I agree with the bigger run, but just wanted to add: a tall enough run that you can walk into it and stand up comfortably. So much easier to look after the chickens that way and to clean around. I first got one I had to crawl into: it was a nightmare! My back was in bits and simple things like changing the water and refilling the food were a challenge. Now I can bring a crate in, sit on it, do a check on the chickens if needs be, clean the perches, bring a bucket to refill the feeder: oh so easy!

The one thing I wish I did and regret...was waiting to get chickens until my coop was done. They grew so fast and timing is everything...and yes, go big or go home! They are addicting...who here looks during spring every time they enter the store? And that's where they get you...like OH! I don't have one of those...let me take three! Seriously...chicken fever!

There's a couple of roosters running loose in our town have been for months. Everyone feeds them stops for them when they cross the road

I like extra bushes and plants around. Tables and stuff too. Gives them a place to hide from hawks

Chicken math hit us on a hike in the woods, where we found our white leghorn chicken. Someone dumped her in the forest, and we brought her home

The consensus seems to be MORE CHICKENS! I w ish I had built my coop bigger and wish I had gotten chickens earlier in life, everybody together now!

And greenery… if you want to keep a grass lawn or garden for example, fence it off. Otherwise, it’s fair game for our feathered friends!

I most certainly would have gotten chickens years earlier if I'd known as well. And they're definitely smarter than I ever thought.

I know that I have coyotes around here. We used to have a lot of raccoons but most of the other wildlife cleared out when the coyotes moved in. My girls are 5 weeks and we're getting their coop/run finished up this week, and I just keep adding more and more security. It's going to be worse than Fort Knox getting in that thing lol. I can't believe how much I love my girls though. I've never been a bird person but there's just something about chickens ♥️

I have a multi-age flock! I was gift a flock once i bought property in the country. One rooster and six hens. Plus a flock of Bantam chickens, one rooster and 4 hens. Found right away that i had to have two coups ×t runs and the Bantam's did get to free range. As of today only two of the original flock is still alive. Only one lost to an aerial predator and one to a neighbors dog who climbed my fence where they free range. Then one got her neck caugth in the wood picket fence and died...😢 the remaining got sick and died pretty quickly. I gave the Bantam's away to expand my flock.😊 I tried to hatch some eggs, three where successful hatched, three roosters! Two were Wheaten Aseel rooster. Their mother was very mean to the other chickens (i gave her away to the same guy who got the Bantam's) the last was a beautiful rooster that i still have. He is very agressive with me but my other rooster protect me from him while I'm in the free range area. Yesterday, the one year old rooster got into his attack position, but hefore i could grab him, my old rooster cut me off and they ended up fighting for a few minutes before my old rooster knocked him upside down and he had enough, so he walked off. I do the recommended treatment on the young rooster. I have to carry him out of the free range area to keep my older rooster from attacking him while I'm "training" the young rooster. His training normally only last a few days and he comes at me again. I have no fear of him, i simply pin him to the ground when he puts his head down and starts posturing toward me. Multi-age: 3 years gifted 1 year hatched and purchased 10 month old 2¾ month old 2 month old Total: 2 roosters 1 Buff Orrington 2 Easter Egger 1 Dominique 7 Golden Comets 2 Barred Rocks 1 New Hampshire 1 Gray Brahma

Chickens can be very loving and like to cuddle 💖

I breed Hollands, Cubalaya, Java, Buckeye, New Hampshire, Rhode Island White, Chantecler, Dominique and Delaware.

Your best friend when working with chickens will be the sleeve off a sz XL sweatshirt, just slide it over the bird until the head pops out the wrist and those flappers won't be beating your face and eyes when you give meds, trim nails, trim butt feathers, drain water belly etc. etc. Worth it's weight in gold!

This is a wonderful lesson gathered from the experience of poultry farmers from all over the world, I enjoy and decorate this article.👍

Absolutely do not use sand in the coop! I started with sand at the end of last summer/fall, chickens started laying in Nov. 3 weeks ago I shoveled ALL the sand out and went deep litter. My chickens just hit one year and overnight they crap a lot! Not all of it is scoop-able. The dust from the breakdown of their defecation cannot be cleaned out of the sand easily and became overwhelming even with goggles and a respirator. Breathing was fine, however after scooping the clumps (like you would a cat litter box) I would come out of the coop looking like I had been using a sand blaster. After three weeks of deep litter, I have not yet had to add more pine shavings. I turn the pine regularly, 1-2 times a week. I will never put sand in my coop again. Also, do not use chicken wire whatsoever if you have predators. Hardware cloth, hardware cloth, hardware cloth!

