Chicken coops plans

Posts Tagged ‘chicken house’

You have always wanted a few chickens and uBuilder Plans is here to help you succeed!
Keeping chickens is easy, taking only a few minutes each day, and allowed in many towns across the US. The City Biddy Hen House makes it even easier! Your hens will be happy hens – scratching around in the grass and playing in the sun. Hens that come when you call them and take treats from your hand. How about your eggs … collected daily from your own backyard. Fresh? Nothing fresher. Organic? Of course… you know what YOUR hens have been fed. What could taste better than a truly FRESH organic egg, free from all of those antibiotics and chemicals?
The City Biddy Hen House was designed with the health and happiness of your hens in mind; providing easy to use, superior housing for your small flock without great expense. Designed to be used with the pen of your choice, the City Biddy Hen House gives you flexibility. Even the design is flexible. While it is designed for housing chickens, the City Biddy can be adapted to house many small animals including: rabbits, ferrets, waterfowl, pigeons, or even your cat! The do-it-yourself plan allows you to customize the design to suit your personal style and needs. Solid construction and compact size makes it a comfortable safe home for your birds year round. Cool in summer and warm in winter; no more overheating or frostbite!

Chores are easily accomplished from outside of the coop. No need to crawl around inside of a cramped pen! The large access door and exterior nest boxes make feeding, gathering eggs and even cleaning – quick and easy. This makes the City Biddy perfect for children, the elderly, and people with special needs! Yes, the City Biddy Hen House is wheel chair friendly!

The plan features wheels, as an option for the City Biddy. Its easy mobility means you can change the location to suit the season, sunny spot for winter or a shady spot for summer time. The coop can be moved by one person. Compact and attractive, the City Biddy will fit beautifully into your garden or even the smallest urban yard.

Building your own low-cost City Biddy Hen House is easy as well. With these professionally engineered plans you can build it yourself! Using new materials, you can usually build the City Biddy for under $150.00 (US)! Less if you are using recycled or reclaimed materials.

Our 35 page color building plan book includes: color photos, poultry care tips, detailed measured drawings, and step-by-step instructions written for easy assembly by almost any handy person. At UBuilder Plans we want you to succeed! Technical support and poultry advice by email are always included.

No matter what you call it… a poultry ark, chicken house, a coop or even a chicken tractor… the City Biddy Hen House is just what you need!
Are you a seasoned Poultry fancier or new urban homesteader? Looking for mobile housing for a breeding trio, housing for a broody hen and her chicks, or a new backyard coop for those “farm” fresh eggs? The City Biddy Hen House is just right for you!

The City Biddy Hen House – Building Plan Book
$22.00 USD – WEBSITE Special! – includes Free Shipping!

• Attractive, compact, low cost, mobile, and extremely easy to use shelter for your chickens.
• Provides a healthy, happy home for your small flock, when used with the attached pen of your choice.
• Recommended for use with 3 to 4 standard size or 4 to 6 bantam size chickens for the best results.
• Perfect for the homesteader or the homeowner wanting to keep a few backyard hens for pets and personal egg production.
• Please check out our “Gallery” for lots more photos and descriptions.
• Why BUY a building plan? … The answer is EASY!
• With a uBuilder Plan all of the bugs have been worked out! You get a great coop that will be easy to build, easy to use AND be healthy for your hens as well.

Coming SOON … City Biddy DOUBLE Wide! Housing for up to 15 large hens! Still mobile, practical, low cost and cute.
Also the City Stealth Coop a space saving coop designed to hang unobtrusively on an existing building while providing great housing for up to 3 hens.
Check back often for updates!!!

Chapter 14: Legal Aspects by Christine Heinrichs Christine’s website, blog

“As with any agricultural enterprise in our complex world, raising chickens is subject to a variety of laws and regulations. Finding out what they are and abiding by them will save you many headaches.

Raising chickens is generally governed by local zoning and land-use laws and ordinances. With the advent of the NAIS and individual state systems, you may also have to register your premises with the state and identify every chicken you own.

Local law may not be the only standard you have to meet. Some planned-unit developments place restrictions on the deeds that prohibit livestock, which is generally understood, if not specified, to include chickens.

