My wife is very upset at the price of eggs and chicken due to inflation and has asked me to look into building one
First of all; anyone have blueprints?
2nd, I have a dog run/fenced in area, but I live in a rural area and we have a coyote problem. I would have to build an addition shed/add on or build it within this dog run I assume. So a cage and a chicken coop within said cage/fence?
2nd, Chicks are on sale at Tractor Supply for 25 cents each. I assume you just buy like 20 of them and kill all the roosters except for one when they're big enough to eat? Do you know if a chick is a male or female? How many usually die?
Good idea anon. When ~~*they*~~ start giving us bug rations you can feed them to the chickens.
>blueprints for a chicken coop
dude, its a chicken coop. go to a tractor supply or an agway or whatever and check one out. take a fricking tape measure and take some quick measurements and just plan it out and build it. its not hard
>coyote problem
shoot them in the fricking face
>shoot them in the fricking face
I do, but I can't be around all the time. I can't live in my kid's treehouse
Okay so something with a caged roof.
Interesting about the feed, noted. I wasn't planning on heating it. They're chickens, if they died I'd just eat them. Don't I just build a coop and they go in there and lay eggs and sleep when they aren't running around?
>I'm not so broke that I have to live in a tree house
Show off.
>I can't live in my kid's treehouse
kek
double kek
PrepHole is a neat board, i should have stopped by sooner
>should have stopped by sooner
Which board did you get banned on?
none tbh, i used to go to /b/ eons ago and wondered of this place still existed and now here we are
i see /news/ morphed into its own rather /b/style place
i like to shoot stuff, dont you? firearms are fun and a responsible mans hobby
/b/ is now troony porn. Misc is news but usually they just blame everything on the israelites and spread misinformation for fun. 5% of the threads are actually pretty based. I also suggest PrepHole, PrepHole, and /k/. Whatever you do, don't go to the photography board. Easily the most autistic people on this site, and that is saying something considering there is a professional wrestling and adults who play with toys board.
ahahaha
someone got roasted and filtered by PrepHole chads
>PrepHole
>chads
no such thing.... i looked through there once just to see and its the most autistic fricking shithole ive ever seen.
also
everyone is fricking fat and really ugly
after you filter all the geargay threads, PrepHole is based and the most accurately critical and high iq of all the creative boards that i browse
i can only assume they rightfully shat all over your shitty photograph that you thought was awesome and now you're coping about it
that post is pure cope
i dont take or post pics because im not a fricking child that has to experience the world through a lens instead of thier own eyes
but its ok to be mad i guess... you should get a cape so you can be super mad, you histrionic zoomer b***h
Photography isn't real art.
Photographer cope, your profession was my extracurricular for yearbook club.
Photography is composition and nothing else, thats not art kid.
>Misc is news but usually they just blame everything on the israelites and spread misinformation for fun.
It actually is the israelites most of the time though.
>Misc is news but usually they just blame everything on the israelites
So: news.
They're not wrong though.
That dude lived 2000 years ago and maybe never ever said that.
>i see /news/ morphed into its own rather /b/style place
shalom!
Its a slow moving board, but people are intelligent here. I'm not talking about the trademen that are wienery for no apparent reason and have a false sense of superiority. Its usually the older/more mature former oldgays who now own homes and attempt to build or PrepHole shit. Definitely one of the better boards, good jannies too. I'm not sucking up. I get banned on PrepHole all the time and I unronically DINDU NUFFIN. Keep an eye out for abominations threads. They're the best ones. I've showed them to family members who don't know what PrepHole is and they LTAO
good to know
i was embarassed coming back since i hit the big four oh recently. im an electrician by trade, but i moved back to my home town, and all the sparkys here are complete fricking douchebags. they all think they're the hottest shit on earth, and cant wire a fricking 3 way switch. embarrassing
>troony porn
its really fricking gross and something i will never understand. i guess im not mental or gay, my wife will be happy to hear that im sure
>/pol/
yeah, ive noticed what its like there
ill check out the other boards you mentioned. /k/ can be pretty hilarious
>I get banned on PrepHole all the time and I unronically DINDU NUFFIN
I just got banned from PrepHole and I'm also a dindu. All I did was ask if people thought Alex Jones had a good recipe for cooking his neighbors. Thanks for the additional boards to check out.
