I'm working on setting up a coop/outdoor equipment shed. Cleared the land already so it's time to start building.
Looking at 16'x16', half for the chickens and half for lawn equipment. Might even get fancy and run radiant heat in the coop with a solar hot water heater to keep things a little warmer in the winter.
I've thought about keeping qual. How much harder would they be to deal with? Hopefully, I'll be able to find a job with a "normal people" schedule fairly soon so I can do the home farm thing.
Scotty: Orpingtons aren't bad. Shouldn't be much (if any) harder to be successful with than RIR's. Orpingtons are BIG. Your average chicken is half again as big as a football; I've seen Orpingtons twice that big. Something to keep in mind if you're short on space.
Dave: Let me know if you want coop plan ideas or the like. I think I've got some stuff like that stashed away somewhere... Heated waterers are an excellent idea. My folks don't do that, and the birds live in a practically-uninsulated shed, so they carry a lot of hot water in cold weather.
SIR: I dunno much about quail. Just thinking out loud, chickens and domestic ducks don't tend to do much flying, as they're not really built for it like their wild counterparts. Quail on the other hand, are small (will be harder to keep contained, if you plan to coop them) and built to fly. If you wanted to keep them around, you'd need to get them used to being around your place when they're young; raise them in a coop near the house/barn/wherever you plan to feed them in the future, then gradually start letting them out in the afternoon for a few hours before herding them back into their coop overnight. That kind of schedule gets them used to roosting where YOU want them to.
If you just want to stock your farm with quail, go light on the domestication. Let them out more, earlier. Understand that you'll lose some to predators, but with some light domestication and regular scattering of corn in a designated feeding area, you'll see them pretty regularly.
Edit: @Gameboy: Sig updated. 
JohnInKansas wrote: I was a nationally-ranked chicken judge in high-school (*braces for chicken judge jokes*)
Quail are skittish and do a lot of leaping. In normal cages, they smash their heads. You need to use lower tops and/or fabric tops for them to bounce up against as they hit.
Tiny bird, with next to no meat and micro sized eggs when it comes to eating them. Oh, you certainly can eat them. But you're going to crack at least a dozen for you to have a decent omlet.
They can be fun in an aviary. I really should build another aviary. I had one and kept some interesting birds in it.
But as a practical barnyard bird, a quail isn't the best.
Lol, thanks GPS. Avatar updated.
JohnInKansas wrote: Lol, thanks GPS. Avatar updated.
LOL! Nice.
^^Yeah, that's GREAT!!
So how much money is there in chicken judging? 
How do the chickens handle the winter? I take It I would need to provide some sort of heat source and an enclosed space.
I have a shed at the back of our yard, chain link fence and a little gate under an awning on the side. Previous owner kept his hunting dogs out there, I figured it would be perfect to modify into a chicken coop. I don't have electric run out there at this time though.
Our birds lived in a practically 10x15 uninsulated shed with screened, south-facing windows and a 15x15 turnout pen. Fully enclosed coop inside with straw inside for laying, 4x8 raised roost. One winter it got real cold (for Kansas, mind you), down to sub-zero temperature, so we cleared out another shed (concrete block walls, concrete floor, fully enclosed, reasonably insulated) and moved the chickens over for a week or so. On cold, calm days, they're out running around like any other day. On the other hand, we've got plenty of buildings for them to hide out in if they get cold feet and need a place to get out of the wind for a spell.
Your shed is probably fine. If you're worried about cold, buy a dozen straw bales and stack them on the north side of the shed and pen. You may have to go dig them out if you get a lot of snow.
failboat wrote: How do the chickens handle the winter? I take It I would need to provide some sort of heat source and an enclosed space.
They get especially delicious in October. You just need a bigger freezer.
In reply to Giant Purple Snorklewacker:
oh wait I've got a heat source and an enclosed space right here!
failboat wrote: In reply to Giant Purple Snorklewacker: oh wait I've got a heat source and an enclosed space right here!
Hey, that's pretty funny!
Chickens handle winters just fine. Worse thing you can do is give them a heated coop. Then they never aclimate and actually do suffer and get sick.
Keeping their water unfrozen is the only thing you need heat for. Simple extension cord does that job just fine.
Update!
Chickens are great! I'm eating a nice ham, egg, n' cheese sandwich right now.
Ended up with a flock of five hens, of varying breeds including a buff orpington, a barred rock, and an Ameraucana. I'm getting about 3 eggs a day now, with four birds laying. The Ameraucana is a little younger and should be laying in a few more weeks.
The birds are fun to watch and the kids like getting the eggs. With the price of chicken feed being what it is, these probably aren't the cheapest eggs I've ever had, but they darn sure are the freshest! Mmmmm.
Bok, bok, bok!
1988RedT2 wrote: The birds are fun to watch and the kids like getting the eggs. With the price of chicken feed being what it is, these probably aren't the cheapest eggs I've ever had, but they darn sure are the freshest! Mmmmm. Bok, bok, bok!
Chickens love table scraps, especially rice, pasta and anything red.
Zomby Woof wrote:1988RedT2 wrote: The birds are fun to watch and the kids like getting the eggs. With the price of chicken feed being what it is, these probably aren't the cheapest eggs I've ever had, but they darn sure are the freshest! Mmmmm. Bok, bok, bok!Chickens love table scraps, especially rice, pasta and anything red.
I do try to carry a lot of table scraps out there for 'em. I'm not as good at doing that as I should be. They will chow down on some interesting stuff. Their fondness for clover amazes me. They go after that stuff.
My wife has been asking our neighbors about their chickens. I'm okay with getting a few and seeing how things go. I admit, I love fresh eggs. My in-laws have a chicken breeding farm in south Georgia. Every few months they bring us a couple flats (four dozen per flat) of "dud" eggs they can't sell. Mostly double yolk eggs. Holy smokes do those make for some good eatin'. And one egg is enough for breakfast, no problem.
You know, there's chickens/roosters behind the GRM office. They're not ours, but I hear them every morning around 9:30. I'm guessing they're somewhere in the neighborhood that's behind us.
A friend's father has chickens that they feed their table scraps to, and damn if those aren't the tastiest eggs I've ever had. Yummmm. They were even better than the farmer's market eggs.
1988: How much work are the chickens, after all? Are they like, outdoor cat level of work or much much more?
I currently have four red hens in the backyard at home. The kids love the chickens and my wife and I love the eggs. We feed them table scrap and some grain. Really easy to take care of. You just feed them and pick-up the poop once in a while (like a cat). We just predator-proofed their coop and not the entire back yard because that would have been difficult. We set them free during the day and get them in at night before the predators come out. You can train them come in when you call them and try to poop only in one spot. Avoid getting white hens because while they are great for eggs, those chickens are a pain (they are crazy, impossible to train, dirty, etc.).
buff orpington
...iphone...notes..."Porn star names...." Added.
In reply to dculberson:
They're a breeze. Scoop poop out of the coop every once in a while. Take food out to them a couple times a day. Make sure they have fresh water. Collect eggs. Pretty darn easy.
Zomby Woof wrote: especially rice, pasta
Dry, or cooked? (Dried out leftovers is "dry" again, IMO)
Zomby Woof wrote: and anything red.
Hmm, that's interesting. Can you elaborate? We're not really close to actually doing this yet, but any info is good.
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