My sister has a great system for her chickens and garden. Her coop is built right next to a "double" garden plot. The plot is divided in half and completely fenced. Each summer, one half is available for the chickens to roam and scratch, while the other is her vegetable garden. Each fall, after harvest is done, she switches sides. She roams the streets with her trailer and collects hundreds of bags of raked leaves, dumps them in with the chickens, and they spend the next year enjoying the bugs and worms the leaves attract. The chicken poop and leaves turn into wonderful compost and nary a weed survives their pecking. She is lucky enough to be in the country, so she can get away with this plan. She has had repeated challenges with predators, and spent more money on reinforcing vents and fences than I'm sure her chickens are worth. However, she's not trying to make it a money saving or making venture. Chickens can be wonderful, but they do require constant vigilance. Martha

Congratulations Lisa on becoming a new chicken owner. Beware...they're VERY addictive. I started off with 6, and now have 850! Like you, I also started as a shepherdess, and still maintain my mixed flock who do great with the chickens. Anyway, stuff I wish I'd known when I first started..... Make sure your nest boxes are on your DARKEST wall, and put some kind of screening/curtains in front of the nest boxes (make sure they can still get in and have air). I just went through my drawer of old dark t-shirts, and cut those up, and stapled them to the front of my home-made nest boxes - worked a treat! Make sure your roosts are HIGHER than your nest boxes, and try and construct your nest boxes so that they can be closed up at night AND so that the chickens cannot roost on top of them at night. I did NOT do this, and my chickens roost on top of my first "efforts", AND inside them, leading to constant cleaning of nest boxes, to avoid filthy conditions. In another area, the nest boxes ARE slanted, but there is a ledge of 2 x 4's behind the nest boxes which they roost on, and somehow, poop lands in the nest boxes from the back - NASTY! Don't buy the expensive "Little Giant" water fountains - the "o" ring goes out rather quickly, so they leak out, leaving the chickens without water, until you figure it out! I've had better success with the one you flip over to fill, and screw on. Easy to fill, and no "O" rings to break. Put your waterers on blocks to keep them above the litter. Hang your feeders but make sure you buy ones that the chicks won't outgrow. Plus, make sure that your chickens have GOOD ventilation/air-flow to prevent ammonia build-up, disease, etc. Free-range when safe - but be sure to lock them up at night. It's so much fun watching them catch their first bug, etc. Good luck

Hi everyone! I have raised chickens since I was little off and on and just started up again last year I live where it gets pretty cold so I have a 20'x 20' enclosure inside my barn I let them free range in the day till they go in.I have 8 nesting boxes and 16 chickens. in the winter i have a heated water dish and i put a small elec heater i keep on threw the winter at a med setting. I also chop lettuce and tomatoes, cucks and grapes, i just pick them up at the store for a cheap deal cause I take there not so good stuff. plus the scratch, oyster shell and mash. They are grea pets and each have thier own personality, they are fun I sell the eggs for 1.00 a dozen.

newbie here with three chicks and a duckling. two Comets, a Delaware and a runner duck. I am petrified of predators and am researching everything. :( I am so sorry for all of your losses. I cannot stand the thought and before they go out I am going to focus on the most secure barriers I can come up with. We live on 32 acres in Western NY and have it all out here. we have 5 dogs, horses, cats and a 5 year old son. I am a SAHM so will be around a lot. We have approximately 1/4 of an acre with a falling down 6 ft. stockade fence around it that we are going to gradually replace. There is a large area within that fence next to the house where we will put the coop ( the rambler from www.chickensaloon.com and then secure a pen area. Part will be the house, two sides the re-enforced fence and a new part will have to be put up to make the rectangle. We want to put the black plastic shrubbery barrier down ( 6") and then pour cement around the fence. I will get the night time predator lights to move around and do whatever else I can do. If anyone is still reading this thread I am open to suggestions. we also will put bird netting along the top of the run. The problem is that there are no trees in the back. I need to get some put in and also find some things for them to hide under for when they spend time free ranging. In the winter I plan on letting them have a stall with a dutch door and making an enclosure for them but that is a ways away.