I got banned from all boards for a week for creating a thread on PrepHole for asking if anyone else has noticed that fast food places that primarily employ a CERTAIN RACE of people typically give bad service
I was talking to a black woman I'm friends with the other day. She was telling me she is absolutely done with supporting "black owned" businesses, and is tired of everyone she knows giving her shit about it.
why are you friends with a black woman? Does she make good food at least?
That's a solid smirk.
>shoot them
don't forget to post their hide where other coyotes will easily see it
Which board to coyotes frequent? PrepHole ?
problem
>shoot them in the fricking face
kek.
op, search engine, image search,"chicken coop blueprints"
you need to make a box with a roof that drains to 1 side with enough slope and support for your climate's snow accumulation.
i guess a door would be useful.
when you get an idea of what it takes, figure out how many chickens it would take to feed your family and stay steady in chickens and eggs. then plan for a little extra which you can sell or gift or keep. then figure out the square footage req to house that many birds, THEN plan your coop. i mean sure you gotta start somewhere and you and your wife are living the dream from where im standing; but 20 chickens aint shit buddy. imagine being able to slaughter a chicken every 2 or 3 days to keep your people fed.
> I have a dog run/fenced in area
They can jump 8 feet and theirs hawks.
>First of all; anyone have blueprints?
They are picky. Any structure will do. Old kids play houses, old sheds, an A frame. If your in a cold climate they'll need a draft free unheated place for the winter.
Feed prices are going up so if your not free ranging the to scavenge for their own food you won't be saving money. But the quality of fresh unabused chicken eggs it's very high. It take a few months to easily tell which chickens are rooster l. They have different feathers and different builds.
I only lose one or two chickens to the 15-20 I get every year. They start laying after about 6 months and lay well for a few years then you need to replace them. They also slow down egg production considerably during the winter.
We had alot of problems with predators this winter, it was colder than usual and the Coyotes and eagles went nuts wiping out livestock in the area.
For coyotes, a minimum 4ft fence is a must and be sure there are no loose areas at the bottom for them to burrow or wiggle under. Other than shooting them the best deterrent for Coyotes is to determine their access points and install solar powered motion sensor lights. The lights spook them quickly and they learn to stay away.
Hawks and eagles are only a problem with larger pens or open pastures where thry can easily fly. If you have an open top just run white cotton strings across the top, Raptors have excellent eyesight and wont fly into something that might catch on their wings. If you want to be extra paranoid you can hang old CDs off of the string, they hate the shiny reflections.
I stapled welded wire fencing to the top of mine. Stick plastic on top in the winter to keep out the snow.
get those ducks a kiddie pool, they will be much happier.
This was still winter. And kitty pools are a pain to empty anyhow. I have a few larger things for them to swim in but they're more than happy to bath in 5g rubber horse buckets.
We used an old, blue, school bus as our chicken coop when I was a kid/teen. Worked very well. Lots of windows for ventilation. But still closed up tight in the winter. Also fantastic for keeping predators from snooping around. Built a scaffold in the back for them to roost on and boxes along the length for them to lay in. It was only a hassle keeping the door clear for opening and closing, especially in the winter.
raising chickens is not cheap.
my brother did it. cost more than just buying eggs and chicken at the store.
Then he was doing it wrong.
Eat the coyotes, they're free
Even better. Boil the coyote and feed it to the chickens. They fricking love it
how much is it to actually feed them? I have a local farmer that sells 50lb bags of corn for 5$
grow beans from the grocery store for $1
Corn is the cheapest part of feed. They won't be health if you just feed them that.
I have twentyish birds. Spend maybe 10-15$ a week on them. They also eat all my food scraps.
I don't keep records so I have no clue how much I actually spend on them
they taste like shit though
Important research material:
Also, you wife will be a lot less excited about this if she has to do the defeathering and butchering. If you really want to put her off it, shirk your man responsibility and have her wrestle them into the killing cone. And do the deed.
What is a killing cone? I always just chop the head off with a hatchet or something.
A killing come makes culling so easy a child could do it.
>A killing come
Named my band.
