I bought a house over 2 years ago with a chicken coop and the owners asked if they should leave the chickens and I said "yes".
I think there were 6 or so originally but only one of the chickens that came with the house is left. Its been a learning experience. The previous owners kept them in a very tiny enclosed run with no access to grass. The first thing I did was use that cheap green garden fence thats probably 3' or less high you can get from walmart and let them forage a bit. Chickens would fly over the fence to say 'hello' to me, so i'd pick them up and plop them back in their play pen. After a few months I had my first run-in with a predator; a small raccoon got in, ate two silkies whole and I caught it sleeping in the nesting box. He had dug into the run during the night. I closed its hole off with a brick, sealed the coop with the raccoon inside, ran inside my own home to grab a .22lr suppressed pistol and back out to execute the raccoon at point blank. That was the first time I've tasted raccoon, as I thought 'he ate my source of food, I can only repay in kind by eating it'.
I've had other times where I forget to close them up, and raccoons tear down my cheap fence and ate other hens. It took my about 8 months to replace my shoddy fence with a tall welded wire T-post fence, giving my chickens 1/4 acre of forage area. By this point I had adopted some chickens, bought others at auction. I expected a pair of Brahmas but the Brahma rooster was missing so I got a refund, and was left with a panzy silkie rooster I got from another pair I won at auction. I didn't know 'pair' meant a hen and a rooster, the silkie rooster probably would have been kicked to death by the brahma rooster. Raccoons are no longer a problem. They don't cross the fence and if they wonder along the fence out of curiosity, I have an unbaited trap they just waltz into. I have released some raccoons, eaten others... it depends on my mood and how aggressive the raccoons are.
Then predators came from the sky: hawks. I tried solar powered garden howls that move their heads when they detect movement but it took only a month or so for hawks to figure them out. The end result is that I took my chickens 1/4 acre of land, reduced it to about 100 square meteres (reduced to 10%) around the coop, acting as their castle and they can easily retreat when necessary. I still get hawks but the rooster makes a certain call I recognize and I work from home and can just walk outside and the hawk instantly nopes out.
I have had chicks, 8 now, but only 6 are alive. I do not incubate, I let the silkie hen from the pair I bought go broody and she does all the work. Last fall she hatched 2 pure silkies, 1 half silkie half brahma hybrid. All 3 lived to egg laying age but the half brahma died of natural causes in the coop. Another hatch, the pullets now about 21 weeks old, 1 half brahma / silkie, 1 half rhode island red / silkie, 1 pure silkie; I expect them to lay soon. Idk their genders tbh. But the pure silkie is the floofies chicken I've ever seen, and I had to get an eyebrow grooming kit to trim her to help her see better, albiet much to her dismay since all 3 are shy of people even me. About 10 weeks ago I had a another brahma / silkie hatch and a pure silie. This half brahma had yellow feet unlike the others and I was excited to see what she'd become, but she got snatched and carried away by a hawk.
I've only killed one of my chickens myself, a speckled hen came with the house, never laid eggs in her final year, refused to leave the coop and seemed to have a bad leg. I turned her into ground chicken burgers and enjoyed her. The original chicken that came with the house that is still alive is a speckled hen btw. She doesnt lay eggs anymore but she is friendly enough and goes outside so I have not eaten her.
I think there were 6 or so originally but only one of the chickens that came with the house is left. Its been a learning experience. The previous owners kept them in a very tiny enclosed run with no access to grass. The first thing I did was use that cheap green garden fence thats probably 3' or less high you can get from walmart and let them forage a bit. Chickens would fly over the fence to say 'hello' to me, so i'd pick them up and plop them back in their play pen. After a few months I had my first run-in with a predator; a small raccoon got in, ate two silkies whole and I caught it sleeping in the nesting box. He had dug into the run during the night. I closed its hole off with a brick, sealed the coop with the raccoon inside, ran inside my own home to grab a .22lr suppressed pistol and back out to execute the raccoon at point blank. That was the first time I've tasted raccoon, as I thought 'he ate my source of food, I can only repay in kind by eating it'.
I've had other times where I forget to close them up, and raccoons tear down my cheap fence and ate other hens. It took my about 8 months to replace my shoddy fence with a tall welded wire T-post fence, giving my chickens 1/4 acre of forage area. By this point I had adopted some chickens, bought others at auction. I expected a pair of Brahmas but the Brahma rooster was missing so I got a refund, and was left with a panzy silkie rooster I got from another pair I won at auction. I didn't know 'pair' meant a hen and a rooster, the silkie rooster probably would have been kicked to death by the brahma rooster. Raccoons are no longer a problem. They don't cross the fence and if they wonder along the fence out of curiosity, I have an unbaited trap they just waltz into. I have released some raccoons, eaten others... it depends on my mood and how aggressive the raccoons are.
Then predators came from the sky: hawks. I tried solar powered garden howls that move their heads when they detect movement but it took only a month or so for hawks to figure them out. The end result is that I took my chickens 1/4 acre of land, reduced it to about 100 square meteres (reduced to 10%) around the coop, acting as their castle and they can easily retreat when necessary. I still get hawks but the rooster makes a certain call I recognize and I work from home and can just walk outside and the hawk instantly nopes out.
I have had chicks, 8 now, but only 6 are alive. I do not incubate, I let the silkie hen from the pair I bought go broody and she does all the work. Last fall she hatched 2 pure silkies, 1 half silkie half brahma hybrid. All 3 lived to egg laying age but the half brahma died of natural causes in the coop. Another hatch, the pullets now about 21 weeks old, 1 half brahma / silkie, 1 half rhode island red / silkie, 1 pure silkie; I expect them to lay soon. Idk their genders tbh. But the pure silkie is the floofies chicken I've ever seen, and I had to get an eyebrow grooming kit to trim her to help her see better, albiet much to her dismay since all 3 are shy of people even me. About 10 weeks ago I had a another brahma / silkie hatch and a pure silie. This half brahma had yellow feet unlike the others and I was excited to see what she'd become, but she got snatched and carried away by a hawk.
I've only killed one of my chickens myself, a speckled hen came with the house, never laid eggs in her final year, refused to leave the coop and seemed to have a bad leg. I turned her into ground chicken burgers and enjoyed her. The original chicken that came with the house that is still alive is a speckled hen btw. She doesnt lay eggs anymore but she is friendly enough and goes outside so I have not eaten her.
Glad you joined.