Rats May not be able to get through hardware cloth, but mice sure can. At least they can the half-inch hardware cloth. I’ve seen it with my own eyes. I like the idea of planting mint to detour mice . Might try a raised bed around the coop to maintain the invasive plant but yeah, worth a try.

I agree with all the comments, our biggest issue has been predators, mostly coyote, raccoons and hawks, we have lost several birds along the way, currently building a larger coop and run with everything we've learned.

One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned from butchering. Is the concept of rigor mortis. You have to let your birds rest 2 to 4 days before cooking them. Otherwise they’ll be very tough and chewy.

This was absolutely amazing for me as I'm planning as much as I can before I even start buying chickens! Thank you!

I love the wobbly fence! Totally deters escapes!

LOL Love the "iffa, coulda, shoulda, woulda"...aka. "Live & Learn" stuff...esp. on chickens. Crazy bird-beasts, indeed! My list: * A little Cheyenne pepper in their feed & in found holes keeps rodents away. * A little Diatomaceous Earth is a must in their feed, a little Apple Cider Vinegar in their water...great all-around preventers for lots of problems. * Chickens eat or smoosh down Everything in their paths!...As bad as goats! Protect gardens & seedlings. * Chicken runs make the best compost piles all by themselves...great good-dirt makers. * A good rooster is hard to find, blessed when you do...but, those that aren't make great dog/cat food. Love to the Chickie-folk!

My chickens absolutely will land on a floppy fence and roost there

Good info. I am working on increasing my coop as I miscalculated space needed,lesson learned.

If you have a garden the amount of poop isn't a problem. Compost it and use it for garden gold

Chicken math is real 🤯, 8 turned into 180

I have 7 hens, 1 rooster, 2 ducks and 2 geese that all stay together. I woke up about a week ago and grabbed my coffee around 6am and heard a lot of noise coming from my coop. We have a breed of weasel that lives in the field behind my house and it was trying to get into my coup, as I went outside my rooster was beating up one of them and my biggest goose came over and assisted the rooster. I watched the fight and They actually killed it. I will always keep a goose and a rooster with my flock no matter what after that experience.

A run is a life-saver, always start with one.

Greetings from the LooseNatural farm in Andalusia Spain where we currently introduce chickens. We learned a lot from this video.

Get a notebook! My gosh, every day I'm asking new questions because they constantly check-mate my decisions. They are so smart. I wrote down my questions and researched the answers every day for the first year. It was overwhelming.

I don't put food or water in the coop, at all. I put a small water and food bowl in the run, and put it away at night. I've not had any rodents yet. I do the same in the yard where they free range. Put the food in bins at night. Dump the water too. No vermin.

I haven’t gotten my chickens yet, probably won’t be able to for several years yet. I live in an apartment in the city so it isn’t feasible right now, so am firmly in research and study mode until I am in a place where I am able to get them. Which will be either at my parents place in the country or my own place outside the city limits. One other thing I am doing is gradually getting all the supplies needed to construct my coop and run as I have the budget for them, even if it’s just a little bit at a time. Another thing is research the lumber you are going to use since you want the coop to outlast almost anything, cedar and hemlock are the strongest types of timber out there as well as the longest lasting. If you can’t afford it at the hardware store, then do research and find a local lumber mill that carry’s it. Which is what I did and it’s a whole lot cheaper doing it that way. So I am stocking up what supplies I need and storing everything at my parents place for now… Still not sure about the size of my coop building though, the run is going to be about 10 feet long and maybe 7 feet wide since it will be attached to the coop building. I plan on it being 7 feet long and 5 wide which should be big enough for the chickens, the coop pare will be 5 feet by 5 feet with the extra 2 feet being used as feed storage/work area. My biggest concern is if the coop is big enough for 10 Jersey Giant Chickens, the only reason I am getting that many is because I was told that most stores won’t send out small orders. I initially only wanted a few like 5 chickens, 4 hens and 1 rooster. So am still uncertain about that part of my plans

