Had some trouble with searching and I checked the pinned threads as well as the Links, Tutorials and Recipes, but had no luck.

I am looking to set up a chicken coup in my yard. Town code says I can have up to 12 hens, no roosters, and the odor/sound cannot disrupt neighbors.

Aside from that, I am completely new to this concept and don't know where to get started. My goal is to keep up to 12 healthy chickens in my yard, protected from predators and the elements, in order to have a source of fresh eggs.

Can someone point me in the right direction? I'm sure there are many books and articles on this elsewhere, but was hoping to locate a thread or two here.

Steps taken so far:
- Started looking at chicken coup plans
- Started looking into and pricing feed, flax, etc

First lesson:  it's "coop"  

Second:

Chickens 101, questions about chickens, start here!!!

Lots more info here.  Try using Google to search instead of the built-in search engine. Enter something like this in the Google search field:

chicken coops site:ar15.com

Fantastic, thanks!

I might stick with coup though. Never know when the chickens will try to overtake me

No, those are meat chickens and only if you happen to be carrying a bucket of feed.

But seriously, good on you for getting into it.  I think everybody who can raise a few layer hens, should.  They're not hard to take care of, and the rewards are many.  There are a lot of experienced chicken whisperers here, and before you know it you're going to be marveling at that intensely-colored yolk from that egg you just cracked into the frying pan.

Hey Wrangler   What county or region of the state are you located?  We are in the Hudson Valley.  Have had chickens about 6 years now.  



My first coop -







Then we went for an upgrade -







Our first coop is now used to raise young birds through the first summer.  Raising chickens is easy and fun to do.



The AR15 of the chicken world is BackyardChickens.com



http://www.backyardchickens.com/

Unless you are going to be giving away a lot of eggs 12 hens is a lot for one family. On good laying days you might get a dozen a day. On days where 6 might be molting you'll still get a half dozen a day. Just food for thought................

Good info. To start I was thinking 2-3 and go from there. While we are only a family of 4, I have a lot of family nearby and some neighbors that might be interested as well.

You might consider starting with 6 this year accounting for possible natural/un-natural causes of death of a couple. Depending on success this year you could add 2 or 3 each year as needed. They lay real good for a couple of years and then start slacking off. That way you should always have a half dozen or so in their prime laying age.

Chickens are a lot of fun but get prepare for predators!  I live in the country I build for dogs and cats if i  lived in town.  I will try to take some pictures of what built this weekend but I tried to build for lions.

FYI, our overlords here in the Peoples Republic of NY have deemed that the minimum number of chicks legal to purchase is six.  No shit, they made that a law.



So if you buy chicks at Tractor Supply or Agway, the minimum number is six.  Some private sellers also stick to that, but some don't.  Remember that if you buy from a private seller, you are likely getting "straight run", which means the naturally occurring mix of males and females.  Hatcheries and vendors like TS do sell sexed chicks.  Sexed chicks are higher priced.    

We are a family of 3 and we  have 12 chickens and wish we only had 6.  We throw a lot of eggs away and my food bill would be cut in half.  I have tried giving them away but people are a pain.  They wont bring cartons back or they complain about the little circle with the dot in the yoke.  

I sell mine. $3-4 a dozen. I sell enough for it to pays for all of my feed. I get my eggs for free. But I have 30 chickens in a large pen.

Edit- If you have too many hens, list them for $5-10 (pending breed, age) on Craigslist and sell half of what you have. You could make a couple bucks for chicken feed or replacing old waterers. I tell people to bring their own box, and I list in the add first come, and only between the hours of 5-7:00 PM on weekdays. Then when someone contacts me, they know what they need to do, and I just need to talk to them about the address. Always list the breed and age in the add. Also I would include your source as to where the came from.

Yup, we have no trouble selling eggs at $3 a dozen.  We have some folks who hound us for eggs.



The circle with the dot means the egg has been fertilized.  If you do not have roosters, that will not be an issue.  And anybody who complains about that is such a sissy, I would not want to sell them eggs.



 

I am in my first winter of the chicken thing.  So I am no expert but what guys have said are true.

Once they bust into laying they will start giving nearly an egg a day each depending on the breed.  My RI reds and true bantys are very consistent.  My Cochin shut down in January.

You only want one if any rooster.  Two will fight each other and be rougher on the hens.  Really I'd skip the rooster all together unless you want to breed your own chickens.  No need for one just for edible eggs only for fertile eggs.

