What would we do different with Chickens?

Photo Credit:  FreeImages.com/Anton Malan

Plans for next year:

This year we are planing to buy about 3-5 more baby chicks. So, when they start laying 4-6 months later, in the winter time, we can still get a good supply of eggs. Once they get big enough we'll put them with the older ones. If we have older ones that are slacking on laying, we'll chop em up, and freeze em for Sunday meals.

We are also planning of re-renovation our coop. We built our current on on a small budget and quick.  After having them for almost a year we now like and dislike some things.

*We put the coop lined up behind the garage, but when it rains all the mud puddles at the base of the door. Next year we are going to move our coop to the very top of the hill in the back yard. Then when it rains, everything will go down hill, and hopefully no walking through mud into the pen. 

*We also built the coop into the ground. Then layered pebbled size gravel on the bottom. Every few weeks we have to rake out the poop to keep flies and smells down. We also have to reload on gravel... So next year we want to make the coop lifted off the ground for a bit. This means we can easily rake out the poop, but not have to spend money on gravel for the bottom. We are still figuring out the details so we aren't sure about how much wind and cold we have to worry about seeing as this is our first winter with them. So, the plans will be adjusted as we see need by next spring.

*Instead of having one small run, AND a larger one they can roam, we want to have one medium sized runs that we can move OR 2 smaller runs. So, for the space of the large run, we want to cut that in half, and have chickens roam for 2 weeks, while the other half grows lots of weeks for them to feed on.

Hope you enjoyed reading about our chickens!  Please input your comments and recommendations in the comments below.

Other Related Posts:
Pros and Cons of Chickens
We've Got Chickens