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I have had chickens in the past and will again this spring. I miss them. My German shepherd had issues with them and I she "dispatched" a couple of them. The coup and chicken yard are getting improved to prevent that. I have had chicken snakes-the Texas rat Snake but handle them with a hoe, my old rooster had a way with snakes too

Av8rtx wrote:I have had chickens in the past and will again this spring. I miss them. My German shepherd had issues with them and I she "dispatched" a couple of them. The coup and chicken yard are getting improved to prevent that. I have had chicken snakes-the Texas rat Snake but handle them with a hoe, my old rooster had a way with snakes too

Your German Shepard doesn't like them either huh? Mine chases them plus our cats. She is a great guard dog but a terrible farm dog. Although she did tree a raccoon that was trying to get our chickens long enough for me to get my 10/22. She also chases the deer off our property which is helpful when that garden goes in.

We had 14 Rhode Island reds for 3 years. We were covered in eggs. We couldn't give the eggs away fast enough and fed most of them to the pig. They didn't seem to mind the heat. They were recommended to us. Tried cooking a few but they were pretty tough. Coons and bobcats killed several of them. We killed a few coons and bobcats too.

When I first started there was a "back yard flock" forum that was quite helpful. In addition, my amazing hubby had read (and I have since then) "Pastured Poultry Profits" by Joel Salatin. Not because we had 20 acres and wanted to make $ off our chickens, but because we were looking for info on dealing with small flocks in small spaces. MAR made me a nifty "Chicken tractor". It was perfect for our 3 hens and 2 Indian Runner Ducks. This breed of duck are great layers (up to 300 eggs a year - rivals many chicken breeds). The girls and I would LOVE to have ducks again, as they were great fun; but they would have to be in a protected yard as we have more space than when we started in the subdivision. Neighborhood cats got our ducks at the neighborhood house, and we fight coons, cats, coyote, fox, bobcat and then there is the winged predators now that we have a few acres. Ducks don't go home to roost like my hens. And with the Runners you don't have to have any more water than what they can get their faces in to wash their beaks. While they will swim, and enjoy it, it is not necessary for most ducks - they need to keep their beaks/nostrils clean is all. LOVED my ducks! Just don't want to make easy prey for our predatory friends.

A chicken tractor is GREAT if you don't want them to be fully free range. You can move it every few days and they can have fresh grass and what they can find. Our current coop is a modified "tractor" in that the coop can be moved with our tractor - it is on skids. This saves the unsavory chore of raking out the coop.

We have 4 nest boxes for as many as 20 hens, but they seem to enjoy making an easter egg hunt out of their daily laying since they are free range. We have had a few chicks show up occasionally, as we do have roos. However you don't need roosters for eggs as many folks think.

We have substituted banty chickens for our "entertainment" since we can't do the ducks. The girls will play with the banty chicks so they are people friendly, and we have had several hens that are almost pests because they want to be right where you are when we are outside. "Sophia" one of our first banty hens would ride my shoulder while outside and ride our mini-donkey as well.... not always his idea, but he would tolerate her.

I hope you enjoy your fowl as much as we have!

gemini wrote:

pbwalker wrote:I have a 4x4 Hen House, elevated, with a 24 sq/ft "run" for them off the coop. Two nesting boxes, but they only use one. That's for 6 birds. We also let them roam the yard (1 acre) whenever we're home.

As for snakes, I can say that with the chickens, we no longer have any. I've seen them gobble down a 12" grass snake in three bites. They love Scorpions and Walking Sticks. They are the best pest control you can have. The only "chicken snake" (black rat snake) we've seen was way before we got chickens. I couldn't see it, and stepped on it. I had more jump than Larry Bird when that happened...fly in to the air, look down to identify snake, and land away from it...it was in slow-mo.

Ours started laying eggs at about 20 weeks of age. For the most part, we get an egg a day from each. Once in a blue moon, we'll only get 5.

Anyway you could post pics of the hen house & run? I think in town we can keep hens , just no roosters.... A visual of how much space
required would be nice. Thanks.

Sure thing. I'll take a pic when I get home today and post it here.

I've been raising chickens in my subdivision since '07. I keep the neighbors at bay with fresh eggs and fertilizer. South Texas Heat. No problem for:

Rhode Island Reds
Barred Rock (little noisy for my taste)
Americaunas (my favorite) blue/green egg layers and they arn't small as posted above. Initially they start small but they are up to large egg status in a couple of months. After the first molt they are extra large


Just do it, can't do store bought eggs yuk!


Side note, funny story (to me anyways)

In '08 we evacuated Alvin for Hurricane Ike. Got back a day later and house is messed up, fence is gone, the chicken coop is gone! And the chickens are scattered over the subdivision. We rounded them all up with the help of some neighbors. We used mangled fencing material and constructed a makeshift pen and chicken coop until I could get my fence repaired.....anyways two weeks later, one night we heard a thunderstorm rolling in, the chickens went NUTS! Now, I'm not going to argue the smarts of a chicken (cause I've seen em do some pretty stupid things), but THEY knew that thunder was BAD news. That particular flight of chickens never got over rain/thunder. My neighbors shore enjoyed fresh eggs when the local grocer was out for 2 weeks.