Keeping land in agricultural use provides green space. Small farms, under pressure from development as cities expand, may be able to present economic value if they are producing eggs and meat for local markets. Planners are learning the value of green space and may be amenable to persuasion of the importance of small farms.

Local Poultry Ordinances The laws regulating chickens will be part of the municipal or community laws that govern your property. That could be a city ordinance or, if you live in a rural area, it could be the county policy. Your local health department may also have a role in regulating the raising of poultry. In addition, your deed may have restrictive covenants that include chickens. Laws generally regulate the number of chickens permitted, crowing roosters, waste, smell, housing, and backyard butchering.

Chickens are usually classified as livestock or barnyard animals. That makes some people think of them as unsuited to urban and suburban life. Negative attitudes about the status and connotations of keeping chickens in the backyard have resulted in restrictions on them and outright bans.

Locate accurate information from your local government. Most local governments have online resources for those who have Internet access. All local governments are required to provide information to the citizens who live within their boundaries. In some states, municipal authority to control livestock and poultry may extend beyond the municipal boundary. Start with the information desk in the municipal building. Keep asking questions until you find a local government employee who is knowledgeable. As a general rule, erroneous information provided by a local government official is not a defense for violation of a local ordinance.

Where a restrictive covenant in a deed regulates poultry, local government officials will not have any information about this. You should read your deed and consult an attorney if the language that it contains is difficult to understand. If your neighborhood has a homeowners’ association, it may have adopted rules governing the raising of livestock and poultry.

Extension agents, 4-H leaders, and high-school agriculture teachers are good resources for getting started, but they may not know exactly what applies to your property. Check the original documents to make sure you know what you have to do to comply with the law.

If the law is unclear or confusing, ask for help. If no one knows for sure about chickens, pursue the question further. The animal control officer may know how the community deals with chickens and chicken coops, or be able to direct you to someone who does.

If no one, including your elected representatives, can determine what is meant by the law, you may be the person to lead a movement to change it. This happened in Madison, Wisconsin, where, up to 2004, no laws prohibited chickens, but building a coop for them was not allowed. Chicken-lovers kept chickens in their yards, a sort of open secret. So long as no one complained, there was no problem. Occasionally differences arose among neighbors and a city inspector would come out and talk to the chicken owners, sometimes even telling them they would have to get rid of their chickens.

Sometimes they did, and sometimes they simply moved them down the street to a friend’s yard for a few months and then quietly moved them back. They considered themselves the Poultry Underground.

In 2003, Alicia Rheal and Bryan Whiting decided to get the law changed to make chickens legal in Madison. Seattle, Washington, and Portland, Oregon, already had ordinances on their books, giving them models from which to work. Alderperson Matt Sloan was sympathetic.

After six months of publicity to inform the public, backed with experiences of other communities and the endorsement of Mark Cook, a professor in the Poultry Science Department at the University of Wisconsin, the city Common Council adopted an ordinance specifying the conditions for keeping chickens inside city limits in May 2004.

Being a good neighbor is one of the most important ways to avoid complaints about your chickens. In addition to meeting the basics of local laws, always keep your chickens clean and avoid smells. Replace litter frequently and compost or dispose of manure properly. It is a valuable fertilizer, but make sure you don’t create a situation that will offend your neighbors. Information about composting can usually be obtained through your local cooperative extension office. Landscaping can camouflage the chicken house and yard, making it more palatable to neighbors.

Giving neighbors fresh eggs occasionally can win over doubtful neighbors. You can also invite them over to meet the chickens and explain your interest to them. Enthusiastic advocates can influence detractors. They may never want chickens for themselves, but at least they can be convinced to tolerate them in your yard.

Some communities have tightened laws about chickens since the avian influenza scare of 2005. You may need to prepare information to reassure neighbors and local officials that your birds represent no danger to anyone.

A restaurant owner in Long Island has kept half a dozen chickens, including a rooster, since he moved to the area in the 1970s. He prefers the fresh eggs for the eggs Benedict he serves his customers. A new law forbidding farm animals in town was not immediately enforced. Existing businesses are usually protected from new laws by a grandfather clause, allowing the business to continue operating as it has in the past.