Lol, go to “the shedyard dot com” in colorado springs. steal their readily available plans on their website. They’re Amish, they build nice stufff
>>>PrepHole has a chicken general. there's also backyardchickens.com
Let me guess
>if your chickens aren't enclosed in an impregnable fortress you are an evil monster who is basically killing them
Naa. The petgays don't post in the livestock threads it's pretty mondane.
Snakes, hawks, dogs, cats, foxes, and others all love chicken. A coop and a critter proof run is going to cost more than buying eggs.
I had a coop and an open-topped run with electric fencing in a house I bought. I was given some chicks and they ended up living everywhere but in the coop. Garage, kitchen window sill, hiding in the barn, etc. I had 1 chicken lay 3 eggs, but they hid their nest and I only found them 8 months after we ate all the chickens. I was going to put mesh over the run which would have worked, but the mesh alone cost over $500 to cover it.
Build something like
and get a few to see if it is worthwhile to you.
The little banty rooster that would sneak up behind you and attack your legs was really annoying.
Go in craiglist and find a free tool shed.
>craiglist and find a free tool shed.
Those have dried up in the last two years as transients scramble for housing.
the free section of my craigslist is piss soaked mattresses and people asking ypu to come tear out bushes in their yard or flooring out of their home that they will "graciously" give you after.
>the free section of my craigslist is piss soaked mattresses and people asking ypu to come tear out bushes in their yard or flooring out of their home that they will "graciously" give you after
i know the value ive got here
This is my chicken tractor. They're pretty handy because you can move them around and don't need to clean out the bottom run part. Google em.
Bro what is that roof material?
Osb covered with felt. Mc Mansion style. Been holding up pretty well and easy to replace should I ever need to.
Damn that hardware cloth is thicc, those 'lil homies' ain't gettin' out.
Already bought the bigboy roll of hardware cloth so I had enough.
It's 3mm wire mesh, welded and then had the whole thing galvanised.
No they free range all day. In hindsight, the wheels weren't really necessary. Will probably take em off at some point.
Do they get stressed as you move them place to place?
chickens are dumb as shit so no
>that gutter system
cute
Thanks. It's pretty handy. Only have to give them water once or twice a year.
Why would you construct such a ting?
You can't grow many chickens on two square meters...
Just put a Woodbox with roof and build a tall wire fence around it.
They just sleep in there. They free range all day.
Dear OP, I saw your post on the basket site, you should know that I've built several chicken coops from a mix of new and scrap material over the years without any real plans whatsoever and I never want to do it again.. save yourself and chain link fence 10x10x8 with a roof over it and a box on the inside. don't waste time making a chicken castle, eggs will taste the same.. fence chargers add passive defense to coops for predators too if your worried about it.. daisy chain some capacitors to a car battery or spend 20 doll hairs on a retail unit. good luck, chickens are great, they will turn all your scrap food into eggs and are funny too btw, they eat everything except peppers and onions. god bless.
Regards,
Richard.
Oddly enough the ones listed as high egg producers aren't sexed. From what we've been reading you really don't want to get those. The egg production comes at a cost to the birds health. The others are listed as being sexed, atleast at our TSC.
Chick sexing is not easy and from what I've seen in documentaries, is a skill that's in high demand.
You will have all different predators that you probably didn't know you had. You have to prepare for everything. If you can manage it, roosters are quite aggressive and can defend against some of them.
I am building a chicken coop. from these blueprints with a few modifications: https://www.etsy.com/listing/238472115/chicken-coop-plans-pdf-file-instant
It's not done yet.
Also building a run from these plans with a few modifications:
https://theinspiredworkshop.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/DIY-Chicken-Coop-Run-Plans.pdf
Nice coop.
Really nice shop.
Thanks, I like my shop, it's pretty good.
OP here
I have decided not to build one for a while, at least until my kids get older. With 3 kids under 4 years old, a dog, hunting, fishing, gardening, and my full time job I just don't think I have it in me to take the time to build and maintain it, plus its a big investment for food. Perhaps I will go explore it again in a few years.
Then you choose subservience and victimhood. Every dollar in factory pelleted food yields $2 worth of eggs. If you mix it yourself, every dollar of food yields $5 worth of eggs.
alright whatever you say dude just have a lot of shit going on here and the time isn't right but I'm sure I love israelites and I'm low IQ and am a cuck and a bunch of other shit, get on with it I can take whatever homosexual insults you're going to throw at me.
