Bought a New COOP, supplies and Ordered Chix!

First Egg will co$$$$T Me over $500!!! Hopefully, it will get cheaper after that! LOL!!

Curious what your coop is like that you purchased. I don't know if I want to make one or purchase one.

Has about a Four by Four Foot Footprint, elevated Coop House over the Run area. made of 2X2 lumber, with hardware cloth surround. Two Nesting Boxes, about 14X14 inches. Lath floors, with 1/4 inch gaps. Metal Roof. Easy access Doors. Maybe 200 pounds total. Made to be moved with two people - handles. I could build it, but not in time for this season, and not as well. Figured I woud just buy one. Wilco had it marked down from $399, to $349, and I had a $30 off coupon, so with The B!7CH Christine's Share, it went back up to $380 or so. They will deliver for free.

They say it is good for Six Bigger Chickens.

Will post a Pic when I get it.

Enjoy those chickens. I really enjoy mine (except when I am in the garden trying to plant things and they are scratching through the dirt right behind me messing up my plantings!) Those first eggs really cost you, but they are so well worth it. My husband refuses to eat store bought eggs anymore since he has been spoiled by free range chicken eggs. I have 20 hens and 2 roosters and yesterday I collected 14 eggs. I am at the point now where I can hardly even give them away. Luckily a neighbor sells eggs to her clients (hair) so when she is running low I give her some of mine to sell.

Funny thing that got us to go ahead and get Chickens: The absolute best Eggs We Ever Had were delivered by an Old man in an old Pickup, to our Local Chevrolet Dealer! We got on the call list, and had Farm Fresh Eggs for a number of years...then the old fellow just quit coming to the dealer, and noone knew how to get hold of him or his wife....we all missed those eggs!!

That's great, HandLoad. I'm taking the "Chicken Plunge" this year, too, and for a similar reason. (And NO! I'm not talking about the San Fransisco social activity "chicken plunge", either.) I'm going to build my coop using a set of plans I downloaded from the University of Tennessee's plans pages (http://bioengr.ag.utk.edu/extension/ExtPubs/PlanList97.htm). I figure that building my own coop and run will save me quite a bit even at retail prices for dimensioned lumber.

I can't let them be true free-range chickens. Between the coyotes, foxes, raccoons, bobcats, stray farm dogs, and such, I have to build a good-sized run for them or else I'll just be feeding the wildlife.

We built our coop out of pallets that we got for free. I also scrounged some metal roofing so that is what we used. To help block some of the worst of the wind in the winter we even put some on the north side of the coop.

I am getting ready to do this also . What kind of chicks did you choose?

I have several different varieties. I have Rhode Island Reds, Ameracauna's, Buff Orpingtons (sp), and a couple of other's. They are a lot of fun and really seem to be doing well. On our slowest day this winter I only got 7 eggs, on our bussiest I had 20. Not bad for 20 hens.

Getting 100 butcher chicks and 20 layers in the next few weeks. If you plan on sustaining your flock make sure you save a rooster or 2.