A homeowner in New Jersey had been keeping chickens for a year before someone complained to the city. The Board of Health investigated and found them in violation of local ordinance. After consulting with a lawyer, the family decided to apply for a zoning variance that would make their chickens legal.

These situations reflect the legal confusion that exists in many places. Chickens trigger strong feelings in some situations. Stay calm, research your options, and be pleasant and polite. Nothing is gained from a shouting contest.

Ultimately, you are going to be part of a community. With tact and goodwill, you can convince the community to include your chickens.

Voluntary Agricultural Districts A recent strategy to keep land in agricultural use is the voluntary agricultural district. On the county level, land already in agricultural use can be shielded from nuisance lawsuits and protected from nonfarm development.

Owners of land currently in agricultural use can agree to be included in a voluntary agricultural district, exempting them from sewer and water assessments that are required for residential and commercial development. They usually have some protection from being sued by new neighbors who don’t want to hear the rooster crowing.

The agricultural district can work with insurers to provide coverage for agritourism activities. The district offers a structure through which landowners can advance public education about agriculture. Forming a district can attract supportive infrastructure such as feed stores, processing facilities, and marketing opportunities for your eggs and meat.

In an era of mini-estates encroaching on agricultural land, voluntary agricultural districts can maintain land near urban and suburban areas in agricultural uses that enhance the open green space. They are a tool to support agricultural uses against the pressure of development. If your state has an agricultural district program, information is usually available from your state department of agriculture or your local cooperative extension office.

State and Federal Regulations The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has proposed a system to identify every livestock animal in the country. Individual states, such as Wisconsin and Indiana, have also passed laws requiring all properties that have livestock to register with that state. Find out what laws apply in your state in order to comply with them. These programs have aroused a lot of controversy and resistance, so implementation varies across the nation.

The USDA’s National Animal Identification System suggests giving every farm animal a seven-digit number and tracking its every move off the premises on which it lives throughout its life. Animal Identification Number is being used as the proper name for this requirement, often seen as AIN. The goal is for animal health officials to be able to trace back to the source of any disease within 48 hours of its discovery.

Radio-frequency technology in the form of implanted microchips is one possible means of tagging animals. Chickens and other poultry may be allowed to be identified by numbered leg or wing bands. Animals that leave their premises for any reason, such as to go to a show, will be required to have an identification number. Even chickens that never leave their premises are encouraged to be identified.

Databases of identified animals will be kept either through breed organizations, commercial producers, state premises registration, or any other databases the USDA needs to track every animal.

Organizations supporting sustainable agriculture, rare-breeds conservation, and individual rights have rallied their members to oppose NAIS. You can join them by contacting any organizations of which you are already a member to find out what you can do to oppose NAIS. ”

Chickens are very easy to raise in a small amount of space and can provide you with a nice source of wholesome food as well. Their needs are few: shelter, room to scratch around, a nest box, and food and water. Before you acquire your first flock you need to prepare their quarters.

Housing for Chickens

If you expect to get eggs, you have to confine your chickens at night where you want them to lay. Otherwise, they will hide their eggs and you will never find them. A chicken house does not need to be fancy, only secure and dry with perches for night roosting and a few nest boxes. Hens will share nests, so plan on having one nest box for every three hens. Provide one foot of perch space for each hen. Always secure your hens at night or they might become the dinner of local raccoons or opossums.

An unused garden shed or corner of a garage can easily be converted into a chicken house. A space about eight feet by twelve feet will be very adequate for a few dozen birds. They will also need an outside enclosure about twice this size for exercise. Chickens like to scratch in the soil and catch bugs, so a pen with grass is preferred. Don’t be distressed if the birds eat all the grass, it is good for them. Chickens can fly, so either make the sides of the pen at least eight feet high or make a cover with chicken wire. A covered pen will protect your flock from hawks.

Make sure there is power to the chicken house. During the winter it is a good idea to keep a light burning so that the hens get about 12 hours of light daily. Egg production will suffer otherwise. The light will also provide heat on very cold nights.

Food and Water

Special food and water dispensers are sold at feed stores. These are designed to keep the food and water clean. A hanging water container suspended above the floor, at a comfortable drinking height will also help keep the water clean longer. Feed containers come with barriers to prevent the birds from perching above their food and soiling it. Select one or more of a type that you can clean easily. The feed store people are usually knowledgeable about these items and will be able to make recommendations if you tell them what kind of hens you are getting.

