Poultry Lovers Club

['Possum]

Yeah, much better to have cooped up birds than squished ones. My little flock spends their unsupervised time in a covered run. I do let them out into the yard which has a 4ft chain link fence and concrete retaining walls all the way around. Lately a couple of them have started sitting on top of the fence. They always hop back into the yard then but they're getting a bit too brave for comfort. Surprisingly, the little Sebrights are staying put. It's my naughty little Peedles who seems to most enjoy sitting on the fence. I think he is trying to be cool to impress his ladies. ^_^

His father, my Aunts big EE roo, Goldencrown lives in a 6ft high chain link dog kennel. He flies up and sits on top of the fence too. But never hops off the wrong side as his two brothers, Thing One and Thing Two would be waiting to happily relieve him of most of his feathers. Hence the reason he's kept inside the kennel and the other two have the run of the property. XD

[spaceferrari]

Well, in the news, my chicken fund is at $84! ...Out of $400.
How much to chickens cost, roughly? I've seen coops for sale anywhere from $350, to $900, to $1600.
Then there's a fence; posts costs $3-4, but rolls of welded-wire fencing run upwards of $60 for 100ft lengths (my fence would need to be roughly 240ft, at least).

[CrazyChickenDude]

I'm back!
Well, as someone who's family (specifically my dad) has spent probably $5000 on chicken coops/fencing in the past two years alone, I'd say that it all depends on what kind of predators you have and where you live. Resident of Middle of the Nowhere, USA? I'd say you probably have to build a coop yourself to get any kind of reasonable protection from bears or cougars (that's where we live, which is why we spend so much building the coops- bears can tear the door off of anything that isn't metal). On the other hand, if you live pretty much anywhere in a town or near a city, the $300 coops will do fine to keep out most animals, although they can be small. How many birds do you plan on keeping? The normal way to tell how many birds you can keep in a certain coop, get the square footage of it, and divide by four. Whatever number comes up is how many birds will comfortably fit in it at night.
As for fencing, once again ours is crazy expensive because on two of our three runs we used chain link and cement, however I've found that while this is effective on small animals, foxes, dogs, etc., the bear has crawled over it and I'm sure a cougar could as well, so I certainly won't be using it again and just make the coops themselves impenetrable rather than the runs, since my predators only come at night. However, we used some of the same type of welded wire fencing you mention above on our third run, and this is what I'd suggest. If you put it up properly, it'll keep all the small predators out. Ours was about $180 dollars for the fencing, and it's a pretty big area, but it would have been $400 if I hadn't used the garden and previous run fences for two of the walls. However, from the price you gave, I'd say you'll have it a lot cheaper, because where I live it costs, if I remember correctly, $94 per 50ft. roll of 6ft. tall wire.
So yeah, chickens are expensive. You're probably looking at $500-$600 total. But it is so worth it.

In other news, does anyone know what to do with a brain-damaged rooster? I have a Light Brahma who got attacked by my Cornish last week, and his eye swelled up. There wasn't any physical, open wound, it was just very swollen. At first I thought it seemed like it was just the chicken equivalent of getting punched and it would go away, and it has gone down, but I'm pretty sure he's ended up a little bit... how do I put this politely, um, special? He staggers around, he fell off the roost last night, he will drink but doesn't seem to understand what food is anymore, and he spends his whole day either standing in one place with his bad eye tilted up to look at the sky, or hiding with his head under a board. He can't balance himself right either anymore when he walks too quickly, he falls to the right.
I also saw something that could have been a bit of blood right under his ear, so it's possible he's bleeding from there, but it could have also just been chicken poop (like I said, he didn't sleep on the roost last night and his back in covered in it). It looked pretty dark colored though.
I brought him in the first few days, but he was just unhappy so he went back out yesterday. No one really seems to be picking on him, he just... stands there.
So, what should I do? I'm very tempted to cull him because his quality of life does not seem good, but I really would like to know if anyone has had this same problem before? This guy is my first rooster, and I love him to pieces.

[spaceferrari]

I was hoping to keep 5-6 bantams. My friend is willing to give me two or three of his, plus a standard Easter-egger hen, though she's pretty small for her breed. If bantams require less space (say, half of what you estimated), that would put me at roughly 14-18ft squared, correct?
My chicken-owning friend said his family built their coop for around $600, but that includes a storage area, Dutch doors and tar-and-shingle roof. His birds free-range during the day, but the coop has a small yard surrounding it, bordered with 3ft welded-wire mesh. I was looking at this stuff at Tractor Supply Company for my run. We don't live in town, but there are other houses within 200ft of ours, and I've only seen a loose dog once or twice (even then it was just Basset hounds, not a huge threat). The only predators I can think of would be hawks, foxes, raccoons and opossums. Maybe rats or mice, but the black snake that lives in the horse barn would probably take care of them. I was also considering adding a hot wire around the perimeter, near the ground, since we have a spare 10-mile solar fence charger and plenty of wire and insulators.