I got the coop free and I made them two play rooms with a tunnel to go from coop to big play room no problem with predators and I will only let them in the yard an hour a day or every other day and I only have 3

Just hit our first year raising chickens. The best animals I have EVER owned! Now we have added two geese and a duck ❤

Here's one, "Wish I knew that roosters kept together will develop a pecking order like the hens and not kill one another!" I ended up with five roosters, as chicks. They grew up together and they treat one another like brothers. You get the occasional spat, but if you give them enough space and let the ordeal reasonably play out. Roosters can coexist. I free range. Only locking up my birds at night to protect them from the group of owls and other night predators in my area. I have four roosters (one got killed by a domestic dog raid) that manage to function with the company of one another. In fact, at night they all congregate together for the last few hours of the day until I come out to put them away for the night

Thanks for all the info, it's appreciated 👍

Nice informative video regarding ooen range chicken breeds, really practical and well experienced knowledge, thank you for sharing such video stay blessed 😊😊😊

Thank you

I agree they are addicting. I wish I had room for more of them. My husband says no more! Lol. We need to build another chicken coop simply put. That way we can increase our flock without crowding. I bought 10 baby chicks two of which turned out to be roosters! At first one was super mean but I worked with him and he's sweeter than the other one now! Had to separate my girls half with each boy so technically I have two flocks in two separate coops. So now I want a third coop lol😂

If you have hawks and owls in your area…and you probably do and not know it…put a cover on your chicken run. We made ours the cheap way with snow fence. Yes, it looks like a POW camp but my babies are safer. Use orange snow fence for a more cheerful spot 😊

My biggest problem is in my area is I'm only supposed to have 4 hens and no rooster. Sad. My neighbors would love to have fresh eggs.

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If you use conventional feed ,wear a mask to go in the coup.i got pneumonia from the dust.better yet don't use any feed but organic.i wish I had known.that was 2013.

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Good To Keep a Rooster as He'll Stop The Hen's From Picking On Eachother. .!!

One of my girls has sour crop. She has been sick for 6 days now. I've tried everything. Any suggestions. Tried ACV. Regurgitating, epsom salt.

Here’s one no one mentioned: You cannot plan any vacations or even a weekend away unless you have a (chicken responsible) someone who can babysit. If that person can stay at your house even better! Someone said get ready for twice as many as you plan. I say three times as many. If not more.

Two things in a couple books, I read that sand could cover food and could impact crops of chickens, so it might not be a good idea If you do you sand, it should be the right kind. New to me was flexible fence..thx!

I have a question maybe someone can help me with..what happens when a chicken eats a mouse, do they safely digest them, will it cause sour crop, is it of any benefit of the chicken to eat mice?

How far away from your coop and run does your quarantine setup need to be?

Eggs seriously wtf Best thing ever

Hello, I have a baby hen Americauna that was born with a cross beak she is active and gets along with everyone no one is picking on her. I am wondering what to do with her? She is active loves to eat and scratch. Is it necessary to file her beak?

Grass produces only a few eggs

I keep my feed in metal containers to deter rats and mice. But, they are still here. Does anyone have any ideas on how to control them? I live near farm fields that grow corn or wheat. Im at my wits end after seeing a rat!

So does one have to go to the vet to get antibiotics?

Expensive to feed

I have a Buff rooster and he’s a huge jackass lol definitely will chase you if you run 😂

Anybody else want to help me??? I got a hen that’s stepping all over her baby chicks! And they’re dying! Idk what to do. 🤦🏻‍♂️

I wish someone would dump some chickens at my place ...RIR , BCM, Orpingtons, Australorps , im not too picky lol but dual purpose birds seem to be the thing lol

Made me feel good to just give eggs away. Until certain people had bright idea that when I handing out eggs that was code for drugs so ruined something I enjoyed doing for others to I just keep my own eggs. I couldn't even enjoy something simple passing out eggs. World is evil

Wow. I don’t believe anything you say!!! Every other statement is “if there’s one thing I wish I knew before” “the one thing I wish I learned “ Every other statement is an “epiphany “!!!! Well, is there’s one thing I wish I’d know before I watched this high school teacheresque video….is to not watch.

No one in my town under 2 acres is supposed to have roos... 😂😂😂😂 guess what? Everyone has roos 😂😂😂😂 so long as the neighbors don't complain, then nothing happens to anyone.