Bennies wrote:

Av8rtx wrote:I have had chickens in the past and will again this spring. I miss them. My German shepherd had issues with them and I she "dispatched" a couple of them. The coup and chicken yard are getting improved to prevent that. I have had chicken snakes-the Texas rat Snake but handle them with a hoe, my old rooster had a way with snakes too

Your German Shepard doesn't like them either huh? Mine chases them plus our cats. She is a great guard dog but a terrible farm dog. Although she did tree a raccoon that was trying to get our chickens long enough for me to get my 10/22. She also chases the deer off our property which is helpful when that garden goes in.

Yeah it's amazing to watch-it's almost personal for her

We had 30 of a variety.

New hampshires
Easter edgers
Naked necks
White leghorns
Sussex
Polish
And a few others

They all did great from summer to winter.. Egg laying slowed down a little during the winter probably to about half.. We would collect any where from 20-30 eggs a day. I think the leghorns were the ones laying the double yolkers.. Eggs were HUGE! Easter edgers are awesome, eggs started off tiny but got to a good large size.

I ordered them as one day hatchets from a few different places and one time the place threw a couple in as fillers/Warmers. Well one of the freebies ended up being a cock. A polish cock.

When he got older he became very aggressive and one day decided to attack my son slashing his face up pretty good so he got the death penalty played out by a beretta 391.

I've been wanting Chickens for ages. We used to keep about a dozen or so growing up out in the country. I remember the coup/run stinking pretty bad at times and them being pretty loud cluckers. This is why I've been hesitant to go through and build a coup/run and get some going on my backyard. From what I read in the city code for Rowlett I can have a 3-4 or something like that, no roosters though.

Anyone with them in their urban environment able to comment on the noise/smell? I would probably have just 2 or 3, the coup would be small and they would have to have a run no bigger than 1/2 the size of a std bedroom. They can't roam free in the yard because we're surrounded by dogs on all three sides with pretty crappy fences so if the dog got it in his/her mind to come through they would come through. I dont' want to have to go to the neighbors house to tell them they need to pickup the body of their dog.

When I was a kid, we kept chickens. While the eggs were good, there is no way I would raise chickens again. I have no desire to clean out any more chicken coops.

knotquiteawake wrote:I've been wanting Chickens for ages. We used to keep about a dozen or so growing up out in the country. I remember the coup/run stinking pretty bad at times and them being pretty loud cluckers. This is why I've been hesitant to go through and build a coup/run and get some going on my backyard. From what I read in the city code for Rowlett I can have a 3-4 or something like that, no roosters though.

Anyone with them in their urban environment able to comment on the noise/smell? I would probably have just 2 or 3, the coup would be small and they would have to have a run no bigger than 1/2 the size of a std bedroom. They can't roam free in the yard because we're surrounded by dogs on all three sides with pretty crappy fences so if the dog got it in his/her mind to come through they would come through. I dont' want to have to go to the neighbors house to tell them they need to pickup the body of their dog.

I had no issues living in a city with them. I kept up to 6 hens. The hens are quiet, roosters get noisy as they mature, then they end up in the freezer :) I never noticed the smell but the straw and related "stuff" went to my compost pile then the garden

Av8rtx wrote:

knotquiteawake wrote:I've been wanting Chickens for ages. We used to keep about a dozen or so growing up out in the country. I remember the coup/run stinking pretty bad at times and them being pretty loud cluckers. This is why I've been hesitant to go through and build a coup/run and get some going on my backyard. From what I read in the city code for Rowlett I can have a 3-4 or something like that, no roosters though.

Anyone with them in their urban environment able to comment on the noise/smell? I would probably have just 2 or 3, the coup would be small and they would have to have a run no bigger than 1/2 the size of a std bedroom. They can't roam free in the yard because we're surrounded by dogs on all three sides with pretty crappy fences so if the dog got it in his/her mind to come through they would come through. I dont' want to have to go to the neighbors house to tell them they need to pickup the body of their dog.

I had no issues living in a city with them. I kept up to 6 hens. The hens are quiet, roosters get noisy as they mature, then they end up in the freezer :) I never noticed the smell but the straw and related "stuff" went to my compost pile then the garden

X2, 4-6 hens, no roosters (or whack them as they practice crowing) and the by products (poop, straw, and egg shells are awesome for the garden. Most city's now accept chickens, the ordinance for Alvin gives me more than I think practical (8-10 depending on lot size)

hmm, I'd love to get that changed in our HOA, I think we can do it in the city, but I know not in the HOA. gee, I could use the in-law's house

SewTexas wrote:hmm, I'd love to get that changed in our HOA, I think we can do it in the city, but I know not in the HOA. gee, I could use the in-law's house

I know my HOA would have a cow, even though I can hear a rooster every morning.

jmra wrote:

SewTexas wrote:hmm, I'd love to get that changed in our HOA, I think we can do it in the city, but I know not in the HOA. gee, I could use the in-law's house

I know my HOA would have a cow

Why? Just to have fresh milk & butter with your eggs?