Various concerns

[Lily V]

Hello, my family and I are new to chickens this year. We have been reading about the care required including spacing both inside (coop) and out (run), nesting boxes and all of the things people should look into. We will eventually have 17-20 birds one being a rooster (jersey giant). We currently have 15 hens 3 weeks old, the others are on backorder.

Our son (an adult) has friends that have previously raised chickens and he thinks we may not be doing things correctly. In that arena my questions and concerns are:

-How many nesting boxes do we need? I have read 1 nesting box per 4-5 hens. We currently have four nesting boxes.
- We wanted our rooster to be in with our hens For protection and socialization but now are concerned that it is better to keep the rooster apart from our hens? Maybe have a separate run for him and only put one hen in at a time in his area? Advice please.
- We have a 10x10 shed we are converting to a coop. It will have roosting bars with 15-24 inch of roosting space per bird. Some of our birds are going to be large (jersey giant and australorps)
- the covered run will be roughly 10x20 with a much larger yard area maybe 50x90-100.

What are we missing? I have done a lot of reading and watched a lot of YouTube channels.

By the way our chicks are doing great. We have brooder plates and all the appropriate gear and even “toys” (safe chicken approved toys, lol). Please help I dint want to hurt any of the chickens because I am looking at them as backyard pets that happen to feed us.

 

[aart]

Sounds pretty good....there will always be those with different opinions.

Only red flag is the back ordered birds, might be an integration issue.
How old will those birds be when you get them?
Plan for a place in the coop that is separated for acclimation(see not touch) as well as other separations that may be needed in the futur..

I think it's best to keep the male with the flock.

 

[nuthatched]

Most youtube videos are useless or full of misinformation, I'd skip those entirely.

Correct, only 1 box for 4 ish hens.

Let the rooster with the flock, to have him separate is completely pointless.
He won't do much for protecting though, so the only real reason to keep him is fertile eggs

Toys are unnecessary and sold to schill new chicken owners, so you can save your money there.

 

[Lily V]

Sounds pretty good....there will always be those with different opinions.

Only red flag is the back ordered birds, might be an integration issue.
How old will those birds be when you get them?
Plan for a place in the coop that is separated for acclimation(see not touch) as well as other separations that may be needed in the futur..

I think it's best to keep the male with the flock.

Thank you for your reply! The next delivery available is in May for our local store. We were going to be building a sh*t shelf and making a little integration or brooding area with hardware cloth for integration and brooding.

 

[Lily V]

Most youtube videos are useless or full of misinformation, I'd skip those entirely.

Correct, only 1 box for 4 ish hens.

Let the rooster with the flock, to have him separate is completely pointless.
He won't do much for protecting though, so the only real reason to keep him is fertile eggs

Toys are unnecessary and sold to schill new chicken owners, so you can save your money there.

Oh the “toys” are things my husband built, lol they basically have a wooden playground (well except for a bird mirror).

 

[nuthatched]

Oh the “toys” are things my husband built, lol they basically have a wooden playground (well except for a bird mirror).

Great idea

 

[RoyalChick]

Think you’ve got this.
As @aart said, the back ordered chicks will need to be treated like a new integration. Take it slowly. See no touch and make sure when they first get to actually be together the littles have lots of escape routes.

 

[Lily V]

Great idea

Thank you! Oh you should see how they run around on these. They love them

 

[Ridgerunner]

As Aart said, different people have different opinions. I'll offer some of my opinions.

-How many nesting boxes do we need? I have read 1 nesting box per 4-5 hens. We currently have four nesting boxes.

The general recommendation is a minimum nest size of 12" x 12" with a minimum height of 12" if you have a top. These are big enough for tiny Sebrights or big Jersey Giants. Growing up on the farm I saw hens lay eggs and hatch chicks on spaces smaller than that but the 12" guideline should work for all chickens.

You are correct, the normal suggestion is one nest for 4 to 5 hens. That is usually enough. My nests are 16" x 16" and can handle more hens that the 12". It is not unusual to see 3 hens laying in the same nest at the same time. A "community" nest box 24" x 48" (a special design) is said to handle 25 hens so size makes a difference.

- We wanted our rooster to be in with our hens For protection and socialization but now are concerned that it is better to keep the rooster apart from our hens? Maybe have a separate run for him and only put one hen in at a time in his area? Advice please.

I personally do not consider a rooster that much actual protection. There are occasions where they might help but to me they are mostly for look-out. A dominant hen will often assume that role.

A lot of things are situational. If you want a specific rooster to breed a specific hen you can do something like this. But that is not your situation. I see no benefits to going to that much effort. This is supposed to be fun, not work.

Another possible situation is while they are in puberty. When the hormones hit some cockerels can be obnoxious twits toward the girls. Some people can't stand to watch that so they separate the cockerel until he and the girls mature. This can be physical. It is possible one could get injured. I've never had one injured during this phase but it is something you need to watch for.

- We have a 10x10 shed we are converting to a coop.

That should be big enough. If you plan to integrate later it could be tight but manageable.

It will have roosting bars with 15-24 inch of roosting space per bird. Some of our birds are going to be large (jersey giant and australorps)

Australorps aren't that big compared to Jersey Giants but OK. That's probably a lot more roost length than you need but I'm never going to complain about having extra room, nests, or roost space. Chickens tend to roost on the highest points available. That's where you dominant ones will sleep. The less dominant will sleep wherever they can. There are all kinds of ways to layout roosts. One thing I want is to have a separate roost area to make integration easier when it is time for the new ones to roost.

My method to determine vertical spacing is to determine the height of the coop floor withy bedding. Then cut the pop door so it is high enough that they will not be scratching bedding out.

Then determine the height of the nests. Some people put nests at floor level. Others put them high enough so they don't have to bend over to gather eggs. Do you have a bad back? I use two rows at different heights. People tend to care a lot more about this than their chickens do.

The I put the roosts noticeably higher than the nests. If the roosts are right next to the nests 6" is probably enough. If they are on the far wall maybe 12". I like the roosts to be at a convenient height so I can take a chicken off of the roosts at night after dark. That's a lot better than having to chase them down to catch them.

Then I want permanent ventilation over their heads. Hot air rises. In summer the coop will cool off sooner with holes up high. In winter you still need ventilation to remove the moist air but you don't want cold breezes hitting them while on the roosts.

- the covered run will be roughly 10x20 with a much larger yard area maybe 50x90-100.

Excellent!!!

The next delivery available is in May for our local store. We were going to be building a sh*t shelf and making a little integration or brooding area with hardware cloth for integration and brooding.

I agree, treat this as a full integration.

Sounds great! Good luck!

 

[Mrs. K]

Another idea -

You know, I think I would cancel the back order. 15 pullets are a nice start. You have years to do this hobby, no need to do it all at once. Get these chicks raised up, get some experience, see how your set up really works - it sound very good - but always there are tweaks that need to be made.

Integrating birds is a trick, I think I would pass on that idea for this year. Adding 5 chicks to an established flock of adolescents will be difficult. I would also pass on the rooster this year. Roosters take experience, flock mate roosters, males raised with pullets the same age as them often times do not turn out well. Can you cull a rooster that is rotten?

And my real reason for canceling the back order, is that you really don't want all your birds the same age as in years. If you get all your birds this year - they will all get old at the same time. It is much better to have a multigenerational flock. Start with 15 this year, add 5 + next year, adding a rooster at that time. Some of the original 15 might die, so you could add a few more.

The next year, maybe sell some birds, and add a few more. I know people like to keep pets until they die, but if you enjoy getting eggs - you have to manage the flock.

Mrs K