# What all do I need?



## ChickenFarmerAdam (Jun 24, 2014)

Equipment wise?


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

You've had chickens for six years and are now just getting around to wondering what equipment? If you want help, start talking about your current setup, what you expect to have happen, what end result you want.


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## ChickenFarmerAdam (Jun 24, 2014)

Ok I have 3 feeders and 4 waterers in Front of my roosts with 6 nesting boxes


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## ChickenFarmerAdam (Jun 24, 2014)

This is my chicken coop


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

You don't need that many for six birds unless the feeders and waterers are small. You might need to put some sort of top on the pen to prevent over head attacks. You mentioned possums? How did they get in to the coop?

You don't need to add any more birds because you're close to capacity now if that coop is 6X4.


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## ChickenFarmerAdam (Jun 24, 2014)

It can hold 12 - 15 birds in the coop and the last year I only netted the top so possums got in the fence. This year I am doing top and sides. I have 2 trough feeders, 1 quart feeder, 3 1 quart waterers, and a 1 gallon waterer. If you could send me a picture of your coop and the inside of it, that would be great.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

I sold my breeding flock a couple of years ago. For six birds, unless you're away for an extended period of time the one gallon waterer is all that you need. Depending on the length of the trough, one should be enough. 

If that coop is the measurements I suggested it is not large enough for that many birds. Large fowl need a minimum of 3 feet of "floor" space per bird. The size is not as big of a deal when the weather is nice but when it turns and they have to be up things can get ugly in the coop.


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## back2simplelife (Jul 6, 2013)

I am not sure if my set up would help you any really since I have almost a 200 sqft one for the majority of my birds and I have a lot more birds but... what I see in your set up....
For starters, how big is your coop? Did I read 6x4? How big is your run? Also, do you have large fowl or bantams?

A large fowl needs 4 square foot of coop. and 10 square foot of run. Anything smaller than that, they will fight not to mention it will increase illnesses. Bantams need half of that. I can't see IN your coop so I am not sure there.

Where I am, that run wouldn't last an hour. Rat snakes, *****, coyotes, hawks, dogs, cats, ect would take out my flock.
Hardware cloth is your best friend. It is the only thing that truly keeps out critters! Even mice and wild birds bring nasty stuff into your coop. Burying hardware cloth around the whole run.. we do one foot out then one foot down, helps protect from diggers. As far as the top goes, again.. hardware cloth. A tarp for the top.. with the middle taller than the sides is a must for us. It not only protects them from the sun but the rain as well. Due to the size of our coop and run and the fact we put 3 x the amount we thought it would into the coop alone.. we took a short cut and put double chicken wire around the run. This really doesn't protect them for anything! I do watch over them all day, everyday.. and do lock them up at night in a critter free coop. I make sure there are no critters hiding in there before I lock them up for the night. We did have a mouse but my awesome foragers put a stop to that fast.. lol

As far as my feeders and waterers go, again.. don't think we can compare. I do not like those plastic or metal waterers as they are hard to clean. I do use them for my chicks but that is about as far as I go with them. My big birds have a completely different water set up than my bantams do. Until I get the bantam coop finished, where poultry nipple watering system will be, I use a cut 5 gallon bucket that I can daily clean it. It works great.. easy to fill, fast to clean, and I don't have to worry about them running out of water during the day. I fill it in the morning and it holds enough for my "cuddle coop" which has 10 bantams and 1 tween LF in it. I also feed fermented food so again, totally different.. I just use livestock feed pans and feed twice a day. 

I am not sure if this answers your question or not. Our coop is still a work in progress..and we are changing things weekly according to our needs so showing mine would prob only confuse you.. not to mention, it will be totally different in a couple months.. lol


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