Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Property Projects & Construction Need to raise some chickens and need help.

Long story short, I need to have some livestock on the property to qualify for a lower homeowners insurance rate.

I don't need to build a coop because there is one on the side of the barn. All I need to do is some renovations to it. That coop is 6' wide by 20' long. It's up off the ground, and has electric in it. I took down the pen that was attached to it when I bought the place, but need one now.

My sister wants to raise about 50 meat birds, but I need to have some here all 'year long, so I was thinking of getting a breed for laying and also that would deal with the cold weather that we have. Maybe 1/2 dz or so. I read that a coop needs to have 2 sq. ft per bird so I *think* the coop is big enough for the amount of birds, but nothing was said about the size of the pen.

I have waterers and feeders, also have an electric fence controller to put around the outside of the pen to help keep predators away.

BUT, I have no idea how large I need to make the outside pen. Any suggestions on fencing/netting? I was thinking about using 1" chickenwire for the sides (72" tall) and fabric poultry/gamebird netting for the top. Gotta have a door because I can't access the pen from the coop unless I want to crawl thru an 18" x 18" opening. That opening does have a flip down door that can be secured.

Any help would be appreciated. I'd don't want to let them free range.

Have you thought of doing something exotic like bob white quail or hungarian partrige. I believe both of them inmprint on home and tend to come back. bob wites arenot inteligent though.

Just a thought.

I raised Bobwhites, Chuckar and Ringnecks when I was doing a lot of dog training. Here in Indiana, you have to get a game bird breeders license, and they are pretty picky about releasing pen raised birds. They want you to keep release records - date, number of birds, etc.

I bought fertile quail eggs and hatched them. Those suckers are TINY! The day olds could squeeze thru 1/2" chicken wire mesh that I had on the brooder. I had to put blinders on the ringnecks to keep the pecking down to a minimum when they were adults.

The homeowners insurance thing is aggravating. The county last year switched the land from ag to residential. That increased the tax bill. They said that I had to bring in IRS tax forms showing farm income to be placed back in the AG zoning. But, they said aquaculture or income from fish was O.K.. So, that was easy. But, the homeowners insurance said that fish didn't count, no matter what the IRS said. I had to either raise animals for consumption or sale, sell hay or have some income based on agriculture.

I would look for an insurance company that recognizes your aquaculture as agriculture which of course it is.

I agree, but by going this route I can comply with their regs. I had State Farm. They wouldn't add a rider to the policy that would cover any heavy equipment that I rented like the rental company required. They kept jacking up the rates and lowering the amount of coverage. The equipment thing "we're not in the business to insure equipment" and them dropping coverage on the outbuildings "we are in the home and auto business, not insuring farm buildings" was the last straw. Their insurance rates more than doubled in the 12 years that I owned this place, and thats without having any type of insurance claim, home or auto.

I switched to Indiana Farm Bureau. They will insure any equipment that I rent for a good price on the umbrella. Home/property/outbuilding rates were cheaper than State Farm for more coverage. I knew when I switched that I'd have to get some kind of animals here, or show income based on land when talking to the agent at the time I switched. I did have bills of sale from a tiny patch of alfalfa that the neighbor cut and baled for me (small square bales) but he's not doing small square bales any more so that's gone.

IFB has the best value for the shopping that I did, even with the added expense of having the birds.

I use IFB too. This is very disappointing. Perhaps you should write a letter to their corporate headquarters. I do not think that hey would want to be seen as not supporting aquaculture.

The farm stores around here had chickens LAST month!

It ain't thawing out on a cooperative basis if ya want to do a new coop.

They normally require some time in a brooder anyway, but this weather sucks!

esshup, I haven't been on this site for a while but its called "backyard chickens". Kinda like PondBoss for chickens

Thanks. I just did a bunch of reading. I think I got it figured out now! There's some things that need to be changed in the coop, and I have a pretty good idea of how much space I need for the run. Bigger is better, especially if my sister wants 50 birds. The fun part will be building the run. I used "T" posts, chickenwire and poultry netting when I raised pheasants, but this time I think I'll go with 4x4's and make a good framework with 2x4 top rail to firm up the chicken wire, and to make attaching the poultry netting easier. I got tired of hog ringing the poultry netting to the chicken wire pretty quick!

Might go rent a trencher for a day too. Kill a couple of birds with one stone so to speak. Trench in wire at the bottom of the run, trench in an airline to the pond from the stable, trench in drip irrigation main line in the orchard.

