What came first? The chicken or the egg?

So the first lady has been throwing around the idea of getting a few chickens. We technically live on the extreme edge of the city limits and our local jurisdiction will allow up to 5 birds. We do have multiple sheds, a shop, and other farm buildings on 180 acres a few miles down the road (well out of the city limits). I originally told her that if she wanted chickens, that’s where they’d need to be. She opposed that idea and decided we should compromise (AKA: we are going to end up with chickens right at the house).

Now to the questions:

-We have a relatively small yard at the house. What’s the easiest privacy border to install? (local ordinance says coops need to be “out of sight” from neighbors and set back from property lines).

-Are we better off just going to the neighbors and seeing if they’d be ok with an attractive tiny coop and skip the privacy border?

-What’s a good type of chicken to start with that’s a solid layer and can take the cold temps? 3-4 birds tops

-Does anyone have pictures or plans of a smaller coop they’ve built? I do some construction on the side, but have no idea what makes a good “coop” other than the Mrs. will want it to be neat (not just some pen slapped together).

-Would it be easier to face the angry Mrs. than deal with chickens?

I can’t help you out with anything then your last question.

You will be getting chickens. Face it.
If you want to argue with the Mrs and suffer, go for it…but you will have chickens either way.

Your call.

The egg came first. Dinosaurs laid eggs and they were here before chickens.

You’re welcome.

do she want brown eggs or white that is the ????
make sure they’re egg layers and not roosters , as the neighbors may not like the crowing every morning and they tend to not lay as many eggs
for white eggs the white leghorns are great egg layers and small birds that eat little.

Brian Klawitter wrote:

I can’t help you out with anything then your last question.

You will be getting chickens. Face it.
If you want to argue with the Mrs and suffer, go for it…but you will have chickens either way.

Your call.

Brian I wish there was a like button here…… #Wisdom

Pheasant… they’ll take cold temps.

ISA brown, Rhode Island red, Leghorn, Plymouth Rock. Are a few types that I have good luck with for Winter hardiness. If you go to https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/category/chicken-coops.12/

They have tons of different coops and step by step on how to build them. Ranging from basic to PENTHOUSE. Let the wife pick one out and you’ll be the hero.

Pay extra to get sexed chickens.. and if you accidentally get a rooster.. eat him right after his first crow. Especially in a semi populated area like you describe. They are very good protectors of the flock.. but they will also attack you.

I would second the Isa Browns. We have a combination of those and Barred Rocks and both are producing like crazy right now and the Isa’s were good all winter.

My wife does all work, as like you, it was her idea and hobby. Be carfeul, we are now over 20 birds…thankfully you have some city regulations to temper her.

Also, never underestimate the craftiness of a fox. I have learned the hard way. Watched one sit back in the woods and wait for my wife to leave the garden and then bolted right towards the chickens…he was soon greeted by 80 lbs of territorial labrador and promptly took off.

I ordered some chickens and eggs from Amazon — I will let you know the answer to this question soon.

sktrwx2200 wrote:

ISA brown, Rhode Island red, Leghorn, Plymouth Rock. Are a few types that I have good luck with for Winter hardiness. If you go to https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/category/chicken-coops.12/

They have tons of different coops and step by step on how to build them. Ranging from basic to PENTHOUSE. Let the wife pick one out and you’ll be the hero.

Pay extra to get sexed chickens.. and if you accidentally get a rooster.. eat him right after his first crow. Especially in a semi populated area like you describe. They are very good protectors of the flock.. but they will also attack you.

So the short list is Rhode Island Reds, White Leghorns, and ISA Browns. Am I missing any for something that produces eggs and won’t peck eyes out? I’d prefer if they don’t go broody…as then that will be my issue to deal with. If they lay eggs, are fairly docile, and don’t get sick…they will be what the wife can handle alone.

Brian Klawitter wrote:

I can’t help you out with anything then your last question.

You will be getting chickens. Face it.
If you want to argue with the Mrs and suffer, go for it…but you will have chickens either way.

Your call.

Let me tell you, there is a LOT of wisdom in this statement. And I would take it one step further — not only will you have them, you are going to be helping with them. Probably on the coldest day of the year.

Dear wifey got the great idea to get chickens about five years back. I resisted and we fought over it a LOT. We still ended up with chickens. I thought I’d be tough and say “fine, your chickens, your problem.” She’s stubborn and there’s nothing she can’t do, so she found a free coop and everything. Well, when you’re standing outside on the worst day of January stapling insulation to the roof of the crappy free chicken coop that your wife got “all on her own,” you’ll start to realize this problem is not going away.

So the next spring I built an awesome coop. It was a week-long project on nights and weekends. We also fought a lot about the construction But in the end, from that point forward she worried a lot less about her flock and my life was way easier.

