Lots of our friends are enthusiastic about having a couple of backyard chickens.
As they should be!
It's so much fun.
Once you get their housing set up, maintenance is a breeze.
I thought I would post some pictures and links for interested friends.
I need to say we are very DIY about all this.
There's been a good bit of trial and error.
As of Summer 2012, this is who we have and how they are set up:
We have a small fenced in area off of our garden and next to the playset.
This is Rosetta. She is a Sliver Laced Wyandotte.
She is very independent and not fond of being picked up.
Every couple of days we flip that flat board next to her and the hens can gobble up all the crawly critters underneath.
This is Linda. She is a Black Australorp.
She is very sweet and will actually cuddle up against you like a cat.
This site is great to explain the different breeds in detail.
Right now she is broody (Mama mode) and wants to roost snugly on eggs all day.
The white powder is diatomaceous earth. We put it all over the coop because we are having a war with an ant tribe at the moment. Also we use deep litter method of dealing with our chicken waste.
We get about an egg per hen a day. Sometimes more, sometimes less (especially in the winter).
Josh put this together. He looked at some designs online but just drew his own idea up on paper and bought the things he needed at Lowe's.
You could make your coop fancier or more plain. You could even buy one pre-made but that would be a little spendy.
Next Spring we hope to get more and this coop could nicely keep 6 chickens.
The Urban Homestead and The Backyard Homestead are two books that helped us along in our chicken endeavors.