I'm from
There's nothing to maintain. I put 8 inches of washed sand down in the bottom. Chickens scratch the ground and kick it everywhere, but the side effect is they are constantly burying their poop until it dries out. There's no visible poop except when it lands on the roosts, and that dries and flakes off easily. Chicken tractors are completely unnecessary. There's also no odor with an open breezeway design. I just wanted a really nice coop and it's held 16 hens no problem, though these are two years old and getting culled in a few months when my dozen pullets are mature.
Don't know how much land you have to keep them on. That will be the biggest factor in weather they will be "free eggs" or an expensive hobby. I'm on a farm, so they have 20 acres to walk around and forage in, so we feed them for fun, and just fill their indoor water. If you're on a 2 Acre suburb plot, you will have to keep them completely fenced in and feed them yourself, and as another anon has said, not just corn. Chickens need perches at night to roost on, and prefer boxes to lay eggs in. You can get ones designed with a slope so the eggs roll into a collection area and don't get broken by other layers.
Before you buy chicks, make sure you know what breed you want. Some lay eggs and some put on weight faster. Also consider ducks, we have 3 Indian Runners who don't really fly at all and lay bigger eggs, but make more noise (roosters excepted).
As others have mentioned, you will need either a lot of equipment, a lot of friends, or a lot of patience to butcher for meat. Scalder, feather remover, kill cones, and of course, the stomach for it. Not everyone is built for rough handling and throat slitting of "pets". See if you know someone who does it, or ask around to see if you can help someone to see what it's about.
Yeah I do ducks all the time but I hunt them. I’d assume plucking a chicken is similar. But the timing just doesn’t work out right now, I don’t have the time to feed them, build this thing, collect the eggs, etc. Maybe in a few years when my 3 kids aren’t all under 4 years old
Good decision, building this thing has been a lot of work.
You could have cheapest out with chicken wire on the top set of panels.
Goto https://www.backyardchickens.com/ where all the questions you have or have not though of will be answered. I've kept chickens for about 14 years and they're easy to deal with. Buff Orpingtons get big and are robust.
Do some reading.
>coop
I always knew chickens were fricking commies
I've got 12 hens and a rooster. They're (permanently) temporarily in my shed in an enclosure they can get out of, but don't car to. I feed them 2 pounds of feed a day, but could probably cut it back more, since they spend the entire day outside hiding under my 40' tall pines eating tender shoots and bugs off the ground. Being saved barn chickens they are afraid of open spaces, so so far they have left my garden alone. They're starting to realize that I am the bringer of tasty treats and will follow me around
I built this one over the winter. Worked pretty well although the wheels wobbled. I made it 3’ wide, 3’ high and 9’ long. Good for 3-5 chickens. As for your questions, yeah you have the right idea although you’ll have to wait until the chicks mature a bit to tell which are roosters. The ones with more developed crowns are roosters.
Make sure you add fire sprinklers.
poor chickies.
Made a neat coop recently. Has door over nests, and a door clean. Just screw together some 2x3 and plywood. Axle is all thread.
Looks a lot like this, no reason you cant copy below anon.
https://www.buyamishsheds.com/product/4x8-quaker-style-chicken-coop/
There are many ways to raise chickens
I'd say that you use the indoor method to raise chickens
You'll need to know what species are compatible with the indoor method
This method is more controllable then the traditional method but it adds a bit of cost down the line
But you don't need to worry about coyotes or any other form of critters stealing your produce
My own design for warm climates. 8"x13 from all 8 ft material.
How much are you planning on spending for chicken food? Do you really think this will offset egg prices? You cannot get good meat from hens.
Debeaking your hens increases sanitation and reduces harmful pecking at other hens.
fricking israelite
someone should debeak you
Don't forget to staple your chickens in place so you always know where they are
>You just know
cruel
Disgraceful. I had to check that this was illegal and I'm honestly disgusted that it isn't where I live
Defingering your human increases sanitation and reduces harmful touching of other humans.
those are some cool fricking chickens bro
I built one and the hens love it. Plastic prefab shed, bolted to a concrete pad, and then put some bookshelf-like structures inside to let them roost.