Update: I literally just found a coop on Craiglist for sale near me for $150. The seller claims it holds 16 chickens, though by the looks of it, I wouldn't put more than 6 in it to start.
That's the only photo posted. What do you all think?

[Fjäll Räven]

That would be a good hen house, are they selling the run with it?


EDIT:
Username: I'm❤Midnight❤Wings
Why are you joining: My best friend (CrazyChickenLady) and I have in total 44 chickens/ducks. We are a tad obsessed and love e'm to death.
Favorite poultry bird: Chicken
Other: Anybody else had a Black cochin that started laying at sixteen weeks? From what BBC said it's unheard of.

[MaineiacJay]

so i finally got the time to sit down and try filing Furbys beak down. i used my hubbys dremmel on a medium setting. she was pretty fidgety but i got both top and bottom back to the quick. ill wait a little bit before doing it again but i think if i can grind it back just a little bit more, her lower mandible should be just shorter than the upper and may help her close her beak better. i took her out and gave them new food and she looked to be eating with more enthusiasm than she had been, so im hoping this helps her. and she took it like a trooper!

and yes, she looks like a drowned rat because its raining today lol. did make it easier to see her beak though!



also, really having issues with that fox. i think it grabbed one of my polish chicks last night. we were late putting them in and it was already after dark and i didnt count them cause it was starting to rain im missing one today and i looked all over for it and couldnt find her... told my hubby we need to start getting them in before dark now, i just dont trust it. really sad. my neighbor is going to be selling his old coop, fence and cover included. its like a 10x20 foot kennel so thats awesome. hoping we can afford what he is going to ask. hes a reasonable guy so maybe hell help us out and cut the price back. heres to hoping!

[spaceferrari]

That would be a good hen house, are they selling the run with it?

Unfortunately not. But since I wouldn't be spending as much on the coop as originally thought, the fence won't be to much of a problem. I would like a covered run around the coop itself, so I can let the birds outside when I'm not home, but I suppose just the garden would be good enough, right? I'm not sure of the dimensions but it's big enough that we need the Bush Hog to mow it.

[CrazyChickenDude]

I'd buy it. It looks pretty good for $150, and while personally I'd only put 6 or 7 standard birds in it, it would fit at least ten bantams easy. And if foxes, raccoons, and the like are your only concern, it'll work fine. As for the fence, I'd choose something at least four feet, since most birds could fly over a three footer easily. Whether or not they will is another question, although just today I lost my young EE cockerel which flew over my 6ft. fence. (I'm not sure if he's actually dead, I mean I literally just couldn't find him when I went up to put them away). And exactly what do you mean by garden? Because, trust me, a single small flock of chickens will fully DEVASTATE any garden by dust-bathing and eating the plants. They are fine in orchards, but gardens with flowers and vegetables don't tend to do well.

MaineiacJay, your bird Furby is gorgeous! I had a crossbeak a while ago, however I was forced to cull at just five days... it was an extremely bad case, the lower beak was fully crossed to one side.
And I might end up with fox problems too, I heard one screaming out in the woods tonight... I didn't know what it was until I googled it, but it sounded like a horror movie.

[spaceferrari]

Oh no, there's no vegetables in the garden anymore. It's mostly weeds and tall grass, and it's chock full of bugs. We just call it "the garden" because that's what it used to be. :p Sorry for the confusion. We do have an orchard, but that belongs to the horse. I've been told that horses aren't too bothered by chickens; I just hope he doesn't step on the birds.
I think I could swing a 48" fence. A 100ft roll of it is only $10 more than the 36". 4ft T-posts are only around $3.20 a piece at the local TSC, and it's been suggested to me to plant them every 6ft or so.
Now if I can convince my parents to let me buy the stuff, I'll be good.

[CrazyChickenDude]

Yup, that sounds like it'll work perfectly!

Ugh. My brain-damaged roo is not getting better, it's looking more and more like I'm going to have to cull. Which really sucks, because this guy was my first rooster... luckily, now I have about four other "accident" roos I just loved to much to get rid of, so I won't be that lonely... but this guy, Tom Cruise, was always my baby. I'm going to give him two more days.