Fast forward a few years and she got tired of the hassle. We gave the birds to a retired veterinarian.

In the end, I came out with a wife who’s convinced birds are evil, hundreds of fresh eggs, and ultimately a pretty nice backyard shed. I’d say I won.

I’ve successfully talked her down from some shed sized coop for a handful of chickens, to something smaller considering the ordinances (praise the Lord) don’t allow many birds. I want something I can move (or burn) if needed and keeps the birds secure. Here’s the latest agreed on design… with hopefully just 3 birds occupying it. Looks like my fall “honey fix/build/clean/move list” just grew

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cant help you with the decision making but I will say once you start eating fresh eggs and the occasional unlucky chicken you will not go back to store bought.
you will find the eggs shells much more thicker and the yolk a darker yellow than you have ever seen in a store bought egg.
they also fry up a lot better and have way more flavor compared to store bought eggs,homemade noodles are out of this world when made with those eggs.
if you pen them in the yard you wont have any bugs to worry about either.

gotta tell this story,many years ago when I was a kid growing up on the farm the folks didnt think we had enough to do taking care of forty head of cattle,sixty head of sheep and fifty head of hogs,mind you,all of this took manual labor.
so,mom and dad bought twenty five head of chickens and one rooster.
dad was working nights,after he got home he would crawl in bed about four thirty in the morning.
he would no more than get to sleep and that stupid rooster would start crowing at sun up right outside of the folks bedroom window and would wake him up,it wouldnt have been so bad but that rooster kept crowing all morning long and dad couldnt get back to sleep.

after about ten mornings of this the kid brother and I were blasted out of bed by the roar of dads ithaca model 37 feather light shotgun.
he had had enough of that rooster and blew him clean off of the fence post not thirty feet from the window.
mom cussed him up one side and down the other,not so much for killing it but she had to pick all of the BB’s out of it as he shot it with a full load of six shot.
yep,we had chicken soup supper that night,sure was tender !!!
and no,we didnt get any lead poisoning from it lol.

Iowaboy1 wrote:

cant help you with the decision making but I will say once you start eating fresh eggs and the occasional unlucky chicken you will not go back to store bought.
you will find the eggs shells much more thicker and the yolk a darker yellow than you have ever seen in a store bought egg.
they also fry up a lot better and have way more flavor compared to store bought eggs,homemade noodles are out of this world when made with those eggs.
if you pen them in the yard you wont have any bugs to worry about either.

gotta tell this story,many years ago when I was a kid growing up on the farm the folks didnt think we had enough to do taking care of forty head of cattle,sixty head of sheep and fifty head of hogs,mind you,all of this took manual labor.
so,mom and dad bought twenty five head of chickens and one rooster.
dad was working nights,after he got home he would crawl in bed about four thirty in the morning.
he would no more than get to sleep and that stupid rooster would start crowing at sun up right outside of the folks bedroom window and would wake him up,it wouldnt have been so bad but that rooster kept crowing all morning long and dad couldnt get back to sleep.

after about ten mornings of this the kid brother and I were blasted out of bed by the roar of dads ithaca model 37 feather light shotgun.
he had had enough of that rooster and blew him clean off of the fence post not thirty feet from the window.
mom cussed him up one side and down the other,not so much for killing it but she had to pick all of the BB’s out of it as he shot it with a full load of six shot.
yep,we had chicken soup supper that night,sure was tender !!!
and no,we didnt get any lead poisoning from it lol.

LOL, That’s a great story!
Got any funny stories about the sheep?

sure do !! but not in the way you are thinking !!
we had just bought a huge buck sheep,it kept knocking my older brother to the ground when he was carrying buckets of shelled corn across the lot to the butcher calves.

he complained to dad about it doing that and how bad it hurt getting knocked down and then head butted by that buck.
my dad was a very stout man and wasnt hearing any of it so he tried carrying two five gallon buckets of corn across the lot to show my brother he can be boss of the critters if he would just man up a bit.

well,that old buck waited for dad to pass by,it ran to the corner of the lot and made a beeline for dads backside and knocked dad teakettle over appetite,shelled corn rained down from the sky it went so high.
the next thing we saw was dad with his one arm wrapped around the bucks neck and he was beating the tar out of that buck with his other fist the whole while the buck was dragging dad all around that lot.
it took a bit but dad finally won out after nearly choking it to death.
pita would of had a conniption fit if they had seen it but there we stood laughing our butts off at what we had just witnessed.
up until the day that buck was sold whenever we would walk across the lot it would run and hide in the corner.
just so you know,the way our lot was laid out you couldnt access the others without crossing the sheep lot.

some days I miss that old farm but looking back at all that it took to run it every day I get tired just thinking about it but would not have grown up any other way.

sorry to hijack your thread buckybadger !!