Damn predators are a PITA,  I had issues with the neighborhood dogs but my neighbors were responsive and pretty much nipped the dogs in the bud with invisible fencing.  Cost me 3 birds though. I lost 2 more to red fox.  The red fox didn't make it either.  

I would say 4-6 hens would do you fine.  I see fresh eggs going for $2-4 a dozen locally.   When I had a surplus I was giving them away and never heard a complaint unless it was for more frequent eggs.

I would say it's worth it for the sexed chicks instead of the straight run.  My first batch was straight run, I had 2 roosters out of 5 birds.  I couldn't tell them apart until they started growing out their combs and wattles a bit.

You might also check craiglslist for farm/livestock listings.  There are always breeders around selling.  There was one or two listings for RI reds that I was tempted to go buy a few after my predation issue.   The birds were just about into their egg laying age which was perfect.  Beware buying someone's bird with their best egg laying years behind them if you want them for egg production.

OH and  since you're formulating a plan now......size your coop to the amount of birds you plan on.  I have a shed style coop that was on the property when I bought it.  It's a bit too large for the amount of birds I have.  I think you have issues keeping the birds warm if it's too big for them.  I added some heat lamps for these bitter temps.   One of those not much bigger than a large dog house should suffice for half a dozen birds.


Vly that mobile coop looks great for a summer home!  One of my issues is my run off my fixed coop is whipped as the previous owner used it for x years before I bought the place.  I was thinking of putting log runners under my shed coop and dragging it periodically.  My uneven ground makes it quite a job though, I''d need to level the ground and all that.


Oh and some other coop design tips.  If you go to the laying boxes in a bump out for outside access make sure it's not in the run so you're not tracking in chicken sh!+ all over.  Another annoying aspect of my setup is the pop door, the little chicken door with the walk plank in their run, is only accessible from inside the run.  A sliding door that latches and can be operated from outside the run is a nice thing.  Latching is important, you don't want it to just be secured by the door's weight on a rope or you'll find some raccoon or mink is good with their hands and messed up your chickens at night.  Another issue I have with my coop is the original owner put the door too low to the outside earth level and towards the uphill side.  I have a constant fight against snow and frost heaving just to keep my door opening.  This summer I am planning on doing some mods.

A lady friend of mine was totally cleaned out by what I believe was  a mink.  Brand new home build coop and run, About 15 chickens killed while she was out. All of them. She was devastated/pissed.  A good design helps minimize the risk.  It's certainly not totally avoidable.

I cant believe you guys are able to sell eggs for that price, like I said I cant give them away.  I do have a rooster, we like to raise the chicks once in awhile to keep the flock young.

Eggs sell like that everywhere. But I could sell MGs and DDs to peace loving tree hugging barefoot hippies. It's not the product, it's the salesman.

If I buy more than 10  chicks, doesn't that violate the SAFE Act?

I appreciate all of this information! I wasn't aware of that either and fully planned to purchase from Tractor Supply.

Of all things, there's going to be a seminar on the topic of having chickens in my town this Saturday. So I'll be attending and taking down a lot of notes!

There is a chick minimum just the same as a drink maximum. I could see there being a max on chickens due to not wanting a bird farm in the neighborhood but a min. I cant fathom the reasoning behind that.

Chicken things we've learned at School of Hard Knocks:

My wife sells eggs at her work, but only to friends, I've often wondered about the exposure to liability if you sell them at a farmer's market.

Scramble and freeze your extra eggs for when your hens hit a dry spell.

Pickle and can them, they'll keep for awhile thataway.

Also, save the shells and either feed them back to the hens, or put them in your tomato plant holes to prevent blossom end rot.  I assume everybody uses the litter in the garden.

I wouldn't let chickens have access to your garden or flower beds, they will tear them to pieces.

The cat will kill your chicks/pullets, but as soon as they get big enough to stop "cheeping", the cat leaves them alone.  Our chickens graze the pastures and get locked down at night.  We've had a few coyote attacks, though.  Skunks, possums, and snakes, too.  All part of the experience.

You may have more than you need part of the year, but if you want a year-round supply you better over-provision.  They will generally cut way, way back in winter.  You can use artificial lighting in the coop to fool them into producing more in winter, but we just let ours rest... figure that's the way nature wanted it.

We never have trouble selling eggs.  I could easily sell 10x more than I do now if I wanted to get a little more organized about it.

I forgot--another lesson learned:

If you mix scratch grain in with your feed and put the litter on your garden, you can expect a bunch of sorghum and millet to grow there.

