# A Few Questions Before I Embark on my Chicken Adventure



## BackwoodsFarmer (Jan 17, 2013)

Hello! I'm new to the boards here and I was hoping perhaps some of you might be able to impart some knowledge. Apologies for this long winded post.
I was interested in bringing in some chickens on my property, but I am having a lot of difficulty finding information regarding heavily wooded land.
You see, I have just moved out of the city(thank goodness) and onto a 50 acre piece of land that is HEAVILY wooded. I have a pavilion about 20 yards away from the house with a dirt floor and no walls that I wanted to convert to a chicken coop(used to be a roof for a big old tractor or something). Its approximatly 12' by 12' with 10' roof.

With that said my major questions are
1) How well can I expect my chickens to do in this wooded acreage? - this is the question I'm most interested in exploring.
2) I'm considering Dark Cornish as the breed of choice, how many of these can I expect to support in the previously mentioned coop(or to-be coop) or are there other breeds that may be better served in my enviroment?(the property is in northern West Virginia so climate is variable)
3) Any advice concerning the layout, flooring, etc for the coop? My current plan is plywood all walls but the south facing one where i will use wire to enclose it. Inside i will use the north wall for boxes and east and west walls i will likely build shelves as "walks" probably 2-3' apart going up to accomadate a few extra chickens with roost poles running between.

Thanks a ton in advance to anyone sharing their knowledge and expertise


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## kimberley (Sep 8, 2012)

make sure you are safe from raccoons and other predators. my birds love to dig thru leaves and brush etc. if its really heavily wooded you may want a few guineas. good for keeping ticks etc down and good watch birds as far as alarming. I like austrolorps (sic) but to each his own. I really like them all.


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## BackwoodsFarmer (Jan 17, 2013)

I think I'll be covered on the predators, I've got 2 dogs that like to make a scene when the slightest noise is heard.
Do you think that size coop I outlined could support 30 or so birds?


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## Mamachickof14 (Aug 28, 2012)

I live in New York ... not me but a chicken keeper neighbor has a large fenced in area threw the woods and hasn't had any problems...they love digging threw the leaves and soft dirt. At night he does lock them in a predator proof coop. He must have 30 or more all different kind...just awesome!! Someday...me too! We'd love to see pics when your done! Welcome to this site! Jen


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## BackwoodsFarmer (Jan 17, 2013)

Mamachickof14 said:


> I live in New York ... not me but a chicken keeper neighbor has a large fenced in area threw the woods and hasn't had any problems...they love digging threw the leaves and soft dirt. At night he does lock them in a predator proof coop. He must have 30 or more all different kind...just awesome!! Someday...me too! We'd love to see pics when your done! Welcome to this site! Jen


Thanks for the warm welcome I'll definatly update everyone with pics when the pieces fall together. I too hope to make the coop predator proof, the only thing stumping me on that is discouraging digging, as I mentioned its a dirt floor so I may have to pour a little concrete apron around the walls on the outside to deter those diggers(not the most cost effective, but should work). Anyone else deal with any similar issues?


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