We have a garden sticky I know there are a lot of guys here with chickens. Here's the place to share ideas and such.

We now have 18 hens and one rooster. Our coop is 8x12 and attached fun is a little over 20x30 but we let them run around the whole yard. I have finally found the permany spot in the yard we will keep the coop so now I have to make the run fence permeate and put the gate in so we can go in and out. Right now we are getting 9 eggs a day most of the time.



Here's most our chickens and the coop and run in the back ground.

Right now we use the cheap five or so gallon water and feeders. My next project is to make a water system and feeder so I don't have to lug them from the backyard to the back of the house every day for water.

Let's keep this thread going and everyone else feel free to kick in.

Walter

I wish we could have chickens....no livestock allowed in the neighborhood.....

Good idea for a thread! I need to get some chickens. What's the best breed for north Texas to get eggs year round?

Not sure we have a bunch of different breeds. But do get eggs year round. I like the mix of different breeds as well get different colored eggs.

Walter

Here's my coop

I like the lock on the door!

220-221, whatever it takes...

I like that run! We just now getting started and still got a run to build... picking up the chicks today

This one cost me $3500

Nice coops Nav & Nate

aint nothing like the Payne kingdom....

Payne I like that setup. We got 12 eggs today but one of them got smashed. Best lot yet. I was going to get some pictures of the inside but it got dark before I finished mowing and feeding. I'll get some tomorrow of the inside.

Love me some fresh eggs......

What do y'all do with all those eggs? We really only eat real breakfast (with eggs) Saturday and Sunday. Also, there's only 3 and I'm usually gone before breakfast 1 weekend day a week. We eat maybe 2 dozen eggs a month, if that. Would getting chickens be a waste of effort for us?

Chicken is tasty too!

I feed 6 on most mornings. we go through a dozen eggs in one sitting almost

We only eat eggs on sat and sun as well most times. We have chickens because they are fun the have running around the yard and the eggs are a bonus. We get many more eggs than we can eat, got nine today. So when we get a bunch we will sell them. I'll never make any money off them but it helps with the feed cost. We have been selling them for $4 a dozen. Wife sold five dozen today. Fresh eggs are so much better than the store bought.

Walter

Mixed flock. Still need to add. They're in a 50x50' area with a 5' fence. Wing(s) clipped. When it's warm, they have 1/2 acre to scratch. They are pretty cool.

You'll see a reduction in grasshoppers, ticks and snakes around the house.

What about chiggars, will they eat them?

Walter

Spread feed store DE in your yard to control chiggars.

The chicken/chiggar is like a hf/lf thread.

Im looking forward to this

Here is the outside of my coop 8'x12'




The whole right side is bars for the to sit on. And five nesting boxes in the back.



This is the run with a hole for them to get out into the whole yard. Just over an acre. Still need to make the fence a pipe fence like the rest of the place and put a real gate in. I have the four foot gate in the garage, just have to stop being lazy.




And here is today's haul, minus one I broke while trying to chase one of the goats out of the coop since I left the door open.




Walter

Nice setup Walter

Nav you ain't right in the head

Thank you sir. The little one sure loves going to get the eggs every night and feed the goats and his mini horses. He gets mad though if you don't let him have the feed scoop. He also loves giving the goats treats out of his hand. We spent thirty minutes out there tonight I just set there and let him run around and chase the chickens and goats.



Walter

Really? in freestone county? damn....

I'm probably in the only neighborhood in the entire county that doesn't allow it......

Good stuff right there.....

left over 1000 year old shingles











Tin 18" deep

That is a good looking setup east. only thing I wish is that our coop was bigger so that I could build a small room inside to keep the feed. We keep it in 55 gal drums but they crap all over the lids so we started keeping them behind the coop.

Walter

show offs

Great lookin coop's y'all. No chickens here. Yet. Fortunately we're pretty close to Mahard egg farm. $1.00 for a dozen of their super jumbo's.

SHOW OFF!!!!

Got the real fence started today for the run. Wouldn't you know it when I want to bring the welder home its rented out. So I got the post driven and the top rail cut and laid out. Also got the gate hung. I zip tied the panels up until I can get it all welded up.






We lost another chicken this morning. Not sure what they are getting into that is killing them but we need to figure it out. Got some lumber tonight to start a small raised garden so that is on the list for tomorrow.

Walter

How does one clip wings? Can you do it or do you need to have a vet do it? The clipped wing thing is one of the main reasons we don't have chickens....yet.

Hold them upside down and cut off a few inches of the long feathers. Very easy to do.

Thanks. Might have to see if I can watch that a time or two first.

Only 10 or so feathers to cut. Real easy.

Thanks. Do you do that while they're little, half grown, or adult?

From what I heard is that you'll have to redo it every so often. Some one smarter than me shall know, but I have a four foot fence on one side of property and five foot on the other and they stay in the yard for the most part.