Feed stores also sell different kinds of chicken food. For a small flock, it is simplest to buy a pre-mixed all-purpose laying mash. You can add some scratch feed to this or buy whole corn to supplement their diet. The corn will make the yolks very dark yellow and full of beta carotene. Chickens also appreciate kitchen scraps. Greens of any kind, fruit peelings, bread, pancakes, even cooked meat. Chickens will eat anything. You will want to provide them with crushed oyster shell for strong egg shells, buy this at the feed store. Chickens also need grit to help them digest their food. A little goes a long way and you can scatter it in their yard or keep it in a feeder, buy this at the feed store as well.

Selecting the Right Hens

There are several excellent breeds of chicken to choose from. If all you are interested in is eggs, decide if you want full size hens or bantams. Bantam eggs are much smaller, it takes three to equal one regular egg. Full size chickens are generally calmer than bantams. In some parts of the country certain breeds are favored. Ask around and find out what is available. It could be Rocks (black and white striped birds), Reds (reddish-brown birds), or Leghorns (usually white). Orpingtons are also a good choice. Some breeds, like Cochins and Bramans have heavily feathered feet. These are good choices for cold climates.

You can purchase newly hatched chicks in the spring and raise them yourself. This is fun to do, but it takes longer to get your first eggs. Try to buy year-old hens from someone nearby with lots of chickens. People who raise chickens for eggs to sell usually replace their hens every year. These older birds will still produce an egg every two to three days and will be easier for the novice to deal with. Expect to pay from two to five dollars for laying hens. Select plump, well-feathered birds with bright eyes. Buy at least five or more hens to start with. Each hen will lay an egg every two or three days, sometimes more often. Some hens produce an egg every day. As hens age, their egg production will decrease and eventually stop. However, it is not unheard of for hens to continue laying regularly for their entire life, about five years.

To Rooster or Not to Rooster

Roosters are not necessary to get eggs. Your hens will lay regularly whether you give them a “husband” or not. The only difference will be that the eggs will be fertile. Many breeds of chicken are not good sitters and will not brood, so, unless you really want the sound of a rooster crowing at dawn and during the day, don’t get one. If you have nearby neighbors, a rooster can cause bad blood quickly with his constant noise. Some roosters are very aggressive and will attack you when you are in the hen house collecting eggs or feeding. A furious rooster flying in your face with his spurs at the ready is frightening and those spurs can cause nasty wounds right through jeans. Be sure you really want one before you carry home that beautiful strutter.

Collecting the Eggs

Ideally, you will want to collect your eggs daily while the hens are outside in their exercise pen. If a hen is in the nest she is probably getting ready to lay, is laying, or has just finished. Check the nests more than once daily and you will soon get a feel for the best time to gather your eggs. The hens are sometimes very possessive of these eggs and will not appreciate you taking them. If a hen is on the nest, talk to her soothingly and slip your hand under her gently to feel for the eggs. If she pecks at your hand, let her alone and come back after she leaves. Put your eggs into a basket or plastic bucket and handle them carefully. It is not necessary to wash eggs. Sometimes an egg will be soiled and these should be rinsed in hot water before putting in the refrigerator. If you keep clean bedding, straw or sawdust in your nest boxes your eggs should all be clean.

Eggs will keep for many weeks under refrigeration. However, when you see how nice freshly laid eggs look and cook, you will want to always use the freshest. Make sure to date and rotate your eggs so that you don’t end up with stale ones. Don’t worry if you don’t use them up as fast you they accumulate, fresh eggs from home-raised chickens are a lovely gift for a friend and you can even sell your surplus.

Chicken arks, hen houses, chicken coops, chicken houses of all sorts and sizes: wooden kits, plastic ready-made, delightful mini houses, mobile arks and tractors,

We’re here to help. We found it bewildering when we started to keep chickens, and our friends did too, so we’ve collected information and reviews about what’s available – the good, the bad, the beautiful, and and the ugly too!

We’ve looked at ready made chicken houses and found some good plans for chicken houses too.

