Caity and family built and customized a beautiful Garden Coop a few years ago for their backyard flock in North Carolina, full of added features and decorative touches. Now they’ve completed yet another amazing coop — a Garden Loft that outshines even their earlier masterpiece. The rest of this post comes directly from Caity. . . .
You’ve made it your New Year’s resolution to finally get chickens. Good for you. Chickens are low-maintenance pets that give so much in return. On top of the amazing compost, free entertainment, and fresh eggs right from your backyard, you’ll also gain the skills and confidence to tackle more projects down the line.
Here are 10 steps to help you stay focused so that your chicken keeping resolution becomes chicken keeping reality: (more…)
In this tutorial, I show you how to make a clean, efficient nipple waterer for your chicks using a push-in poultry nipple and a couple of easy-to-find items. If you’d rather not do this yourself, you can purchase one of our ready-to-use Brooder Bottles here.
I’m gonna miss hearing the “cheep, cheep, cheep. . . “ of baby chicks this spring. Our current backyard flock is still healthy and laying strong, so it could be another couple years before we get to raise another batch of chicks.
I’ll be ready for them, anyway.
The first time we raised chicks, we rigged up a large cardboard contraption as their brooder and kept them in the garage. It did the trick, and as new chicken owners we had a lot of excess energy to put into making it work. Daily cleanup was a process, and the final cleanup (dust everywhere) was even more involved.
This last go-round, we brooded them outside in the hen house of The Garden Ark, then graduated them to The Garden Coop hen house. That worked out really well, since keeping them outside also kept the dust outside.
But next time, the coops may still be occupied, so we’re gonna start them in one of these wire cage brooders that we now offer at TheGardenCoop.com. [UPDATE: Please see our Buyer’s Guide for brooder options, including getting this cage direct from the manufacturer.] Take a look.
How do you brood your backyard chicks? What’s worked and not worked for you? Leave a comment below and let us know!
I just spotted this article with good tips for new chicken keepers. It features advice from Robert and Hannah Litt of Portland’s Urban Farm Store, authors of the upcoming book A Chicken In Every Yard.
Also in the article is a photo of a beautifully built Garden Coop, right in the front yard of someone’s Portland home (not mine!). Of course, I think it fits in perfectly. Take a look.
You’ve read the books. You’ve chosen your breeds. You’ve even cleared a spot in the yard for the chicken coop. And yet, something’s still missing.
Something feathery.
It’s okay. Look, you’ve already made it from the idea stage to the planning stage, and that’s quite a big leap. Now you just have to get from planning to doing.
Here are some tips for actually making it happen: (more…)
You’ve picked out the cutest little fluff balls you could find to start your flock. Now it’s time to set them up in a brooder, give them some feed and water, and hope they grow into a sturdy flock of backyard hens (no roosters. . . no roosters. . .).
There aren’t too many choices you have to make right now, but there are some. Medicated or organic feed? Where to put the brooder? What bedding to use? How to control the dust? (Chicks produce an unfathomable amount of nano-chicky-dust.)
I’ll post more on these topics soon. But for now, check out this chronicle from Amy over at Garden Rant. She’s starting a small flock too and gives a good description of the basic setup.
UPDATE: The Martha Stewart Show episode dedicated entirely to keeping backyard chickens has aired. You can see clips from the show including a look at Martha Stewart’s chicken coops at the link below.
Before you click over, remember to come back and check out our backyard chicken coop plans. With them, you can build a stunning walk-in chicken coop or mobile chicken tractor for (I can only imagine) a lot less than what Martha spent on hers.
Here’s the link to Martha’s chicken show (coop segment). It’s a great episode and well worth the watch, especially if you’re new to keeping chickens. Here’s the segment with Traci from MyPetChicken.com. Links to the remaining segments should be easy to find from there. Enjoy!
ORIGINAL POST: The Martha Stewart Show will be taping an episode on urban farming and chicken keeping in March 2010, and they’re looking for audience members. Here’s a bit of the email they sent me:
We’re filling our studio audience with individuals who raise livestock in urban environments as we celebrate the backyard farming movement. If you’re interested in attending this show, please be sure to tell us about yourself and your backyard farm, as well as why you’d like to be part of this special audience. Please feel free to spread the word and request tickets as soon as you can if you’re interested!
You can request tickets to The Martha Stewart Show here. The studio is in New York City, and there are FAQs about being an audience member here. It could be a good thing.
“We’ve finally decided to get chickens next spring. Is fall or winter too soon to start building a coop?” —Jackie
There are some real advantages to starting your chicken coop in the fall or winter. I know many people, myself included, who’ve built their coops in less than ideal weather. But you don’t have to get cold or soaked to build a chicken coop during the gloaming seasons. Build your coop inside. Apart from the initial steps of cutting and sanding the wood, you can prep and assemble a backyard chicken coop the size of The Garden Ark in about half the space of a typical single-car garage. (more…)
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