Door is automatic, powered by an arduino and a pulley system.
The plastic shed is nice because I can pressure wash it off once a season
I usually buy egg lands best eggs or whatever costco has, but I moved pretty far from Costco and I got a dozen cheap eggs from Walmart. The egg shells were so thin and unhealthy it was like the chicken was tortured for their eggs. Obviously the birbs didn't get enough calcium. Probably lived on only corn.
I did
My three chickens are wonderful, I spend at least 30 minutes everyday holding them. They will gather if I call them and sit and watch tv. They love being held and eat pretty much any scrap food except sweet stuff.
Feed does outweigh cost of eggs, but the eggs you do get taste great. If you grow some wheat or corn you can feed them that.
I think the fact they are so loving and give you eggs and nice fertilizer for your garden makes them great pets.
>Feed does outweigh cost of eggs
How much fricking feed are you using?
I buy a 50lbs sack every few months, keep their hopper full, and get hundreds of eggs in that time.
Decent eggs are $5 a carton now, so 5 dozen eggs and I break even, and they lay a lot more than that
wholesome. my grandpa has few chickens in the countryside and there is one of them that will let me catch and hold and pet her. His new rooster is also pretty chill and smart. I fricking love chickens.
Regarding the coyotes, get a donkey.
They love murdering canines
maybe, we have 3 donkeys and they don't do shit
mine does it often enough we just stopped taking away the corpses. she drops em when a new one comes by
You have to feed them coyote blood first
Eores bad side.
Mein chicken auschwitz is finished.
Good job anon! You've come a long way!
Nikki Hailey is the Chicken
https://www.ag.ndsu.edu/extension-aben/buildingplans/poultry
I took old windows from a demolition job and built a coop around that. Make it easy to clean, seal all cracks because of mites, chalk it and make it according to your climate. We have hot summers and cold winters, so I can open 2 sides of the insulated coop and set in mesh walls
Is it possible for chickens to be healthy with a diet of mostly fruit fly infested pears for a few months?
I have a nasty exotic pear tree in my yard, the pears are small and horrible and always full of maggots, but I do get like 20 kg of fruit from it every year.
I figure if I free range my chickens around this tree it's basically free food for them and about all the homosexual tree is good for.
Of course I would supplement their diet with regular feed, but is this feasible? Do chickens even eat fruit?
I would love to be able to look at that tree as useful rather than just a nuisance.
>maggots
Chickens love to eat insects, maggots included. I say give them a couple, if they seem to like it then keep feeding them.
the chickens can completely live off of an insect diet and their eggs will be delicious.
those chickens and their eggs would be so healthy being able to gorge on fruit and maggots for weeks.
The ladies have arrived!
nice barred rock pullet in the front
for the ramp you might consider some raised "rungs" in addition to the slots, hens can have a bit of trouble "gripping" ply
Mmmkay I'll probably rip up some little ribs when I get a chance and brad nail them to the plywood to provide some traction.
Honestly I've had good luck just nailing/stapling down a bit of weather stripping or rubber tubing at periodic intervals. Hens like it too
I keep chickens in my backyard, set up a small coop in an old shed some time back, it's not to complicated. Chickens like cubicles and places to perch, if the cubicles are elevated, they like that more. Just make sure they can make it up there, a board with "steps" nailed to it will do.
We've never bought chicks, always bought them fully grown. I'm not sure how much care chicks really need. Can't help there.
As for the fencing, get chicken wire, make sure it's hard for anything to dig through or underneath. You're not fencing it just to keep the chickens in, but to keep foxes and coyotes out - you might even want to reinforce it with another layer of a different, thicker kind of wire.
Feed them grain and calcium supplements if their eggs go soft, throw some chunks of old compost in the fenced area from time to time. They love worms. I like to let my chickens walk around my backyard (Although never unattended, they might wander and find themselves unable to make it back, or get attacked by foxes. When a fox has a burrow nearby with cubs, they can get ballsy) so that they get to peck at the ground, eat bugs and worms and stuff. It makes them happy, probably saves me a little on food.
