Newbie

[nancyeason]

Hello! I am new here and have questions about raising chickens for eggs only. We have a garden going and want to try to eat as healthy as possible.
I have no idea what is required as far as a coop and which types of chickens would be best for us. We live in coastal GA and have about 2 acres. I would like to keep the coop as small as possible. Any advice is very welcome.
Thanks.
Nancy

 

[Denim Deb]

What you need for a coop depends entirely on how you want to raise them. Are they going to be caged constantly, or will you allow them to free range? If in constant coop, do you want something stationary, or do you want a chicken tractor?

 

[BarredBuff]

Hello! I am new here and have questions about raising chickens for eggs only. We have a garden going and want to try to eat as healthy as possible.
I have no idea what is required as far as a coop and which types of chickens would be best for us. We live in coastal GA and have about 2 acres. I would like to keep the coop as small as possible. Any advice is very welcome.
Thanks.
Nancy

Nancy!!!!

Regarding a coop for your chickens, the main question is how many do you forsee yourself wanting? We shouldve have built a bigger coop but it works right now, but we shouldve. Regarding breeds, what color eggs do you want? If brown, I suggest Barred Rocks, or Black Australorps. All excellent utility breeds, and if you would rather white you cant go wrong with Leghorns.

 

[BarredBuff]

What you need for a coop depends entirely on how you want to raise them. Are they going to be caged constantly, or will you allow them to free range? If in constant coop, do you want something stationary, or do you want a chicken tractor?

Yes DD makes excellent points, that I forgot to mention. Mine is built big enough for 16 chickens kept up in a coop and run constantly. I have 33 and free range so its different......every hen I have is content.

 

[pinkfox]

well if you want chickens for egg you want to go with standard sized chickens...
theres MANY breeds that will work...
the "production" birds are the best layers (red and black star, leghorns of any color, comets, and sexlinks)
however these breeds all tend to be a little flighty and wild and skittish, not typically "pet" chickens.
barred, plymouth, columbian and white rocks tend to be well thought of as good layers with nice dispositions. im also particularly fond of the easter eggers and speckled sussex...

but if you ask 20 chicken keepers what the best breed of chicken is...youll get 20 answers lol.

general RULE though is chickens need 4 sqft INDOOR space per bird minimum.
and a minimum of 10sqft per bird outside.

if you have bad winters of typically very wet prings/falls where the chickens would be spending more time indoors they need even more indoor space (or a covered run)

the coop is the indoor space so if you want to do a small coop (say 4x8) you could do 6-8 hens (id probably stick to 6 unless your doing a covered run for the rainy season)
how many eggs youll get out of 6 hen will realy vary by breed (Backyardchickens has a great list of breeds and how well they are as layers and their typical personalities)

my mum has 9 hens right now, and on a good day they get 7-8 eggs a day...(right now there lucky to get 1 or 2 a day as theyve stopped for the winter lol)
their flock consists of 2 amerucana, 1 barred rock, 1 speckled sussex, 1 dark brahmah, 1 cloumbia rock, 1 partridge rock, 1 silver laced wyandotte,
of those the rocks and the amerucana are the best layers, the brahmas has the largest eggs and the wyandotte is the slowest layer.

 

[CheerioLounge]

First,

Second, I agree with Pinky... I was just going to write pretty much the same thing! Whichever breed you choose, you'll be addicted to chickens!

edited to correct my poor English!

 

[moxies_chickennuggets]

Welcome Nancy!! That's all I can contribute for now...as I am 6 months into chicken bootcamp myself. Before that.....the only chickens I saw....were in the crockpot or frying pan.

>>goes back to corner to continue learning mode

 

[the funny farm6]

I like to keep a little of everything. Love the different colors. I had good luck with the barred rocks, and buff orpingtons (both brown egg layers) and americnas (lay blue-green eggs). I will be starting a whole new flock this year and plan on a little of everthing.

You might want to check backyard chickens and look at pictures of coops on there. They gave me some good ideas for my coop.

 

[pinkfox]

im personally in the "little bit of everything" chicken camp...
i think if your goal is to breed in order to sell keeping 1 or 2 breed to focus on is your better bet to see returns (people will pay a little more for purebred chicks from "focused" breedings)
but if your goal is to have a nice flock of back yard hens to provide healthy eggs for the table just go with breeds that feel right , obviously focus on egg breeds if thats what your looking for from your birds, but if you like the barred rock and the buff orphington and the black australorp and the brown leghorn and this and that ect..then theres NO reason you cant have a sucessfull mixed flock

right now my personal plans are to have a flock that conists of about 5 different breeds lol

 

[ORChick]

I will go along with the mixed flock idea. My girls are here to give me breakfast, but I so enjoy seeing the different colors of their feathers when they are out on the lawn (kinetic lawn sculpture ), as well as the different egg colors that end up in my collecting basket. My best layers so far were the 2 New Hampshires (now gone, alas), but they all do their bit to keep the egg carton full. If you just want eggs for your family just about any of of the standard breeds will do; if you are wanting to start a little egg business you might want to look at just the proven layer breeds. This site is a good one for making comparisons - http://www.ithaca.edu/staff/jhenderson/chooks/chooks.html