Backyard Chickens Success in your First Year 

My grandson and I have spent the summer weekends building our coop. It’s 4x4, 3ft off the ground with tons of ventilation. The run itself is 10 ft x4 ft. It’s all nicely wrapped in 19 gauge hardware cloth. We also laid and buried a 2 ft apron of 14 gauge non-climb fencing around the whole thing. Bombproof. The biggest takeaway, though, is the time that I was blessed with in building this project with my grandson. Good times, great memories.

Something you may find interesting; When I was in high school many, many years ago, we hatched some chicken eggs in a biology class. An experiment that I remember we done on all those chicks when they were not many days old was that we cut out a dual directional silhouette of cardboard. Dual in that if you moved it in one direction, it appeared to be casting a shadow of a long necked bird, like a goose, flying over (there was some fishing line involved in this experiment), but if you turned it around and sailed it over that way, it appeared to make a silhouette of a short necked long tailed bird with wings near the front, like a hawk. Those little chicks who had never had any birds fly over them before have a gene that tells them the goose shadow is not too scary, but they all knew to run and try to hide from the hawk shadow, even though it was the same piece of cardboard. I hadn't thought of that in years until you saying your chickens knew to hide in the run when they see a hawk. They really do, they hatch out already knowing something about that.

Great info! Your chickens are all so beautiful!! The girl with the Mohawk as a baby cracked me up! 💜😆

Seriously one of the best, most concise, practical and well-rounded chicken videos I have seen so far. Amazing job!!!

A little fyi on the reason they are pooping in your nest boxes. From what I could tell in the video your boxes are higher than your roosts. They will roost as high as possible. So they are roosting on the front board and pooping while they sleep. I would rebuild the window wall and put the boxes at floor level with 1x4 across the bottom front.

I know this is a few years old, but I just found it, so THANK YOU! We have our first ever chickens that we got 11/4/19, and I think they were about 8 weeks old. We did things a little differently, but it's working. Our coop is about 8'x10' and it connects to a 60'x26' area of the yard that we designated as their free range area. We live close to the Mississippi River near New Orleans, and we have LOTS of wildlife around including a few eagles and lots of hawks. One of the best tips I ever got was to string fishing line back and forth across the top of the run so no aviary predators can get to them. It has worked beautifully. Obviously this won't work for everyone, but for us, it is awesome. Just wanted to share this since it is working so well. Our weather conditions are a bit different here; it rarely gets below freezing but it gets ugly hot in the summertime. I've hear that a mist-er is good to use to keep them cool. Thank you for again for making this great video! Very concise, and you have a voice that is real easy on the ears! Hope y'all are healthy and safe up there!! Monique Alley, River Ridge LA

One of the best video about chickens and I have look hundred of them. Love the 6 weeks development of this sweeties.

That black and white chick though. The hair on him when he was growing 😍

Store eggs pointed end down. The round part of the egg has an air cell that needs to stay upright to save the yolk.

When we first got our chicks they scared me for a while because I’d find them all slumped over sleeping 😂

This is so helpful! I started out about a year ago with a homemade coop that's kind of ramshackle and just a few birds. I'm hoping to upgrade and expand pretty soon. I love the week-by-week progress pictures! I haven't seen weekly progress really anywhere, so that was really interesting to see! Also, thanks for the reassurance again on how chicks sleep. I hope one day I can see a sleeping chick and not freak out thinking it's hurt or dead lol

Love finally seeing someone adding the wire to the bottom of the coop and run! All of the other videos dig and put the wire around

Thank you for the growth pics. We got some chicks about a month ago and I had NO IDEA they grew so fast! Literally bigger every day.

I live in mid Michigan and all I did for my coop was put in a large south facing window and have a heated pan to put their metal waterer on. No heat and no light. We had eggs all winter with our Amerucana chickens and barred rocks.

I love the simple design of this coup. I would have loved to have seen you actually moving it. Great video. Thanks.

Love this chickens especially the one with a crown very nice coop for them wow

Cannot wait to start again. I miss my chickens so much. They are the sweetest animals; especially the Americanas.

you people really are pet lovers and care for them to the next level. really appreciating

I have watched a ridiculous number of videos about this. Yours is BY FAR the best!!!

Those chickens look fantastic

Love the progression pics. Totally doing that with my first flock .... in 3 weeks 😁

This is really one of the best most informative video I've watched since I decided to get chicks (they are almost 2weeks now) love it! Thank you!

