting? like I said before it is ok if you cant answer all of the questions, just answering one is fine! all advice is greatly appreciated! thank you so much!!!

Public Comments

1. 2 gallons of water and you should have a coop for them to go in and out of and as a tip let the grass dry of dew before you let them out . i hope it helps p.s pleas for me name one daisy pleas and good luck
2. Lol- well, at least youre doing your research. With the waterers- I dont think it really makes a difference. I would be worried about metal heating up, but plastic probably would anyway. Our chooks always had a metal bucket of water, and a plastic tub of water, and they never had any issues, you just have to clean them out every now and again to make sure your chickens are getting clean water. For 4-7 chickens you probably wouldnt need a huge waterer- but im not sure about the size of them because I dont know the gallon measurements. Maybe a 5 gallon one? We always just had opened containers- If your chickens are going to be out in a run most of the day you could have a tub of water for them outside and one of those smaller waterers inside. Im not a big fan of the waterers much because the chooks put dust into the dish and the water gets dirty really quickly- you also have to fill it more often. Getting a good feeder is important, though, We had one that the chickens have to peck to get the feed- it saved us a tonne of money because it stops vermin from getting into the feeder, and it also stops unwanted things eating the food that is readily avaliable. We used to have a large flock of sparrows who would regularly come and eat half the chook food until we invested in a good feeder. I dont know about the hatchery because I live in Australia. Its prefect to let your chooks roam and then just pen them at night. If you keep them in a covered enclosure you can stop the chickens from flying out (it can happen) and other predators (especially hawks) from getting in when youre not there to supervise. I dont know much about the horse fencing- we have always used chicken wire. I would be suspiscious of netting because I would get scared that the birds could get tangled in it easily. It would be ok for the roof, though. Hope this helped.