From the little bit I've read it takes alot more to get back into the agricultural column. I was recently changed from ag to residential and it's not easy to switch back in Illinois atleast..

I'm talking about property taxes not insurance sorry..

BGK, both were switched on me. But, in this instance property taxes was easier than insurance.

I took up chicken raising this year. I have three laying hens and two laying ducks. I get an egg out of each one everyday. I had no idea I would get this many eggs. I have eggs coming out my ears with just the 3 of us. I have the small one of these these. http://www.henhoops.com They work great. My chickens free range all day. If you want a smaller flock raise all natural non-gmo eggs. The feed is a little higher but they go for twice the price. Check out this book. It's has everything you need to know on raising chickens. http://www.amazon.com/Storeys-Guide-Raising-Chickens-Edition/dp/1603424695
The chickens are pretty rewarding and my daughter loves the ducks. They will eat bread from her hands. I think you will enjoy this endeavor.

You can order the eggs chicks through mail. They can live overnight usps off there yolk sacs. I have a barred rock, Rhode Island Red and and a white egg laying mix. I highly recommend this overnight hatchery. http://www.cacklehatchery.com I have 15 black sex link pullets growing out now. It's looks like I'm going to be selling eggs soon. They each lay 300 brown eggs a year. You don't need a noisy rooster either for eggs. I'm glad I passed on those noisy things. The chickens hardly eat anything either. I've had mine since feb 14 and they have only used 1 and half bags of layer feed ration and bag of scratch. You will be amazed at the amount of eggs. Unbelievable.

Look into purchasing poultry fencing for the pen (not chicken wire with hexagonal holes). It has smaller rectangular holes near the bottom and larger holes near the top. I would also suggest bird netting over the top for hawks. Hopefully you do not have mink or weasels. If you do, good luck. If you buy chicks, rather than pullets, you will need a small well heated area (brooder), or they will likely die. You can purchase a brooder heat light at a farm store. We have always ordered chicks through the mail from a hatchery and had good luck. Before spending money to avoid GMOs, Google - scientific organizations statements genetically modified - to see what the major scientific organizations, like the American Medical Association, World Health Organization, and National Academy of Sciences, have to say on the subject. Good luck!

As Rah said research if there is a market for Non-GMO. In my area the feed cost around $3 more a 50 pound bag, but the eggs sell for between $4 and $4.50 a dozen. Regular eggs go for between a $1.50 and $2.00 a dozen. If there is no market for the Non-GMO it would not be a wise choice to go GMO free. They can't keep up with the current Non-GMO market around St. Louis possibly because of higher awareness with Monsanto head quarters being located there. Protest all the time. I'm not sure. I do know people are willing to pay the extra money in my area for those Non-GMO eggs.

Good point. We sold eggs off the farm for $3 per dozen when I was a kid (40 years ago) because my parents farm was in an urban area. The further you get from farm country, the more you can sell food based on image. I have been in central Indiana for 24 years, so I did not consider that. You can sell them as gluten free too

I think the whole Non-GMO thing stems from people wanting organic farm fresh eggs. USDA organic can not contain GMO's. Lots of regulations. So small farmers just sell the eggs as Non-GMO to bypass that part. Seems buyers are ok with that.

Just wait. Non-GMO regulations are sure to come, and then verification will place this outside the financial reach of small producers too.

I'm sure your right on that one.

I agree with RAH on the pen construction. I wouldn't put as much thought into keeping the chickens in, as I would with keeping everything else out....

Scott,

I've been keeping chickens most of my life. When we moved to where we now live, I was given a dog kennel made of four 10'x 6' panels. Then somebody else had one with the same size panels, but the one with the access gate was badly damaged, so I made a chicken yard with just seven panels. It didn't matter, as a bought a 6'x8' wooden shed kit that i turned into a coop, and it became the 4th. I cut out about a 12" x 18" door that hinges upward for the chicken to go in and out. I also had some 10' long 1-1/2" galvanized pipe that I put across the top of the pen, and covered the that with chickenwire. Oh, and I set the panels over chicken wire that I bent up on the inside, and covered with dirt on ythe outside to make it more difficult for critters to get in.right now I've got 9 hens and three guineas.

I'd send a picture, but I'm in Oklahoma.

Cat, any problems keeping the guineas and the chickens in the same pen?