I don't have them, but I have a friend who does. I don't know that she has had any raccoon issues. But she has a lab/beagle mix that stays in the big yard that encompasses the chickens' smaller yard. My guess is the dog wards off some marauders.

She tells me that one of the best things about chickens is that they eat fleas and ticks -- no more fleas and ticks! I'll bet you could contact the local Cooperative Extension office and they could fix you up with the needed information. There are also backyard chicken organizations out there and there could be a group in your area.

My friend lives in a semi-rural area where folks pretty much do what they want. The guy behind her has horses and heavy equipment. Another neighbor parks his trucking rig at home. Chickens aren't a big deal out there. But if you are in a more urban or suburban setting, I would want the buy-in of the immediate neighbors ahead of time just to make sure you aren't going to make yourselves miserable.

Here is a link that might be useful: Backyard Chickens

My brother lives in a fairly affluent area in Alpharetta, GA. His next door neighbor has 6-8 brown chickens that are just beautiful. I think they're a fancy kind of chicken. They just roam his entire backyard and he has a coop that looks like a child's playhouse - very cute. They don't make much noise, just some faint warbling sounds. I would sit on my brother's deck and just watch these chickens root around for hours. Sortof like watching an aquarium!

Anyways, his neighbor says they go into their coop at dusk every night and he goes out and shuts the door so no one uninvited comes a calling. He did say he's lost 2-3 over the years to hawks. They just swoop down and grab one!

No, but I want to!

I live on a farm (no animal-keeping restrictions) and have a large chicken coop, but have never figured out which breed is best for me. I want birds that lay sparingly, but for a long time since I couldn't kill the older ones for the pot. They'd just be long-term pensioners.

Anybody know which breed would work best? I often ask that question of chicken-knowledgeable people, but it seems to stump 'em.

L

Thanks for the link! I looked at it and now kind of am on the fence. I REALLY want chickens, but I realized what work it is for them and do I want to handle that? Maybe if DH and I get a path laid to the garden, then yes, but I just can't see myself trying to tromp out there thru mucky mud! That's why I seldom go in our backyard till, say, oh...July. Haha.

But seriously, I'm with you lirio, I don't want heavy layers, but more than a total of 4 eggs a week! My folks had hens but they either didn't lay the eggs in their nest boxes, or they just didn't lay enough to justify their existence! I would like a crazy chicken, like the Polish ones, they've got that crazy head feather thing going on, but they're apparently not very docile and are flighty. I can just see me trying to chase a chicken.

Good point about the hawks, carol, we DO have them. We scared a hawk that had a squirrel and he dropped the squirrel that scampered off. Hadn't considered hawks!

My daughter started with three chickens almost 2 years ago. She read books from the library about keeping chickens, monitored the Backyard Chickens site, & did some online research, so she knew what she was getting into. She considers her chickens pets rather than just egg layers.

She has hens - two Buff Orpingtons and a Barred Rock. She had a racoon/hawk/coyote-proof coop built. That's important so predators don't get them & you don't come home/get up to only lots of feathers. She gets 2 - 3 eggs a day, enough to share with co-workers, etc. She lets the hens out of the coop each day when she isn't working & stays in the yard with them, to deter hawks. The "girls" love earwigs & other bugs, & go back into the coop after an hour or so.

Something to consider is vacations. My daughter is going on a 10-day vacation so needed to find a housesitter comfortable with taking care of the chickens as well as the dog & cat. The chickens will stay in the coop while she's gone, but the sitter will need to check the nests for eggs & go into the coop run to refill water & food daily, & probably rake out the run at least once.

P.S. Her girls are named Daisy, Clover & Penny.

Raccoons are an issue even in coops, I'm afraid...maybe my friends didn't use wire that was small enough, but both they and their neighbors woke up last year to some beheaded roosters with their decapitated necks sticking through the mesh of the wires of the coop...UGH. They were told that's a raccoon MO, so they got traps and I didn't want to hear any more. (They're in the country so they can have roosters, who went bravely to their deaths defending their hens...sniff sniff)

We seem to have raccoons under our deck every year and we kind of like seeing the mom and the kids go out for the evening in the summer : ). We want chickens too, but we don't know how that would work. Maybe find wire with *very small* holes? It's a challenge, but it sure would be nice to get rid of those earwigs!

My neighbor had some free range chickens - they flew off. She purchased chicks after getting a temporary coop... I haven't heard an update, so I don't know if they survived.

You have to watch out for hawks, eagles, coyotes, snakes, neighborhood dogs, cats as well as skunks. Here's a good link:

(fyi, Heather Bullard's blog and Velvet & Linen blog are both chicken owners with to-die-for coops. They have really fancy chickens.)

Here is a link that might be useful: Backyard Chickens

We,too, are new chicken friends. Got our first chicks a month ago. The supplier is part of a program to strengthen breeds that were/are nearing extinction. We decided to start with a half dozen known-to-be-hearty generic chicks for Texas and a half dozen rarer Russian Orloffs. DH put together a brooder in the garage, so he could control the temperature and watch over his "peeps." The vendor told us to expect losses, so DH built a small, trial coop for six. So far, they all have thrived, so we just ordered an emergency larger coop from myamishgoods.com. (DH totally balked when I asked him to copy the chicken house at the MacKenzie-Childs Farm--go figure. LOL). The chickens will free range within a double-fenced area during the day and be put inside the closed coop at night because we have all of the above mentioned critters around here. Our Great Pyrenees is actually bred to protect (and love) chickens, but he sleeps with us (and takes up a LOT of room in the bed, I might add.) The coop to end all coops is here:

Here is a link that might be useful: Mine is not like this!

Based on virtually no experience, but a fair amount of research, what I recommend regarding predators is as follows:

Dig a one-foot-deep trench demarcating the perimeter of your free range area. Sink the bottom edge of a small box link or wire fabric fence into it for your perimeter fencing, in order to keep snakes out. Add a horizontal fence over the top of the area to thwart hawks, climbing critters, etc. Place another fence about a foot inside the first one. This prevents the well-documented raccoon reach-in phenomenon. Place your coop inside that. Instead of chicken wire, choose something with a very small box link or mesh.

Here's a link to someone in your neck of the woods who started raising chickens a year or so ago.

Here is a link that might be useful: Once Upon a Plate's hen house

kitchen detective, re the double fence: that's great and a great big DUH as well : ) I'm going to tell my friend about it. She hasn't said anything about a double fence to date.