It could help you avoid expensive mistakes, and your chickens will be happier too.

What chicken house options are there?

To simplify, we found there are broadly three main types:

Chicken Arks or Chicken Tractors

These are made from wood or metal, with either a roosting and nesting area in one end and a run at the other, or a run underneath the roosting area. They are usually triangular in section. The key thing is that they have handles or wheels, so you can move them around your backyard/garden, so your chickens get new ground to graze and peck (and you get your weeds kept down).

This can be a good first type of chicken house to take three to four chickens.

Simple Fixed Chicken Houses

With a simple sloping roof and basically rectangular shape, a roosting area at one end (often raised) and usually with nest boxes accessible from the outside, these chicken houses are fixed with an integral run. Sometimes they are larger versions of a chicken ark – which is an attractive shape.

If you want your chickens to have space to range free, you let them out.

Large Chicken Houses

We’ve grouped all the pitched roof type of chicken houses under this heading as they are usually for larger flocks. The design usually has externally accessed nest boxes and a run attached at on end – or the chicken house sits in the middle of a run, although this can be left off if the chickens are left to range free and they can wander in and out.

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Chicken House Plans: What You Should Take Into Consideration

You want to have chickens, don’t you? Of course, you want to have happy chickens and you know what they say – a happy chicken is a healthy chicken. In order to have this, you will need to have the right chicken house plans. Have you ever thought of building your own house for the chickens? Really, it is not going to take much time. With the right plans, it should only take you a couple of days. However, we know some individuals that have finished there’s all in one day. That’s right, they started on it during the morning hours and by the next morning, birds were ready to be put in it. Below, we are going to give you a brief rundown of some of our favorite plans, so pay close attention to what we are going to tell you.

First on our list, we have the farm style chicken house. If you do not care much about the aesthetics of the house and you just care about the safety of your chickens, then the basic box design is going to work. Sure, it’s not so attractive, in fact, it is very unattractive. However, it may be the best bet for you as you will only need some cheep wood framing and some weatherproof material to go over the walls and roof. If you are a farm boy or a farm girl, then you probably already have all f this stuff laying around. With this technique, you will not even need to build proper nests. If you like, you could use cardboard boxes, which is really going to cut down on the cost.

Second on our list, we have the Urban Style Chicken House. Do you like the ring of the name? Yes, you guessed right, it can be beautiful, as long as you put some effort into it.

If you live in an urban area, then you may want to build one of these. It is aesthetically pleasing and will look clean, which is something that many individuals like.

You can use either pine or hardwood for the frame. It requires the same type as the farm style house, except the wood will need to be higher quality. For the walls and the roof, you will need to use painted material.

With this, you could also put some shingles on the roof. This will definitely give a boost to the appeal. Maybe you have some left over shingles when you did the roof on your home or garage that you could use?

It is important that you pay attention to the flooring options. Choosing the right flooring can make a big difference. Not only in the look of the coop, but also in egg yields. There are three materials – sand, sawdust or straw.

Many individuals choose to use straw, because generally, it is quite clean. Straw is also easy to replace. The sand will be good for areas that have a wet climate, because it drains easier. As for sawdust, it is great for long-term use and is cheap.

When choosing chicken house plans, it is important to make sure you pick one that will make your chickens happy. The one you pick all depends on the desires you have.

Chicken HouseEveryday it becomes more difficult to find quality poultry products. It seems consumers never know what they are getting or where it came from. This concern has led many people to consider maintaining a chicken house of their own. If this is something you are thinking about, www.horizonstructures.com can help!

Here at www.horizonstructures.com, a chicken house is easy to order and easy to use; the coops are delivered pre-assembled and ready for immediate service. They protect your hens from predators and provide the space they require to live the healthy life needed for wholesome eggs or meat. Our chicken houses have specially designed features for bird safety and comfort. They have everything you need, so if you’re just getting started with chickens you don’t have to worry about overlooking something. You simply select the chicken house model that best suits the size of your flock and your budget.

Each chicken house is built to order at our facility by Amish carpenters. The pride and care they take in their work is a rare commodity today. We offer a wide selection of chicken houses, and every customer gets a truly “one of a kind” coop by choosing their siding, colors, and options.