Check out Jack Spirko and the Survival Podcast.  You will learn more about chickens than you thought possible.  Except you might learn that ducks are better for a number of reasons.  Jack has moved on from chickens and geese to ducks.  His podcasts cover everything from breed selection to marketing eggs to whether you should do your own bird processing.

I did muscovy ducks last 2 years.....NEVER AGAIN...I put all of them in the freezer last fall after coming home from work and finding them froze to the ground.  They apparently went for a swim in the water tank when it was zero outside..There is zero return in my opinion.  They only lay about 2 dozen eggs a year, the eggs taste horrible, and the total bird is only worth 1 meal for 2 people. They are tasty though.

I ventured into 2 turkeys last year, now they was easy to raise, friendly, and huge return when they went to freezer camp.

just my .02

truth here

Backyardchickens.com is a good reference.

I have 8 chickens, all layers. We get about 5-6 eggs a day in the winter. That's a lot of eggs for 2 adults and 2 kids.

I got sexed chickes from Southern States.
3 female Rhode Island Reds chicks turned into 2 Roos and one pullet.
3 Black Sexed link chicks turned into 3 pullets
6 Americaunas turned into 2 Roos and  4 very neurotic hens.

We can't have roosters so they were turned to tasty soup and chicken n' dumplings.

I recommend the black sexed linked. They're bred so the girls have a dot on their head when they hatch. They have a good disposition, lay well and are hardy.
Americaunas lay pretty colored eggs but are the stupidest and most high strung animals I've ever known. I can't wait for them to all doe off so I can try Buff Orpington's, I've heard a lot of good things about them.

We have a small 4'x8' coop with a 8'x12' run. We have tons of raccoons and foxes here so it used 1/4" welded wire fabric. I know foxes and coons can tear right through chicken wire. I also used the welded wire fabric to cover the run. I've had hawk land on the run and try to get the chickens but can't. Cool to watch.
I put a bunch  of paving stones around the run and the foxes have given up trying to dig their way in...but they still circle the coop every day looking for a weakness in the wire...freaks out the girls out.

I also built a small chicken tractor so they can 'free range' while being relatively predator safe in the summer. They love ticks, bugs and grass. They crap nitrogen, I just have to move the tractor every few days so the don't burn the ground and eat all the grass inside the the tractor.

Honestly the Hardest thing is keeping the chicken nipples from freezing in winter. I put a bird bath de-icer in the bucket and it keeps it from freezing.
I made feeders out of 6" PVC pipe...looks like an upside down candy cane and holds enough food for 2 weeks or so.

They're fun, enjoy!

Yes, Americaunas are worthless.  They look cool, like a cross between grouse and chicken.  But they are pretty much food-crap converters.

I've only had laying hens for two years

I've learned a few thing.

Free range is mostly predator feeding.

They need a secure compound and coop with power for lights and room to run around. Then during the day when you're around you can let them run the yard IF it's safe.

Four chickens makes for a lot of eggs. I'm a two adult household and four lay more eggs year round than we can eat. Start with 4-6 and every January add two new ones and start culling the bad layers.

What you feed them determines the taste and texture of the eggs. I can tell if they eat corn or soy feed. I feed them bucket sprouted grains and they free range a lot. I'm going to make a black soldier fly larvae feeder. They get kitchen scraps too, meat and all.

I'd suggest a breed that lays 250+ eggs a year and will do it reliably with your winters.

Since we are now talking about breeds, I will put a good word in about Barred Rocks.  They are awesome birds.  They are very good layers and have a very calm, mellow and friendly demeanor.  They handle cold winters very well.  I think they are a good looking bird, also.  I highly recommend them to any newbie.



Rhode Island Red are good birds.  The majority of our birds right now are RIR.  Not quite the calm demeanor of a Barred Rock, but a good bird for northern climates.

Carefull if you are in hot weather. I see you are in NY which might work great, but suggesting that breed to someone in a hot area might not be the best idea. I'm not disagreeing with what you said not being true, but just adding to what you mentioned about the breed. All of my rocks died off in a heat wave. I've tried them two years in a row with the same results. Any 100-110+ degree weather is very hard on them. I use misters in shades areas for them, and I also soak the ground to help cool. They will dig and sit in the moist soil. They have access to good water, and ample shade. All the other breeds are fine (6 different breeds right now), but the rocks didn't. Heavy weight, thick feathers keep them warm in cold climates, but hurt them in hot.

