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Today we are going to take a look at keeping chickens in small back yard situations.  There are a lot of people that want chickens but are afraid they don’t have enough space or can’t do it “ethically”.  No one wants to have miserable chickens.  Thing is when done right a small flock can be kept in a small foot print, everything can be clean and function beautifully.  And yes your birds can be happy.

When I was a kid my grandparents kept their birds in a coop and run arrangement with “evening release” for about the last 90 minutes of light.  Even with no fencing this worked beautifully, though I would not recommend it in a typical suburb without fencing.

Do I prefer free range or paddock shift with electronet?  Yes.  Does that mean there are no advantages to old school coop and run set ups?  No and I mean hell no.  There are actually a lot of them.  We will talk about that today.  I will speak a bit about “meat chickens” but we are primary coming at this today from a stand of keep a small laying flock and eating culls as you replace older layers. Just like grandma and grandpa did not so long ago.

Join Me Today To Discuss…

• Why I say to start with chicks that have never been free ranged
• Some real advantages to coop and run
  • No easter egg hunts
  • No missing broody birds
  • No predator problems (it depends)
  • Everything is clean if you do your job
  • No shit on the front porch, back porch, Karen’s porch, your porsche
  • No dug up gardens
  • The run itself can be “gardened” – Josh’s Video on Back Yard Permaculture
  • A double run system can be a “victory garden”
  • Contained composting activity
  • Can be mostly automated – secure coop doors
• Space requirements for birds
  • Coops minimum 3sf to a bird, I suggest 4sf
  • Roost space minimum 10″ in per bird I say 12″ in on the same level
  • Runs should allocate 15sf per bird minimum, I say go 100sf total minimum regardless of a small flock
    • So 6 birds should have
      • 24 sf coop (6’x4′) may as well go 8×8 in most instances
      • 6 foot of roost (2 walls of either above is more than enough which is good)
      • Right at 90 sf of run (just go to 100sf min – 10×10 foot or say 14 x 8)
    • 12 birds
      • 48 sf of coop (again an 8×8 is easy and more than enough)
      • 12 foot of roost (the above 8×8 on two walls)
      • 180 sf of run (10×20 would be one option or something more narrow, say 8×24 = 192sf
• I really suggest you make your coops and runs “stand up man sized” unless you just can’t
• Be careful of the temptation to use a back fence as a back wall of a run (you can but)
• Substrate in the coop
  • Straw is hard to beat
  • Wood chips are fine
  • I have seen Christmas tree shredding work well
  • My grand parents used pine straw
• Substrate in the run
  • Wood chips are golden
  • Straw is okay
  • Leaves, grass clippings, etc can be added on an ongoing basis
• Think of it this way
  • Coop substrate is an inactive compost pile
  • Run substrate is a slow active compost pile
  • When in doubt add more carbon, when out of room, clean it out and restart
• Feeding and Water
  • Access to water always
  • Stick to a good quality feed from a store it isn’t that expensive
  • No soy is more important to me than organic
  • Anything will be better than the store
  • Scraps, scraps and scraps but here is something most don’t know about how grandma did it
  • Grow stuff they like including sprouts and micro greens
  • Bugs are stupid, they will get plenty
  • Bug zapper over a feed bowl
  • Consider a rat proof chicken feeder
  • Chickens generally murder mice
• Choosing a breed
  • Red Sex Links etc are hard to beat
  • In the end get what you like, it is not that important
• A bit on meat
  • Cull birds are meat
  • If you really want to do this on a small space I would source meat chicks and do one run a year (tractor)
• Being “muh self sufficient”
  • If you can’t have roosters find a few local suppliers they are all over Craig’s list
  • Get involved with the American Bresse Chicken Group – link
  • If you do have rooster/s incubation and brooding is pretty easy – incubator 1 – incubator 2 (the one I have now)
• They really are easy to manage and you will learn as you go just do ALL basic infrastructure first
• A final warning, YOU are responsible for old birds, never forget that.

Resources for today’s show

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