Don't worry about how many you have now. That number could go down in a few weeks. Then again if you're like the rest of us, the number will more than likely go up. Don't ask how. It's just chicken math.
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Need a chicken coop!
- Thread starter tybo480
- Start date
ah yes, chicken math....the only kind of math worse than common core.....lol
Give them away now. It will be a lifelong chore that never ends. If you do keep them you either need to move a chicken tractor around the yard every couple days (to keep them from killing the grass), be prepared to save money by buying/building a cost efficient coop that will allow dogs/opossums/raccoons/hawks to kill your birds or spend around 1200 to build a coop that works. Good luck my man, good luck.
Northern sells a chicken coop kit
For 11 birds you'd need 3-4 prefab coops. Can't help but laugh when you see a prefab coop that says 6-8 birds and it's only 3x5 at best.
I have 9 chickens in a coop 4x4 and a run 8x16. Had them since March. I have 2 feeders and 1 waterer and they are hardly any work. I clean the coop once a month takes 5 minutes. fill up the feeders about once a week along with the water. Zero issues.
Yeah just eat em now
Like already posted, if you let them free range during the day; you can get away w/ a smaller coop. However, be aware that chickens can and will fly over a fence. We have 16 hens in 2 dog pens that are attached together. One has a metal roof and the other has a chicken wire top on it. Between the two pens, probably 300ish sq ft. We let the hens out every other week to free range and pen the roosters while hens free range.
Long story short, we have entirely too many roosters, the girlfriend will not let me kill them and you can't give roosters away. So, we have to alternate who is free ranging or the roosters wear out our 16 hens.
We have found that the chain link panel dog pens are the easiest/cheapest method to pen the chickens. Of the 4-5 pens that we currently have, I paid $40 for one and the rest were free (have another free one that I need to go pickup tomorrow). She also has one of those $300 TSC coops, that we house the biddies in until they are old enough to join the flock. It just isn't well made and I don't like it. I think of it as a "city" coop for 1 or 2 chickens for someone that thinks they want to try out raising chickens. I would not recommend one of those kits. A chicken coop doesn't have to be anything fancy, you can put together something yourself w/ wire and a little lumber. Pallets are generally free. The main thing is it has to be secure!! The chain link is strong enough to keep out the most determined predator. So far, in the last 4 years, we have only lost 1 duck to a raccoon during the night. We have had 5 or 6 just come up missing and I blame that on hawks during the day. Lost a couple to fox at night. But, ours are free range 24/7, when not in the pens.
Sorry, I realize that I rambled on about nothing really...
