Chicken coop question

Ho close to the house can I build my chicken coop. I dont have much money and was cosiidering under the front porch? ANyimput would be greatly appricated.

 

Depends on how much noise you can tolerate. More ya can take the closer you can put it. In yer house even if you can take it LoL

 

The oder is my biggest concern, I dont keep any pets inside, theres 2 foxes roaming around here, not sure if they would come up to the front pourch.

 

Chickens inside the house?

 

finding a place for the chooks

Usually municipal authorities only get worriesome about where you keep your coop if it's annoying to the neighbours....but as was suggested it pretty much is a matter of how much you can put up with the smell and noise.

If space is at a premium, then putting the coop under the porch may be an option.

I have heard it suggested that putting chickens under the house to scratch around occasionally may help to make your house more white ant and termite resistant...chickns, sure do like insects and bugs. You just have to be carefull of any organochloride and similar anti termite treatments, around your foundations...could affect the quality of your poultry produce.

Setting a coop up in or adjacent to a greenhouse/glasshouse can be a good option...chooks add warmth and CO2 to the greenhouse, which can contribute to better crops, and an extended growing season, especially in the cooler months.

 

Then during the summer there are going to be nats and other bugs like mite's around the waste. We went to a local hardware and got some of the shipping pallets they were going to through away for free to haul off. We had to pre drill the holes to keep from busting with deck screws and 4 treated fence post. The lot still in very good shape and that was 5 years ago not that I did it honestly because of EPA rules but one can mix old motor oil and breal fluid then paint the lot and it weather treats it plus gives it a nice color. I think after all posts, screws and 4 2x4's I had about $50.00 in the lot. Thats also counting a cold 12pk of Bud-light.

 

I live in the woods and the neighbors arent close and many also have chickens, I forgot about spraying around the house as I generally do that once a month. Might kill that idea.

 

Thanks AD Im also trying to start this on the "cheap". Mostly because money is really tight for me right now and Im not really sure if my chicken plan will be successful.

 

I know the feeling of funds being tight and getting tighter.

 

Id click the "like" button but I dont like funds being tight, however Im trying.

Im trying to get enough chickens to produce 6 eggs per day, I realize its a hobby at best, but for me its a sulf suffiecntcy sort of thing, and also will be something the kids will remember later in life.

 

I ended up with 23 now I have 30 after trading here and there then breeding to get some to lay in winter and some in summer. Plus I keep the freezer stoked with fresh chicken. I have some dominecker and white leg good layers but I have to yellow ones can remimber the breed. They are laying machines

 

How many eggs per day?

How much feed in dollars per month?

 

on average 7 to 8 a day Summer time a few more.

Feed I put about $30,

plus I fthrow in a cup or two of grit and layin mash

I make up in not having to buy eggs or chicken
then I sell and trade a few here and there.

 

Chicken poo in high summer has an awful stench. The closer your coop is to the house, the more you will want to plan for easy cleaning.

I wouldn't do it under the porch for the simple reason that at least one hen is going to decide she'd rather lay in the farthest back corner under there than in the nice nest box you give her, and you probably won't know about that nest until you hear this little *POP* and wonder what died under there.

 

Odor, noise and flies under the porch might get old (DON'T get a rooster unless you've been getting too much sleep - they don't just go off at dawn !).

And don't go too cheap to completely enclose the coop, including fairly close-meshed wire on the floor... a raccoon will dig under a wall for several hours in the night and get in to raise all kinds of hell with your flock, killing lots more than he can eat at one time. Hawks will drop in for chow if you don't have a roof, chickenwire, at least.

After you've seen to predator defense, they're almost self-sufficient... require no special care (if not too crowded, see Google for square footage per hen) other than feed and scraps. We give dozens of eggs to the local Manna project, cuz of the huge egg output, maybe one per hen every other day.

 

Thanks AD.

 

Mine free range and the goat takes them for a walk everyday up on the hill and keeps all the predators
away from them .Very little in feed now but in winter it's about $40 for that time .They seem to always come back to the coop to lay and I supply 4 families with eggs every week winter and summer .The Buff Orpington lay real well both summer and winter ,but seem to like it better on the cool side .

 

Are you single? Cause I can tell you from real personal experience that the noise, odor,and inconvenience of gathering is gonna make a lady real unhappy real quick.Twenty yards is about as close as you can get away with.

 

Just a thought for a cheap coup. I seen a picture of a few hay bails stacked close together and a tarp over the top. If your looking for free range I'd say that's pretty cheap. Then again I've also hear that with free range drumsticks it can be like an Easter egg hunt for the eggs.