Walter

I had over a 100 roosters and stags at one time. I loved breeding and fighting chickens before it was outlawed in the US. It was a great sport. It's a shame game chickens can no longer do what we bred them for so many years. It was a big money business that will never come back legally.
I think it would be cheaper to just buy your eggs and poultry at the store if that's all you wanted them for. That's what I tell my wife, but she wants some to mess with. She is a city girl transplanted to the country that's never had any to take care of. I may give in and get a few. They would have to be game and it would be tough not to find a fight if I had an interesting prospect. That's why she doesn't have chickens to play with.

Thanks, again. Back at the house in Val Verde County it wouldn't hurt for them to roam a little, But, we get lots of hawks and Kara-Karas that are always looking for an easy meal. Owls too, had one good owl that came and got a cat we had that I hated, so a chicken might not be too much of a problem.

If you have birds of prey and the chickens are free ranging, expect to lose some.

If you can keep them around trees or even cover an area with net, the hens will have a better chance. A dog out there helps too (not sure if you still have a GS or not).

I have not had an owl or hawk take any yet but most of mine have been large hens. Their "run" is 50x50x5' fence with 3 willows and a dog on the perimeter. A neighbor has lost 3 recently. His hens have zero protection though.

Here's the Coop I built with my daughter for her 4 hen's. I am surprised how low maintenance they have been. She has had them for a couple of years now. Average 3 eggs per day. Many days 4.

very nice coop

GREAT THREAD! Thanks for posting, Walter. Wife and I want to do this when we retire in a few years, so how do they do in the Panhandle with the pretty harsh weather conditions, etc.?



I was just about to ask about this as well. Lots of hawks, harriers, and owls in the Panhandle and I want to keep my chicks from getting smoked. Totally enclosed run, I guess?

I would if you can, I lost two flocks before enclosing the run. Besides the birds I had raccoons killing them, haven't lost one since. Just had the t posts holding the 4x4 panels and chicken wire on the panels. Welded some rebar on the t posts, ran the chicken wire on the sides & top then used j clips on overlapped chicken wire.

+1

Here is most of my flock. They'll be "free range" on 1/2 an acre until winter.

Thanks for the info, gents.

When you have chickens, you'd find snakes. This rat snake was dispatched by a python. All that yella is yolk from my eggs.

He does not feel very good it appears.

That is a bug eyed snake

surprising

Great shot. I've waiting for some additions to the chicken thread. We get lots of coachwhips and bull snakes in the panhandle, but are rattlers prone to egg snatching? That makes checking the coop a whole different ballgame.

Someone should have told that rat snake not to eat eggs! haha

yup; when you have chickens, EVERY predator (& egg/feed thief) finds you/them.
BUT, I now re-locate the GOOD snakes; I'd rather be 'pestered' by them occasionally than be overrrun by rats/mice and copperheads . . . .

I usually do. I'm not a snake killer in general. We have had a speckled king snake for a few years now. I hope its still around this year.

I say again, "Are rattlers prone to egg snatching?"

Yes and no. After searching about it some, it doesn't sound like rattlesnakes are big egg eaters.

Thank you for the info, sir. Raising chickens will remain on the bucket list.

new carpet for the girls

Finally got the chickens in the new set up until they ready to roam the yard... been letting them out in the pen every afternoon to scratch they are loving life compared to the old water tank they were in lol.. had an old frame I made use of for the pen

nice setup Nav

We picked up another dozen hens and one rooster last night. Hopefully they will integrate good they are still small.

Walter

Watch them, the bigger birds might kill the little ones while establishing the pecking order.

Old trampoline?

I have them in a little pen for dogs with a cattle panel over the top right now. Inside the chicken run. So they can see each other and still be safe from predators and the other chickens for a little while before we send them in to battle. There was three bigger chickens in the group so we put them straight in with the other and watched them for a few hours. They were in the coop up on the best bars last night and can't even tell which ones are new, so they found their place.

Walter

That is great Payne.

I need a better feeder in the run so they don't waste so much or it gets wet. I'm set on buying one of these. But they are 92 dollars each or 76 if you buy two or more. Shipping is like 80 bucks. So if I find someone else that wants one I'm getting it.

Holds fifty pounds of feed. Good for up to 100 chickens they say.

Between that and a waterer I'm working on that'll be made out of a 55 gallon drum. It will be much easier to take care of them and a lot less work which means more fun.

Walter

Mine always scratched all the feed out of feeders, I just hand feed what they'll eat in a day.

I use one like this in the coop, dump it daily for fresh water.

Yezzir

Birds finally learned how to use the perch.. I opened the hatch and thought they all flew the coop then 6 little heads popped out from the roof

Some one got in the coop. Dang thing ate three of my ceramic eggs, didn't walk away from this one.

