Chook Me!

Want to raise chickens. where to start?

ok, we just bought a new house (we re not in it yet), out in the middle of no where lol, with about an acre of land (the land next to us is for sale as well, so possibly within the next year, we will have over 2 acres). my boyfriend and i have been tossing the concept of raising chickens back and forth. There is an old, not used outhouse on the property, that i was thinking of adding onto and making a chicken coop. what i want to know is, what breed of chicken would be suited, for a small flock (im thinking maybe 2-4 chickens), thats located in an area that gets pretty cold in the winter? also, ive had ppl go back and forth about letting them out to roam. i want them too, but im scared of them getting hit by a car. is there anyway to scare them from getting too close to the road? i basically want them for eggs, and keeping slugs, and ticks out of the yard. any suggestions? i do have a site on how to care for them, i just need breed suggestions. THANKS! btw, if and when i do get the birds, it wont be till next year, after we are done fixing our house. i just want to start my research early!

Public Comments

1. If you have just started your search you are going to find there are more breeds and personality's than you can imagine. I can't recommend any one breed they all have qualities i enjoy. Some are naturally noisier, some are breed for egg production, some for setting. I would worry more about protection from predators than from the road, but if the guy across the road mows I would pin them up. After asking my son on a breed he recommends what is nicknamed the Easter egg chicken ( lay all different color of eggs) They are not to loud and are very friendly. cold weather has never been a problem for us but if you want to encourage egg production they will need added light when the days get shorter my grandmother used a night light in her hen house.
2. There is a site called Murray McMurray Hatchery. They have been mailing chickens for 90 years! They have a good catalog that is free. It takes about 3 weeks to get to you. (I am in no way affiliated with them.) The phone number is 1-800-456-3280. I checked out a lot of sites too doing homework, and found them informative. What I like is they show pictures, explain a bit about the breed and you can also compare cost. they also vaccinate for certain diseases.Minimum order is 25 birds as it is all the hatcherys. They must ship that many for body heat. I split my order with a friend. There was one place that I saw that would ship 5. But the cost for heat packs that needed to be shipped with them cost more than the min. 25 from the other hatcherys!I live in the North East and ordered a "special" that consisted of 25 mixed brown egg layers. (all are members of the *Heavy* breed families)*Heavy* breeds are a bit larger (hefty) and cold weather tolerant. As mine are only a week old now, I'm not sure what I've got. It's fun trying to guess based on their colors and shapes. I think some are buff Orpingtons and some Black Australorps. I originally wanted Rhode Island Reds, but the female RIR chicks were sold out through July. Order Early,(March, April) no matter who you order from!! You pre-order, and they deliver them the week you choose. I use to have 2 hens and they had the run of the place. Not a problem if you can handle little piles of poop all over. You wont believe how much poop 1 chicken a can produce! Great for the compost pile! They will wreak havock on a garden or flowers too. As for ticks, Guinne Hens are suppose to be the best for that. They are also great watch dogs. They squalk loud when disturbed at night. Good luck.
3. When we decided to raise chickens a friend gave us the book Storey's guide to raising chickens. Good reference source. I agree with Sslawlor as I ordered my chicks along with a friend in order to have 25 which is what is recommended. I bought mine from cackle.com which like McMurray is a good hatchery. Of the 25 chicks we loss 2. I also ordered pullets and ended up with 3 roosters. Go to one of the hatchery sites and it will tell you which are good egg layers and if they lay white or brown eggs. I bought half Rhode Island Reds and Half Barred Rocks as I like brown eggs and myhusband prefers white eggs. We love having the chickens in the yard.. Right now they are in a pen but we are considering free ranging them. Good luck
4. People often ask if I free-range my birds, and the answer is "no." I do not enjoy feeding the local predators. Now, I do have a few escapees, and let them wander around loose, but as I raise bantams, they are just too easy pickings. Even out in the middle of nowhere, there could be loose dogs. You have a legal right to protect your livestock and can shoot any dog that is going after your birds, but by the time you know the dog is there, your birds will be dead, especially the heavy breeds which can not fly well. And I'm sure you don't want to have to kill anyone's dog. So, my recomendation: Build a very large coop, at least 7 feet tall. And them make it larger than you think you need. This will make it so much easier to clean and you won't have to stoop. Make a series of perches to make it easier for those fat ladies to get up and down. Attach to it two different pen enclosures (little hen doors on each side of the coop that you can lock when you don't want them used) (you can even make three if you put one off the back side). This way you can let one pen rest and regrow the grass while your hens use the other pasture. You can certainly let the girls out to roam while you are home, but fence in anything you don't want destroyed!