Hi all,
My 10 yr old son wants to raise laying hens. I have no prior chicken experience other than eating eggs from the store. Would any of you veterans offer suggestions on how to get started. I live in the country on 5 acres. Could a person start raising layers in a calf hutch? My neighbor has several used ones just sitting around. Was thinking about using the calf hutch and putting a chicken wire fence in front for a yard for them. Something I can easily move to a fresh spot. I guessed I would have to put in a door of some kind when the weather gets cold. Any other ideas how to start small? Was thinking less than 20 birds.
Thanks
Nick
A calf hutch would work fine, just add some roosts for them to perch on and some boxes for them to lay in. About a cubic foot per box works well. Making it portable is an excellent idea. Move it when the birds have pretty well picked over an area, before they eat it down to dirt. They're great for pest control.
A door will be required for security, most folks close 'em up at night to keep predators from getting them.
Depending on where you live, you shouldn't need heat even in the winter. A dozen birds in a small enough enclosure that is reasonably wind-tight will huddle together and keep warm. I'm in Maine and don't provide any heat for my birds in the winter, and they do fine. I do scatter cracked corn for them in the winter for some extra energy.
The only other thing I do is use a bird-bath heater to keep their water thawed.
We just got six chickens - five hens and one rooster (we were going for all hens, but one definately ain't). I built a 4'x8' pen which is fully enclosed, half is plywood, the other half is chicken wire. It has wheels on one side which was supposed to make it mobile (it is loosly based on a structure built for a Mother Earth News article).
It is mobile - as long as you're on flat, reasonably level ground. To get it up and down the hills I live on requires my tractor's loader, and that is pretty rough on the structure (it was built light to keep weight down).
A calf hutch would probably work fine. Another idea I've heard is to get an old used truck bed cap. After having ours for a couple of months, though, I'm going to build a "real" coop that is large enough for me to get into (without being a contortionist) to clean and gather eggs.
They've been remarkably easy to raise, though. I'd highly recommend a self waterer (the kind that hooks up to a hose and stays full) once your chicks are large enough not to fall in and drown, though. It is amazing how fast they go through food and water. Feeding them isn't bad, but our six chicks can finish off a gallon of water in less than a day here in the heat.
Really cute, really dumb critters. If you "socialize" with them (as we have) they're fairly tame - we can pick ours up, and they come to us without fear (at least until we get to the "picking up" part, which they aren't all that fond of, even though they tolerate it for a while...).
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