Oh, and regarding food, chickens eat almost anything. You can give them table scraps if you want, and it shouldn't cause issues. Ideally you'd have a pig for that, but pigs are much harder to keep, so chickens will do as recyclers. Regardless, buy a lot of grain, one or more dispensers based on how many chickens you have (if you introduce new chickens, the old ones might keep them away from the only dispenser, if there is only one), along with one or more water dispensers. They're big dumb plastic things, you can get them for pretty cheap. Mix in some of the calcium stuff in there, and you're good to go. I don't know what that stuff is called in English, I'm an ESL. Have a good day.
Wait this thread is one month old and you have them already. I see good chickens, you have done good work. Have a good day.
As a sidenote to what's already been said take some thick wooden dowels and wrap them in rope/twine as perches. The chickens will appreciate it and it helps prevent bumblefoot
It's a chicken coop, not a rocket ship, dont overthink it. I built pic related for my birds
How do you fit all the conveyor belts and egg sorters into that? Does your dog handle the unintended hatchlings?
>ctrl+f container
>0 results
Get pic related, 20 ft, open doors, put screen in door openings, wala
wrong pic
I've been experimenting with this to feed them maggots. Meat and fish scraps go in the pot and some maggots eventually fall out the bottom.
Why not just give them the scraps?
check prices of lumber at lowes, home depot, and any local lumber yards or mills you can find.
You can watch several boobtube videos and notice that everyone's coop is a hodge podge of old and new building material. Why? Predation.
Build a coop by your own design. Sit down, draw it out according to your budget and space.
If you can't afford it, then you should start smaller. But don't cut corners.
Avoid chicken wire, use hardware cloth.
Reinforce your hardware cloth.
Make sure your coop has good ventilation.
Personally, I converted a small overhang. I used rail ties, hardware mesh, chainlink fence, lots of wood. It has been cemented all around and 4-6 inches into the ground. I bought a solar generated fan and installed it.
Bottom line, it needs to be easy to maintain, good air flow, and bullet proof. Especially with the way things are going. Stick to heritage breeds. If you are gonna do this go ahead and get a rooster. It helps with predation.
Good luck.
I have one that is 12'X24' with an 8' roof so that I can walk in to collect eggs and clean up. It is WAY overbuilt. Chicken's don't expect much. At this time I've split it into two sections, one for a chicken nursery and one for the adult chickens. In the spring, I start with some new chicks and bring my flock up to about 50 birds but I'll lose 10 or 20 during the year to hawks, raccoons, bobcats and cayotes. Don't use chicken wire, chickens can get their heads stuck through it and a raccoon can reach through to grab a chickens neck. Use hardware fabric instead. When my flock is full, I get 30 or 40 eggs per day. And I still love eggs! Perhaps the most versatile food there is.
Forgot to add a picture.
Do chicken coops smell bad? Like if you're 10-15 feet away from one? I've been thinking of setting one up but the way my yard is set up it would have to be about 10 feet away from a patio that I get drunk at when the weather is nice.
no
if you do korean style, you cant even smell em
Is using treated timber (most likely CCA) a concern when building a chicken coop?
It would mostly be made of metal sheeting, but the frame would have to be wood because I am a weldlet.
Hardwood is prohibitively expensive here, so for it to last in an outdoor environment it'd have to be treated pine.
I dumpster dived two hams to feed my birbs.
thank god its not three hams
three hams will certainly kill them
is that a fricking brak reference, on diy?
This is pretty neat. There was a dead rat in there this morning and it's already gone. Only one of the two hams in left.
i have read that your gonna wait O.P.
which is chill.
where do you live ?
is your home suburbs or in city ?
what is the winters like ?
not to blog post but here in edmonton alberta, to get a chix_coop goin in the city involved a city class and submission of plans that met some basic guidelines.
That looks really good. Make sure to put some pavers down, the chickens can dig holes and animals will dig to get inside.
Horse stall rubber mats are comfy, easy to move, cheaper than pavers and rinse off easily.
once you get the chickens taken care of you should also consider rabbits
This is a really awesome chicken waterer my dad made. Garden hose connected to a diy spring loaded ball valve. Water container is a 5 gallon bucket with poultry nipples at the bottom. The chickens never run out of clean water and can't shit in it. This thing lasted 10 years until they starved their chickens to death because they're mentally ill boomers.