Chicken house

[charles]

Fixn to get some chicken n of course they need housing. Started workin on this mon afternoon. Gotta put a wire mesh roof on it n throw some presidential birds in it n hope critters dont get in.









2 burning 6 turning

[Judge peel]

Here's mine the boys built it few yrs back

[charles]

U dont problems with birds of prey stealing any chicks? I hav owls n hawks sitting in the trees around my pond looking to pick off unsuspecting mice. I think either an owl or hawk took my 2 day old blonde boar i was wanting to keep, so i dont wanna take any chances on loosing chickens anymore than nessesary. Im planing on letting them run during the days n putting them up at night.

[Judge peel]

Not really there is some owls and hawks around but owls are out at night I have them locked up. I have had chickens for ever most hens I have lost is to skunks and possums not birds of prey

[charles]

What size pen is that and how many chickens will it accomidate? My shed/coop is a 10x8 and the pen is 10x10 and im hoping to hold around 20 head for starters and expand as the flock gets bigger. Im hoping between free ranging during the day and the size of the coop and pen being big enough to roost 20 or so at night.

I just gotta find good free range/hardy birds that are good egg producers and taste good too.

[Judge peel]

16x24 I think I keep around 20 birds in there those reds and production reds and americanas are hard to beat in my 30 plus years of keeping birds. I have tryed many but come back to those oh and domineckers are good to

[Georgia-Hawgs]

        boo-yah baby !! I got one to lol...didnt cost me a dime. Made strictly from what the ole lady calls "ugly junk laying all over the damn place" haha...since the picture was taken i have replaced that tin above that tiny door that i can hardly fit through with more wire.....that i also just happend find ...she will tell me how awesome i am one day. And judge dont forget about the barred rock chickens !! I like em..there a good heavy "dual-purpose" bird. Good steady layer of large brown eggs. I also have a rir..she's just as good. Let us know what you decide to get ! I'm sure there all good. I am very inexperienced. I just have barred rocks and one rir.

[Georgia-Hawgs]

  also i have made these waterers that have proven to be real handy. I used 3 gallon buckets with snap on lids. (Screw on would have been better for easier access) but i used the thread in poultry nipples in the bottom. I just drilled a hole,threaded it in, used marine grade jb weld on the inside and outside. Regular caulk or something else would probably work. I just had the jb weld on hand. But i haven't had to water my chickens in almost a week. And they cant poop in it either. Just good clean water all the time.  The nipples where i got them were 2$ each. But i found the same ones on ebay for like 2.49 for 10 or so.

[Cajun]

I could buy a lot of eggs for the price of those fancy chicken houses. lol But then there is nothing like fresh eggs.

[Judge peel]

I spent a few hundred on mine not that big of a deal to keep momma happy  the one I had before that was bunch of pallets nailed together lol

[charles]

Iv got $100 in mine on wire, 4 5" treated posts and 7 1x4s. Iv spent well over $100 buying chicken n eggs from the grocery store in the past 2yrs . So if i can keep them birds alive for and cycled out every 2-3yrs with fresh hatched chicks, then i will start "paying" myself back. My goal, which has been the same for yrs, just dont have a wife that supports it, is, to get off the commercial grid as much as possible. Raising birds, and a garden at first will help me save up to buy some calves. But paying grocery store prices for the same crap i can raise/grow for less is just pi$$ing in the wind. Im giving my $ to the greedy rich a-holes, instead of keeping ut in my pocket.

Georgia, im gonna get whatever the ole boy down the road has n may hav to buy some to get my head count up n to mix/match my layers. He is giving me a game rooster to start off with till a new rooster is born that prooved himself as protector. What did u use for wire?

[Georgia-Hawgs]

Dang charles you just waking up? Must be nice.haha...nah...i used just regular ole 2x4 garden wire. It looks different in the pic because its doubled over in some spots.(not for any reason though).  And were on the same page. I have made a goal to try my best this year to cut the grocery store cost down to a bare minimum. Now if i could just grow coffee..haha..last year i leased out my pasture. This year instead of cash were gonna do a half trade half cash. Trade is a black angus calf. Between beef , pork , eggs , chicken and the fish i catch in the river behind the house and the garden i plan to grow we should be doing pretty good. Thats not to mention deer , squirrel, rabbit and frog legs off this river bank.  My wife will eat anything i cook. She grew up that way and its pretty awesome. She supports it 100%

[charles]

