I don't live near you but here's some pictures of my set up.

-Sheila

Here is a link that might be useful: Sheila's coop

I'm in central Virginia, between Richmond & Charlottesville. I keep a small flock of hens and one rooster. My setup is similar to Sheila's, with a henhouse beside an enclosed pen. I'll take some pictures this weekend and get them on the photobucket website so you can take a look.
-Claire

Thank you, THANK YOU!! I'm off to look at yours now Sheila. My major concerns are roosters bothering my neighbors, and rodents attracted by the chicken food. I'll be back soon (probably with more questions..)

Sheila, What a lovely coop. I could move in myself, it's so cosy. Charles is handsome, but couldn't help noticing that his mouth (er beak) is wide open, hmmm do your neighbors live close enough to be bothered by him. I'm in surbubia, and once the novelty wears off, they won't want the noise. They are already a little bothered by my beehives, but don't think they've noticed my composting yet... (I really need to move to the country, sigh.)
What do you do with your chickens once they've stopped laying, that is, do you let them live out their days in Coopsville, or do they go into the stewpot?
I love, love, how your coop looks from the front, just perfect!
PS
I have an arrangement with a local restaurant for all their veg. scraps for composting, and I think they would be happy to give me more for helping feed chickens.
They are green :-)

Hi Sandra,
I'm glad you liked my setup, I can tell you I live in the very situation that you are concerned about and yes I did have one neighbor complain about Charles. I sent Charles to a friends farm last spring after he flogged my then 5 year old daughter.

I currently have one roo, a giant blue orpington, he has a very deep crow but so far does not feel the need to crow all day long like Charles sometimes did and his personality if very relaxed. I am trying not to get my hopes up with him as I know that when spring comes he will get frisky and I'm sure louder. So yes, the crowing is a huge concern because of the town and type of neighborhood I live in. We did use sound insulation on the back coop (where our roo is), this helps quite a bit, we don't let the birds out until after 10 a.m. ( to keep things quiet) however I do worry about the summer time when everyone will have their windows open. I too wish I lived in the country but for now we are staying here and we have to manage around our current home situation.

Last year I gave several of my 1 & 2 year old hens to the same friend w/the farm, their production was mixed but I really wanted to make room for new hatchlings and just keep my favorite girls that became pets more than livestock. I have not been able to bring myself to eat one of my girls, I'm sure at some point this will become a problem if I keep adding new birds every year.

Sounds like you have a wonderful deal with your local restaurant! that will be a huge help w/feed costs while giving them a variety of food.

The one piece of advice I can give you when designing your coop is always go larger than you plan, you will find the extra space a blessing as things grow and your hobby expands :) Keeping chickens is as simple or complex as you choose to make it.....I'm somewhere in between :)

This summer we raised 4 turkeys in our small suburban backyard and one is currently thawing in the kitchen, mentally it is a growing process (to be so close to our food source), this forum has be a wonderful place to gain encouragement and support this process. Three years ago I was in your very position, I wouldn't trade the experience for the world! it is no longer just a hobby for me but a chicken passion that I enjoy sharing w/our friends and family.

This spring I hope to hatch out some orpington chicks and send the males to be processed for our freezer, if the orpingtons grow out like our big blue male they should be a good choice for a duel purpose breed.

I am happy to answer any of your questions that I can :)

-Sheila

holy crap Sheila! your place is set for a king!!!! wow,,,what a gorgeous setup you have for your hens and roo,I'm completely envious...great job

Sheila,
Thank you for being so gracious. It sounds like you started keeping your chickens for similar reasons that are making me seriously consider it, that being:
One, I read that each calorie we eat has travelled an average of 1,200 miles. Now, I don't even WANT to think how long that takes, or what my food has been subjected to in order to get it to my plate. I want to try to eat fresh local food.
Two, I love animals and hate to see them treated badly for the sake of making a profit.
Three, my two little girls will learn tons by taking care of chickens with me. (BTW, what is flogging?) I want my kids doing stuff, not watching TV and worrying about how they compare with their peers.
Four, my neighbors expect such weird behavior from me, and I can't disappoint 'em!!
Understand about being closer to the food source, not easy! I grew up on a farm, but have forgotten my country ways, and will have to edge towards this. Did you personally butcher your turkeys? Is the rest of your family into this hobby? Do you sell your eggs?

Sheila...I agree with beeliz. Very clean and well organized. My chickens would go on "strike" if they saw these pictures...LOL!

Brian

Back again, with some pictures. This is a test to see if adding the HTML code to one of my pics on Photobucket will display the picture here. If this works I'll post some more.
~Claire

Pictured here, my small henhouse (approx 8' x 8' - too small!) beside the enclosed henpen. After a lot of begging on my part, my husband kindly built a pavilion over the henpen. It helps keep the pen from getting muddy when it rains. I love it! Down in front, the rooster is visting with a few of the hens.:
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Looks like that worked - yea! Ok, here come a few more pictures. I have to say, my setup isn't as tidy and clean looking as Sheila's. I need to work on that!