This ability to customize makes each chicken house unique. Our chicken houses come in over eight different styles with some hard-to-find standard features and available options.

Interior fixtures are designed with chicken’s roosting and nesting habits in mind.Windows and vents let in plenty of natural light and fresh air while also keeping predators at bay.The nest box design allows easy access for egg collecting.The materials used in our chicken house construction are both durable and attractive.Some of our many options and upgrades include electric, wheels, and feeders.

Here is what one of our customers is saying…

“Hello! I just wanted to drop you a quick note to let you know happy I am with out new chicken coop! We ordered the 4 x 6 board and batten coop on Jan. 8 and it was here on Jan. 18! I was completely (pleasantly) surprised when the driver called us on Saturday afternoon to say he was in South Carolina with it and would be here the next morning. I’ve ordered clothing that took longer to get here! And he was right on time too! So thank you very much for the excellent service and wonderful craftsmanship from me, my husband and all our little chickies-who love their new home! =) “- Jenn T. in Arnoldsville, GA

Visit www.horizonstructures.com today for more information about getting your own chicken house!

We all learn to coddle day-old baby chicks: we keep them warm and protect them from floor drafts that might chill them. It’s easy to carrythis too far when the chickens get older. Chickens have sensitive lungs and need good air quality to thrive. If we shut up our chicken housestoo tightly, the houses will be dark, dank, and smelly, and the chickens will do poorly.

Since adult chickens are insulated by a heavy coat of feathers, trying to keep them warm is a waste of time, yet I get emails from people in Florida asking me if they need to use heat lamps on their adult hens in the wintertime! No, you don’t. And leave the windows openall winter, too, while you’re at it, even if you live in Canada.

I use open-front houses, and these work great. They’re airy and stay dry. A less-open house that I built doesn’t have the same kind of airflow andstays wet and nasty, even though I took its door off its hinges. Enclosed spaces are bad for chickens. Lots and lots of open window space is the key,even in winter.

I feel so strongly about this (and have been so appalled by the dark, airless chicken coop plans that are floating around), that I’ve republishedthe classic guide to open-front chicken houses, Fresh-Air Poultry Housesby Dr. Prince T. Woods. This is an oldie but a goodie. Read the sample chapter: it will convince you.

Paradoxically, while the issue of poultry housing is fairly complex, chicken coops themselves are quite simple.

My focus is always on chicken coops that are inexpensive and easy to build. I don’t like spending more than $200 on a coop for 50 chickens. These coops are extremely plain, and are often several years old before I get around to painting them. The price difference between such an unpretentious coop and one that’s a little fancier can be shocking.

People who feel they have an image to maintain will often spend ten to twenty times as muchper hen as I do, and only end up with a coop that looks like a toolshed. Heaven knows what it would cost to make a chicken coopthat looks like an English country cottage! “It’s a coop, but it costs like a sedan.” It’s amazing how a little trim, the use of siding instead of plywood, and other simple changes balloon the cost.

Because of the immense cost difference, it’s important to have things straight in your mind before you pick up a hammer.A lot of people have vague hopes of turning a profit someday, and use these as an excuse for spending lots of money onchicken coops. Thisnever works out. Either you’re in this for the money or you aren’t. If you’re not in it for the money, assume that every dollaryou spent is one you’ll never see again, and you’ll stay out of trouble.

Read this article on chicken coops that I wrote for ATTRA (Appropriate Technology Transfer for Rural Areas). It talks aboutall kinds of chicken coops, including “chicken tractors” (portable pasture pens).

“Hoop coops” are cattle-panel hoophouses,which are much better than pasture pens (also called “chicken tractors”).

Back to the Poultry FAQ Page.

