Getting Backyard Chickens! Need help on planning for them.?
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Processing 280 Chickens – Cornish Cross & Red Bros at Pete and Jen Backyard Bird’s Mobile Poultry Processing Unit
Question by : Getting Backyard Chickens! Need help on planning for them.?
Hi!
My mom just told me were getting backyard chickens! Witch I don’t know why the city lets us do that. Anyways, were getting 6 chicks (4 weeks old) and we have to keep them inside for the next month.
I have 2 dogs and they both LOVE to chase birds so should I put up a fence around where the coop is gonna be?
Can I use a cardboard box temporary as the chicken house until my dad has time to build a wooden one?
Do you think I should have more then 6 chickens?
Do hens make any noise?
Were going to donate ALL the eggs to the Homeless shelter in our community.
Please help by answering ALL the questions in this post. I need to know by the end of the week.
Thank you!
Maddie
Feel free to answer in the comment section below
2 Responses to Getting Backyard Chickens! Need help on planning for them.?
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Hey!
Congrats on the chickens, they’re lovely pets! :3
In terms of your dogs…its hard to really say unless I know what breed they are! Dogs can cause chickens high levels of distress. Would your dogs be likely to be barking at them alot? Scratching at the wire? Trying to get to them? If these questions are yes…then unfortunately they might not be right for you 🙁 chickens are hardy animals but they really do get distressed if they feel they’re in constant danger.
And with the cardboard box, what size is it? Would the sides be high enough? While its all fine, remember that if your dogs like to chase birds, if they see the chicks, they won’t see them as cute fluffy chicks, they’ll see them as chew toys. Personally, I wouldn’t recommend having them in an unsecure house like a cardboard box when there’s dogs around. It’s impossible to keep an eye on them constantly! 😛
Firstly, how much space do you have for your chickens? They will like to spend their days just wandering around and browsing for food. They need space to run and move around and stretch their wings. I’d also recommend a sandbox, they love dust baths (: They’ll need enough space in the garden to do all this, have a secure enough fence around it to keep the dogs from harming or freaking them out and a coop of some description for them to sleep in. They take up more space than you’d think 😛
And yes! They do! They’re surprisingly noisy animals (: they like to ‘talk’ to eachother alot. They’re constantly clucking and making little noises at eachother. They’re very sociable and vocal. (:
That’s amazing that you want to donate all the eggs to the homeless, what a great idea 😀
I hope this helps!! Let me know if you need anything else :3
Charlotte Wilkinson
July 27, 2012 at 5:09 am
dogs that chase chickens tend to eat them. i have had chickens for about 10 years, and we usually have 30-50 at a time.depend on what state you live in, would depend on weather or not they can go outside at 4 weeks.. here in minnesota, i wouldn’t but them out until they are 6 weeks old. a large cardboard box would be fine for acouple days, but the bottom would get gross! i would have the chicken coop set up before you brought the chicks home.
how many chickens you have, depends on the size of the coop. if they can go outside then they are suppose to have one square foot per chicken if they are locked inside they need 3 square foot per bird. you should have atleast 2 chickens, they are a flock animal!
google( back yard chickens) and you will learn alot! hens do make noise, but not loud! but they can be loud when they lay their eggs!
tiffany
July 27, 2012 at 5:58 am