Actually, yes. I did just wake up, bout 10min prior to me posting. And yes it is nice to sleep in, but it puts me several hrs behind my outside chores for today. 2wks on and 1wk off is a nice schedule but it hits the wallet hard too. If my company bids on and is awarded the dutch airforce contract here at ft hood, im probably gonna request a transfer back hm where i get to sleep in my own bed (not a hotel bed for 2+ weeks at a time), have a constant 40 + hrs paycheck. If that happens, the extra $ and time hm will go to getting my property and critters set up for off the grid

[Judge peel]

I don't know about that it might be cheaper to buy them eggs from the store but it makes you feel a little better for having your own

[Georgia-Hawgs]

I believe if a man can "free range" some chickens in the day time. Just feed a little here and there to keep them going in the coop at night its dang sure cheaper than the store. It may be cheaper to keep them in the coop as well. 50 pounds of layer pellets is pretty cheap and will last a while depending on how many you have.

[Judge peel]

It's more of a hobby to me something to watch and play with to get your mind off other stuff I guess when I eat a hen from town it cost 8 bucks the ones at home I hatch out feed chick starter watch over them for 4 plus weeks with heat lamp feed and water 3 times a day then move to my small feed pen feed for 3 months at wich time if your lucky you will 3/4 of what you started with now it's time to turn them out or clean them wich takes me 30 min or so a bird so after few hrs I will have 1/2 dozen or so to thro in the freezer turn the rest out wich will be few more months before they will lay eggs after all that I just stock up at heb when there on sale and do a few to keep my skills handy lol

[charles]

I don't think it will be cheaper in the first, sec or possibly the third yr of raising them, but I'm hoping to break even by the sec or third yr. By then, the hens from the first yr will have offspring and those will be laying as well, providing more eggs and more hatchlings to replace what I slaughter and by the third yr, I'm hoping to have a lil bigger coop, which I have a 12x24 3 walled shed in my field which will roost probably 50 head or more, plus my 5ac, the adjacent abandoned high weeded lot, plus the corn field behind me will for surely yield plenty of bugs plus once fully free ranged my pond will provide plenty of water. Hopefully in 3yrs, I will have my property fenced in to support livestock (cows and pigs) and along with the piles of poop from the livestock, comes more bugs. Between the wife and I, we eat 2.5 chickens a week when I'm home, but if I stay in the field, that brings the total consumption down to bout 1-2 chickens a month. With 50 head, I can sustain my consumption and cycle the birds through every year.
Now the cows and pigs on the other hand, that will dang sure take longer and won't be cheaper than store bought, but like u said judge, it's the thought of growing/raising myself which will provided me with a better feeling of life. At beef current beef prices both in the store and buying calves, I can't compete with store prices raising 2-4 head at a time and waiting 3-5yrs for slaughter. I will have to sup feed them with hay, grain and protein buckets, all of which is a constant outgo every week. But again, raising and slaughtering my own food is better than living out of a supermarket the rest of my life, and that's all I'm in it for, peace of mind

[Sambo5500]

Hey Charles, speaking of the hogs, I can't remember if I told you the other day when I stopped by that my father in law raises durocs. If you you ever want some to add some good blood into your feral hogs just let me know. Or if you just want one to butcher or whatever.

[charles]

Hey Charles, speaking of the hogs, I can't remember if I told you the other day when I stopped by that my father in law raises durocs. If you you ever want some to add some good blood into your feral hogs just let me know. Or if you just want one to butcher or whatever.

I wonder how that would affect a domestic hog, raising it with feral hogs. I wouldnt mind throwing some new blood into my stock. If possible, i could use a 75-100lb boar. I got 3 sows now and another boar might be benificial to producing a better hog

[jdt]

i garantee you if you crossed an old time duroc and or berkshire in on some feral hogs ( or the ones like i caught in ky ) ,and you could keep them from being killed of by other hunters you would never run out of meat or lard !

    with just enough feed to keep them around and keep track of them they would make a good conversion of mast and rooting into meat .

  but thats a topic for a whole other thread 

  as for chickens , i finally gave up . we would shut'em up at night and turn them out in the day . we finally got a great pyrynees to keep the varmints away after i came out the door 1 day on the porch and a hen hit me in the head at the same time a coon hit me in the shin .lol we all 3 like to have schitt ourselves. lmao the pyraneese kept the varmints away and would babysit the chickens all day . but she couldn't watch for the hawks and owls . and yes owls will stay up late for a garaunteed easy meal .