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We currently have 35 chickens out and about during the day with our border collie/pyrenees cross on patrol and we shut their door at night. When the garden plants are young and too delicious to the chickens, we put them in a hoop house made from two cattle panels over a steel frame base that has wheels that rotate down to lift the hoop house up when we want to move it. We covered the lower three feet with chicken wire and keep the top covered with a tarp. If needed for winter use, we put a large tarp all the way to the ground–it’s not at all perfect trying to get the tarp tight with the rounded hoop to cover, but it’s protection from the wind and blowing rain or snow. In summertime use, they get plenty of sunshine with the bottom area open, but can find some shade when needed. It is great to not have a chicken house to clean out and when moved once or twice daily, the chickens have fresh pickings and the pasture gets fertilizer. We’re on our second “design” trial and still have problems to fix–mostly with the wheel mechanism–we’re not engineers. We’ve had to hang the waterer as it’s our land isn’t very flat and the waterer needs to be level to work properly. The rain also gets the chicken feed wet, so though the feeder will hold enough for several days, I only put in enough for a day. We don’t have any rhyme or reason to our winters anymore. This year we haven’t had much snow or ice and so we’ve been able to move the hoop house most days. Last year, it got so mired down in snow and ice that it was unmoveable for months–what a mess. Actually, right now the hoop house is home to 26 guineas that wouldn’t stay out of the road. I do have an electric chord run to my old chicken house to heat the water in frigid weather and I confess that I prefer to have the chickens in the “real” house and running out during the day–but when needed, these hoop houses have worked well for us. There is quite a d

We’ve had our egg laying chickens for about 8 months. It’s my first experience raising chickens and there has been a lot to learn.

Egg Laying Chickens for Beginners

When we first decided to raise chickens our coop was not yet constructed, but we went ahead and made arrangements to buy a half dozen pullets (young hens) from a nearby farm. Since our farm was not equipped with a space suitable for raising baby chicks, buying pullets was our best option even though it cost a bit more than if we had bought the chicks ourselves. Most of the farms in this area get their baby chicks by mail order and our chickens are no different…they came to Concho by mail.

Our chickens were raised by Moonrise Farms until May, when they were 8 weeks old and in their pullet phase. Spring has a way of sneaking up and we were still clambering to get our chicken coop together in time to receive our chickens on delivery day. With a few extra hands to help and a lot of long days we managed to get the coop fully built on time.

When the time came to pick up the chickens, we realized that we hadn’t really worked out a good method for transporting the pullets. In a pinch, we emptied out our largest plastic storage containers and used those for carrying the chickens. Thankfully the chickens only had to ride in the back of the station wagon for a couple miles.

We’ve since bought a large animal crate that will work much better for transporting chickens. We’re also fixing up an old truck, which will be better suited to our farm needs.

Chicken Feeders

When we first brought the pullets home, we put them on a diet of chicken starter crumbles. When they started to lay eggs we changed their feed over to chicken layer pellets. Our chickens seem to prefer the pellets, though other folks say their flocks prefer the crumbles. We use a 40 pound hanging feeder, it works great because it prevents chickens from stepping into the feed trough and fouling the food. Hanging the chicken feeder will also keep mice from getting into it.

Chicken Waterers

Currently we supply fresh water to our chickens using a five gallon galvanized chicken waterer on simple cinder block platform. Having the waterer up off the ground keeps the water supply clean by preventing chickens from easily stepping into the trough. We’ve done our best to discourage our hens from sitting on top of the waterer and have placed a chicken wire “crown” on top of it.

Availability of fresh water affects egg production and we frequently wash out and refill the waterer. Our flock is particular about their water and if the waterer runs dry they make quite a fuss until the matter is addressed. We are moving towards an automated watering system. Once it is in place we will eliminate the task of filling the chicken waterer and our chickens will always have access to an uncontaminated water supply.

Click here to download a PDF version of our automated watering system that we are designing for use in our barn and garden.

Chicken Roosts

At night chickens like to roost. We’ve given our chickens several bars to stand on while they sleep. The roosting bars are all at the same height (about three feet off the ground) and provide enough space for all the chickens to stand comfortably, shoulder to shoulder. We originally used a ladder like design for our roost, but all of the hens wanted to be on the top rung!

I’ve read that sometimes you need to show your chickens where to roost if they don’t do it instinctively, but our chickens had no problems finding their roost.

Egg Laying Chicken Breeds

After getting our first flock settled we expanded almost immediately by adding another 6 pullets for a total of 12 egg laying hens. The addition of new chickens caused a degree disruption in the hen house that we weren’t really expecting. In the future we’ll merge 2 flocks by keeping them side by side in a divided coop until they became familiar with one another.