It's hard to see here but the pen is L-shaped, this picture is in the open area under the roof. In this area there's a storage bin and water spigot to the left. Ahead there's a feeder hanging from the wire fencing and a heated dog-water dish (blue) for the rooster since I don't let him reside inside the pen with the girls. Visiting hours are on the weekend afternoons when the hens free-range with the roo. Inside the henpen there are feeders, waterers, three laying boxes and roosts are in the back:
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Most birds prefer roosting outside in the henpen even in cold weather, so the back of the pen is covered with tarps to help protect them from wind:
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Here's the last of my old girls, maybe 4yrs old - they don't lay eggs anymore but I keep them around anyway. They keep to themselves, don't like associating with the younger hens.
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Inside the henpen there are hanging feeders and waterers. I've used duct-tape to wrap the water with plumbing 'heater strip' which keeps them from freezing. Works great! Another contribution from my hubby.
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Close-up of the henhouse, problem is it's not long enough for the hens to fly off of a 4-foot high roost. Had to remove a high roost after an injury. Now there's just a low roost they can hop off of and about 4-inches of litter for insulation. There's a laying box hanging inside the door out of sight. Two of my hens roost in the henhouse at night, all others roost in the henpen:
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Clarification - In the Posting about "visiting their chicken setup" where I describe the birds' preference to roost outside in the henpen, I was trying to say "Most of my birds prefer...". I don't know about anyone elses birds. :o)

Sheila,
I am also considering chickens this year or next. I love your pictures and wanted to ask, it appears you have the chicks completely enclosed. Do you have trouble with critters digging under and getting in and killing any of your chickens?

I have sort of been scared off of the idea of getting chickens cause I have heard that no matter how secure you make their home some will get killed. I don't think I could take that.

Thanks,
Susan in NC

Hi Sandra,
yup my family is pretty much into our chickens, the kids have seen baby chicks hatch and watched them grow into adults. My dh did the turkeys this year, he took a class in processing birds at a working farm a few years ago. He processed one of our turkeys but we brought the rest to a processor and payed $10 each for the job (well worth it considering they were 30+ pound birds).

Flogging is when a rooster attacks, they sort of jump up in the air and land on you w/their feet to scratch etc. it's the way they fight each other. I'm sure someone else can describe this better. Charles got threatened when we were trying to round him up, he did what comes naturally to many roo's.

I do have one steady egg customer, I charge $3 per dozen, I used to buy organic chicken feed but found it not to be as fresh as the reg. feed and many times ended up finding bugs in the bags probably due to it not moving as quickly. The higher price also was a factor, about $8 more per bag.

Claire, I love the pavilion your dh built you! it is very impressive. Your girls are very pretty, what are the gray hens? Americauna?

Hi Susan,
the covered pen is mostly for my bantams and crested birds, they live in the front coop with the attached pen. My standards (larger birds), live in the back coop (divided w/the recessed sliding door) and have a fenced chicken yard that they free range in. The only loss due to predator came this fall when a fisher cat pried open my back coop door and ran off w/one of my pullets. This was about three weeks after he ate our beloved cat. My dh promptly installed a dead bolt on the coop and trapped and disposed the fisher so he won't be bothering anyone anymore. The covered pen is great for young birds, bantams or crested breeds that can't see overhead which makes them easy prey for hawks around here.

-Sheila

Hi Sheila,
Yes, the grayish hens are Ameraucanas. There' a lot of variation in their coloring but I prefer the gray/brown ones. And their blue/green eggs are fun. We have a lot of predators: hawks, owls, foxes, raccoons, who knows what else, so when we built the henpen we put wire fencing over the top of the pen as well as the sides. The pavilion came several years later.
~Claire

What is a fisher cat? And does anyone have trouble with critters that can dig under the fence and into the coops?

I am so afraid of finding a dead chicken, I guess that is something that I have to deal with when the time comes, if it does. My biggest challenge is talking Don into having chickens. :)

Thanks for the help.
Susan

We are now into our third year of raising free range layers. There are 33 hens and 3 roosters. George is the top roo and keeps all of them in line including the other two roosters, Kyle and Reuben.

We have 58 acres and the chickens probably graze on about 5/6 of those depending on the weather. We always lock them in their coop over night for safety. We have barn cats that keep the rodent population down in the chicken coop. They grew up with the chickens and actually think they are chickens. When the weather is right, they are right with the chickens taking dust baths.

We were always told we would lose our chickens to predators if we let them free-range but that hasn't happened. The roosters are great in keeping the hens safe and so far we don't have a problem with stray dogs. (I understand that would be our greatest fear.)

Susan,
I think a fisher cat may be something like a weasel.
Claire

Yes, they are in the same family, like a cross between a weasel and a wolverine, they are vicious and very agile. They prey on domestic cats, poultry and are one of the few predators of porcupines.

-Sheila

Hi, WOW you guys are great!
Sulli, What a great experience for your children. My friend charges me the same price for her organic eggs, they are wonderful.
cn-hens, Your gray chickens are just beautiful! And that pavillion is smashing too. I was looking at the option of a chicken tractor for summer months, has anyone tried this?
http://home.centurytel.net/thecitychicken/tractors.html
I live at too close quarters to my nieghbors to have chickens free ranging around, but our local fire station keeps a flock and they peck around the fire station during the summer, cool huh! I agree with susandonb, it would be awful to have a bird molested. Also, I have two English Springer Spaniels, wouldn't you know BIRD dogs!

carmen grower,
When you say your barn cats keep the rodent pop. down, does that imply that there is a rodent population because of the chickens? This is something I fear A LOT!!
If you have chickens is it just something you have to expect?

THANK YOU ALL for this great chat. I'm learning tons, and having a great time.
Sandra

Wow, a weasel. Dont think I have ever seen one of those. I saw my first woodchuck when I moved here to NC 5 years ago. And one ate 52 broccoli plants last year out of my garden! I have since bought an electric fence! HA-HA You CHUCKIES! Seems to be working.

I love chickens I want some so bad! It took me 2 years to talk Don into clearing more land to expand our garden and build a greenhouse. I do believe I will spring the chickens on him in the Fall or next Spring!

I also want to raise my own pork. I buy my beef from a local farmer that raises beef critters.

Good thing I love bacon burgers, huh?

Susan