Round one and two of coop protection. Cut some cattle panel I had and used fence nails to block under the coop. So the chickens can't get under there and also keeps other animals out. Then finished the fence around the run and finally welded it up.








I also have a trap set. Think we have a coon that has been getting some of the chickens at night.

Walter

Not sure why the other two pictures aren't working.










Grass in the backyard is starting to come in. Ready for it to fill out.

Walter

Did you retrieve your ceramic eggs.......

I wanted to, but I was at work and the wife freaked out so she had the neighbor come get it out and they didn't

Walter

Okay all you chicken enthusiast, how do you keep RATS out of the chicken coop? Thought about poison-nex it because of cats and other animals that might eat them. They are a nuisance crawling all over the place.q
HELP

Remove the food. Hand feed the hens once or twice a day.

If you have rats living in the coop, get them out and they shouldn't be back if you remove their food.

Had another culprit try to get in the coop tonight. After work I was out with the chickens checking their pen and giving them treats like every night and I caught this guy just on the other side of the fence headed to the coop had my wife bring my gun out but he disappeared before she got there. I knew he would be back so I ate dinner then came back out and caught him with a rake half way into the coop. I'm not a snake guy and with a little kid running around he didn't make it.




Walter

Walter you need some cats to keep them snakes in check!

Chicks are getting big and my rooster is starting to show some color

Nav, I have a stray cat that now calls our place home, it was someone's house cat because it has gotten in our house and does great. So it spends some time inside if we are home but most of the time outside. She is a snake and mouse killing machine most of the time. I was working in the chicken run in the back corner and have let the grass go too long behind the fence, there is also a big pile of rock back there. I saw the snake when I was bent down in the corner and it scared the crap outta me so I had my wife bring out my handgun but couldn't find it. So I got the cat to come back out there and I started to weed eat around the back. I knew the snake would be back. After dinner I came back out to lock the chickens up and check for the snake and sure enough it had come back around the other side and I caught it just as it was climbing up the side of the coop to go through the chicken wire and get inside. The cat was actually not far behind it and I had to get her away before I pulled it off with the rake and then we shot it.

Walter

Lol sounds like an interesting day!

trust me I hate snakes. Even knowing that it was just a rat snake I still wasn't a fan. The thought to burn down the back forty feet of my property with a torch sorta crossed my mind.

Walter

HA!

So I was always told you need a rooster so the hens will lay eggs. Recently, someone told me that's not true. So other than needing a new generation to hatch, why or why don't you need a rooster?

A rooster will give it's life to save the hens. They are very protective and will alert the hens to run for cover.

Roosters are loud. A neighbors rooster crows at 4am often. While they serve a purpose, hens will do just find without them. If you were to "free range" some hens, you may want a rooster.

Exactly that. I'm trying to avoid all that rooster mess, but the girls need to earn their keep too. Sounds like I can keep my girls pimp free.

Thank you, sir.

Our rooster is pretty good. Doesn't make too much noise and somewhat protects the hens. We've had two snakes get into the coop now and none of the chickens have messed with them nor has the rooster but he is cool to have around and is not mean to people.

Walter

It happens, found this one the other day. They keep the mice away.

Payne, so does my cat, but I feel a lot less like she will kill me.

Walter

Everyone send Payne a kitten!

It won't kill or even bite you if you leave it alone

cman sthu

I have a litter packed and ready to ship.

Not as much worried about it getting me as me stumbling upon it when I'm not ready and giving me a heart attack. And making me look like a girl as I'm running and screaming.

Walter

I only jumped a foot or so when I saw him...

Better than me. Thee last one we had was within a foot of me while I was bending down at the corner of the fence, I jumped up on the top rail. Four foot lol.

We had two hens go broody. We don't have a rooster, so we got 8 fertilized eggs from our neighbor. 6 have hatched since yesterday. Elizabeth bought boxes to put on the floor so the chicks wouldn't fall from our raised nesting boxes.

Caught a dominicker taking a dust bath.

[video:youtube]1JTIlwAW_W8[/video]

62"

We processed our rooster two weeks ago. We got two chicks from my wife's coworker, who's kid brought them home from school after the class raised them. One turned out to be a rooster and he crowed all dang day. I work from home and it was miserable. Plus, he was a mean SOB.

We bought two other hens, so now we have three. All three have been doing just fine since the rooster has gone in the freezer. Best eggs I've ever tasted.

Picked up 10 more chickens yesterday since we lost so many. Also picked up a pig to feed out and take to the butcher going to start raising a few pigs for our own pork.

Hope you have a strong pen, if you're building one think about a chute and loading gate. They're a pain to load when they get around 300#'s.

Eatin' him for dinner!

Here is the hen that showed up. Pretty bird. Not sure who had her before but she hasn't missed many meals.



My scratch eating dog thinks shes a chicken. It's the damnedest thing.

Does anyone put a heater in their coop, wife is worried her (poor chickens) might get cold?