The dozen chickens that we have are of two breeds: Leghorn and Rhode Island Reds. The Leghorns are white and have proven to be very good producers. They started laying eggs about a month before the Reds and consistently produce large or extra large white eggs. The Rhode Island Reds have a more friendly disposition and lay brown eggs. They are a little larger in size than the Leghorns and seem to be moderate producers.

Because of their continuously high productivity, we’ve already determined that our next flock will also be Leghorns. The chart above compares our 2 breeds and illustrates the superior production levels exhibited by the Leghorns.

Chicken Egg Laying BehaviorsEgg Eating

While our flocks were still getting settled we had a lot of trouble with egg eating. To read about how we corrected the behavior see the following articles: Chicken Coop Plans and Chicken Nesting Boxes.

Egg Production

We’ve been monitoring egg production for the last 2 months and have been amazed that our number of eggs per day have been fairly steady even through the winter. We’d heard about chickens not laying eggs or only laying a very few eggs through the cold winter months. We have been surprised to find that our chickens have continued to produce eggs and attribute it partly to the warmth of our insulated passive solar barn. Winter temperatures inside the barn, which is partially devoted to our chicken coop range from 35 to 60 degrees Fahrenheit. We will continue to monitor egg laying behaviors in order to learn more about how different factors effect egg production.

This chart shows the seven day average, which is simply the average for the last 7 days. In the above graphs the 7 day average is shown for each day of the month. By looking at the 7 day average, trends can be more easily observed when compared to daily graphs like this:

How Many Eggs

In theory each chicken can lay one egg per day. In our flock if a dozen eggs are laid in one day it represents 100% productivity. At our current average of 80% productivity our 12 hens lay 9 to 10 eggs per day. In early November our average productivity was higher at 90%. We believe that the reduction in egg productivity can be attributed to the colder winter temperatures and shorter daylight hours.

Chicken Feed

We’ve also begun to track food consumption. In our insulated passive solar barn our 10 month old hens now consume layer pellet at a rate of 2 ounces per chicken per day. In the morning we throw about a pound of scratch onto the ground in the outdoor chicken yard. Throwing it onto the ground encourages the chickens to scratch for bugs and forage for food. We also throw table scraps to the chickens several times through out the day, including vegetables, meat and anything that we would eat even if it is slightly spoiled. They seem to like variety.

Supplemental Chicken Light

As light began to fade this fall we installed an automated light system to supplement the sunlight coming through the South facing window of the barn. The chickens now get a total of 13 hours of light inside the chicken coop. The automatic light system consists of a photocell that senses light, a plug-in timer and a light fixture with a compact fluorescent bulb. The timer is set to turn on the light at 5 a.m. and shut off at 6 p.m. However, when the photocell senses daylight coming through the window, it cuts power to the light. For an off grid homestead this chicken light system works great, because it minimizes power consumption and you don’t even have to flip a switch.

We think that the steady supply of light in our chicken coop has contributed to good wintertime egg production. If you are interested in giving it a go, a quick and easy automated chicken light timer like one these two solutions should do the trick:

Automatic Chicken Light Timer – Method 1

Set a basic plug-in timer to come on at 5 a.m. and off at 6 p.m.
Next plug in a dusk-to-dawn photocell (plug in type) into timer.
Then plug in a trouble light and place the light in the chicken house.
Make sure your timer and photocell are placed where the photocell can be activated by Sun light.
The timer will provide for a 13 hour light cycle and the photocell will shut off the light when it detects sunlight.

Automatic Chicken Light Timer – Method 2

Set a basic plug-in timer to come on at 5 a.m. and off at 6 p.m.
Next plug in a trouble light and place the light in the chicken house.
Then screw in a duck-to-dawn photocell (screw-in type) into your trouble light’s light socket.
Make sure your photocell points away from the reflector on your trouble light or the light will flicker.
The timer will provide for a 13 hour light cycle and the photocell will shut off the light when it detects sunlight.

Chicken Nesting Boxes

Though we first installed communal nest boxes in the chicken coop, we quickly modified the nesting boxes to achieve better results. Click here to read about more about our chicken nesting boxes.

Our Chicken Coop

Click here to read about our self built chicken coop.

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