Thank you so much! I loved watching and listening to you while I easily learned more than from any other source. It really helps that you are so clear and organized in presentation and obviously in everything you did in order to build the coop. I learned new things and you reaffirmed all the knowledge that I have gained from chicken-enthusiasts and have witnessed so far. This is the best and most helpful professional-style video for us as beginners with brand new ten Rhode Island chickies. Best wishes, hope you all are safe, well, and still enjoying your backyard chickens!

The BEST video on coops. I am just applying for license in my City because they just launched a man urban backyard hen bylaw.

I bought my first 4 chicks from tractor supply and was lost on how old my chicks were around thank you so much! ♥️

Love your polish chickens!

This was such a good video! I’ve watched tons of chicken videos and this was so helpful. Thanks for sharing!

Simple, yet thought out. This is my type of coop, except i dont have chickens, I have peacocks

I’m getting silkies for show next month. This video has educated me on not thinking a chick is dead while it’s sleeping!

Nice chicken coop design. You gave me an idea. Thanks

I lovVe your chicken coop...it iS designed so wonderful!!!👍I like that you really care about the Chickens wellbeinG aS I hate it when Chickens are treated so poorly!!!😭😭😭Thanks deeply for sharinG your very informative video for Humanity's knowledge and wellbeinG!!!✌😇🌎🌹🐣🐣🐣🐣🐣🐣🌹🥰☕☕☕

You do great videos. I totally love that you did the photos of your chickens growing.

Enjoyed your video. I am interested in getting chickens for eggs. Will continue to watch your videos. I learned a lot.

Sleeping chicks looking like dead chicks are something that the store never told me hahaha

To add to your comment where you said it's kind of weird that chickens instinctively run back to the coop when a hawk is flying over, there have been studies done where they would go 6 generations deep keeping the chickens inside and never having been exposed to a hawk. When they put a little triangle overhead to simulate the hawk? Those 6th generation chickens headed back to the coop! Truly amazing how our evolution works.

Great video, answered some of my questions, fellow Michigander here so the part on winter helped too. Thanks for sharing.

Lovely henny hens :) Great coop you got there, building one now, like the style. Thanks.

Thankss J...nice coop by the way..its our first time look after chickens ,,,new subscriber here from alberta..god bless

Thank you for all the information, looking forward to getting my first chickens soon!

The weekly pictures are amazing!Helpful video thank you!😍

My first experience raising chickens was so simple...I had 4 hens and a banty rooster.....I had an old dog house (large) fenced off an 10 by 10 section dumped some hay in and threw in my left over dinner scraps....I had more eggs than I could need.....nothing fancy like I'm seeing....

The one with the Mohawk is beautiful 😂💕

Mobile coup, I find great for my needs. Thank You & God Bless!

Noticed a huge difference in egg out put when we started mixing our own feed ... if you shop around but in bulk you'll save money ... now this depends on how big your flock are... we have 10 hens but my neighbor did that same they have close to 50 in theirs...

I have a fence like yours I’m glad I found this video and that they never have jumped the fence.

I love the pic of just eggs toast and hot dogs

Really enjoyed this video we are thinking of having chickens for our back garden and we found your information very good Blessings Gail ⭐️

Love the little boys photo bombs! Sooo sweet 😂

He said “chickens are reptiles “ And to let all my friends know hahahahaha. He makes me happy!

I'm about to get some Willie chicks and this vid has been so helpful for me! Thanks!

Beautiful coop🐔🐣

I just got my gorgeous pink chicken coop put together in my Chicago backyard. Ordering hens today

So sweet & kind of you. All of them very well taken care of

My mom just got 4 baby chicks and this video was super informative and helpful!! :’) thank you.

Very informational! We just got our coop but have not got our checks yet. So I was raised with lots of chickens when I was young I don't have a lot of memory on the care so this video has been super helpful. Thanks again will be watching

What a great functional coop!

This whole video but especially the pictures week-by-week were extremely helpful it really helps to know what you're looking at and to know what to expect!!

Great video. I do basically the exact same things you do. Your idea about the vent for the summer heat is very smart. I live in the southwest and our summers are brutal. I have lost some chickens and that is with all day ice, fans to cool and move the air and of course under a shaded tree to free roam. Chickens are great to have all around. We give our birds almost every bit of our leftovers so we no longer really have any wasted food. There are only a few things you shouldn't feed them. A message to any beginners - You DON'T need roosters unless you want to fertilize your eggs. Then you won't be able to eat your eggs and roosters are a big pain in the neck. They can also get a bit viscous and their crowing will get on your neighbors nerves real fast. Love the video.