Recommending breeds is specific to what you need. Egg count and size, caged or free range, temps, flighty vs fat, friendly vs preditor aware, noisy, and tons of other stuff goes into finding the right breed. I don't know what would be best for OP. Best thing is to read the breed characteristics and look to see what you might like. Try an assortment and pick what works best. I'd stay away from the rare pretty breeds, and stay with hardy egg layers to start with. This gives a baseline as how a chicken should act and be kept. I will always recommend that.

But here is what I have found works best for me. Others experience might very with different coops, weather, and expectations. Like Vly said, I like RIR. Great birds. Also black Austerlorps and gold sex links. The speckled Sussex are by far the most friendly bird. Almost like a cat in the way they'll stand on your feet wanting food. But their eggs are a med and they aren't a heavy layer like RIR. The white leghorns fly too much. I have to clip their wings. But while the heavier brown egg layers slow down their laying in the bad heat, the leghorns keep right on laying. They are very heat tolerant. Light body weight and thinner feathers. Also the color doesn't soak up the heat when in the sun. They are a very chicken... chicken, and will almost always run from you vs to you for food. But this makes them good for staying away from preditors. Gold sex links lay very well. Good all around bird like the RIR. Black Austerlorps are very broody and make good barnyard moms. Good layers too.

I could go on and on. I have had 20 breeds of birds and have been raising poultry for meat, eggs, show, hunt training, and pets since I was 6 years old. I very much love it and will recommend it to everyone that has a little space and time. It is very rewording.

ClickBangBang - You make excellent points about doing research on various breeds and choosing one most suitable to your needs and climate.  The OP of this thread is also from NY, so my thought process was geared to someone with the same climate.  I also mentioned "handles cold winters well" and "northern climates" when describing BRs and RIRs.  Both are New England breeds and have thrived here for generations.



This winter has been brutal ( and not over yet )and we chicken owners have been carefully watching how our flocks are doing in sub-zero temps.  My Barred Rocks have done great.  They have bright red combs and are laying well.



The Backyard Chicken site is a great place to research various breeds and learn their strengths and weaknesses.  You can even find yourself a laid back California adapted breed.  

Initially got into backyard chickening for the experience for my 2 children. Started with 3 hens and that easily kept us with over a dozen eggs a week.  Now we have 12 hens and a rooster.  All different ages (moved to the country).   We have 2 people that we sell a dozen eggs ($3) to on a weekly basis with plenty left over for us.  Selling the eggs pays for feed. On a bad day we'll still get 5 eggs...during the winter (Mississippi).  

Hens will/may make some noise when they lay an egg.  It's called the "egg song".  It's the "bawk, bawk, bawk, BA-Cawk" that you associate with chickens.  It can last a few minutes after they lay.  Butter up your neighbors with some free eggs every now and then and they shouldn't mind the singing.

The smell from the coop will be worse in the summer and after it rains and if the birds are always confined to a coop.  When we lived in a subdivision on a 1/4 acre lot, I would let them free range in the backyard to cut down on the poop in the coop.  I cleaned the coop and run about twice a week with a kitty litter scoop and put the poop in a 5 gallon bucket that a neighbor would take when it was full for his garden.

The coop doesn't have to be fancy for the birds to be happy.  Plan on about 3-4 sq.ft. per bird for coop space and 8-10 sq.ft. per bird for run space.

In the Spring/early Summer I'll stick eggs under a hen if one goes broody and hatch out 8-12.  We'll give some of the chicks away and keep a few to replace the retirees.  If we end up with too many birds and can't find homes for them, I'll let them free range for a few days until mother nature thins the flock (some people think this is cruel...nature be scary, yo!).  My kids have learned a lot about life and death through owning chickens.  It has made losing pet cats and our dog much easier on them.  Start with a small flock because you'll eventually fall victim to "chicken math".  backyardchickens.com is where I went to answer any questions I had during my first year.

Bold print pertains to what you asked. Regular print is just my 2 cents and experiences.  Good Luck!

I  can't say enough about Comets and RIR's here in NC. They just survived 0 degrees and I've never lost one to heat.

You really have to keep the coop and pen(run) clean if you live in a neighborhood. When it gets hot and wet it will start to smell. After I hear all the egg songs in the morning I let them out of the run and let them chick around the backyard that is fenced off from the garden. Gonna have to clip wings of the younguns this spring. They've learned to fly over a fence.

I have a pair of blue rose combed bantams,  they fly real good.  They're also skittish around dogs so they seem to be pretty predator savvy.   I don't worry so much about them flying out of the run to free range.  

Not sure what Spring will bring me for chickens this year.  I would like to add a couple more i think.