LOVE THE MOWHAWK CHICKEN MATE. WHAT A CHARECTER

LOVE that Silver Laced Polish!!

*Fantastic video!* Thanks for posting. Can't believe your video hasn't popped up before.

good job...….wonderful stuff for our kidos to learn and engage. smiles.

This was really helpful. I want to be able to stay home with my kids when we have them and if thats going to happen we need to become more self sufficient. I'm still just doing research on chickhens but I love that coop...I think we could build most of it from scraps on our property too.

thank you HikerJ, have some baby chicks in Morocco (in an apartment 😕😲😊) so can't really utilize all your video but gave me some ideals...and I love how you went step by step with pictures and what their like. awesome video 👍

We are looking to get chickens in the spring. Love the design of your coop! Great information Thanks -Breaking Browder Farm

That's the best chicken video I've ever seen. Thank you so much. Super helpful.

My chickens just started laying and first egg I got was at the door on the door mat, then the next day I found a pile of 22 eggs in the straw in a dog house. Them the next day I find 3 eggs that was white with speckels and it looks like it may be from our turkey. In michigan also.

Couple of good tips, great.

Love the girls and the coop!

Really enjoyed your commonsense approach and your good clear description. Some good ideas and a nice little flock

Really good problem solving on each of your challenges with the chickens & environment.

Great vid... Thank you for going the extra mile.😊

Awesome build, my next door neighbors just built this coop the run gets built next week, it’s an great design.

My parents had chickens in our back yard and lots of eggs🍳 thanks for sharing and how you build yours you have some cute chickens 🐣

man I love chickens. can't wait to get some

Your design is really cool. Thank you for showing us.

THEY'RE PECKING EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Best HEN is the small Orange one!

I love how the one with moptop just keeps getting feathers on its head. I also have a moptop, his name is Elvis. Elvis is a Black and orange moptop.. He is mean because my cousins kept messing with him and now he doesn’t like us.

Excellent Video!!! Thanks for all the work you did in putting this together. I only have 2 chickens and have a different set up. I learned a few things for future reference. Much appreciated.

Loved the video. I don’t understand what you mean about the eggs tasting like store bought eggs however. They taste SOOOO much better!

I’m so excited about my babies I just ordered. My boyfriend is gonna build me a coop and I love yours. We’ve got a giant yard with a 5 foot chain link so I think they’ll learn their boundaries real quick. 😂

Great video, thanks for sharing. Hello Michigan neighbor.

Super awesome that you’re from Michigan! I am too and I’ve been trying to do research, we’re getting our first set of hens this spring.

I know it's not winter now but my hens slow down production in winter New England weather in the winter can be brutal. (We have fox) I love the photos of them growing.

Great video. Super helpful. Love the coop design. Thank you!

Great video, we are researching a coop design that works for us. We like what you’ve done.

Yes I did enjoy the video. Thank you.

I can't tell you just how helpful this video is for us! Thank you so much for share all this amazing information with us.

Thank you

Many thanks for the walkthrough. Very informative

I really enjoyed watching! Thank you for sharing your tips and tricks for success in your first year.

You mentioned the coop was mobile, I'd love to see how it's moved in a video sometime. Thanks!

Hei! Maybe you already know, but just in case, they like the smaller space for egglaying because it makes them feel safe. Same kind of instinct as kids have for space (love small area, tents, dollhouses, treehouses, blanket forts...) I would advise to be carefull with the light, the are very light sensitive and light that we use can hurt their head, since they "see" light not only with their eyes. Its better to use the old days light that produce little light and a lot of warm. Chicken live in hierarch society so it helps that you set in the stick they sit/sleep in diagonal, so the "boss" can sit highter:) Hope this info can help you make it even better! Say hi to you chickens:)

I don’t think it’s just the small space that they love I think it has more privacy. From the looks of it the lay area to the left the 12” by 12 has a wall side missing it’s too open. If you closed it up they would probably lay eggs on that larger side too .

Javanese culture in Indonesia understands that if we are friends with nature then nature will give us a lot of goodness, success for "Hiker.............." ....Java Central, Indonesia, watch this video

So cute!

Beautiful birds

That black chicken with a crown is gangsta

The chicken with the mohawk is awesome!

Nice set up thanks for sharing..