Chickens?

 
  Me & wife and neighbors Dave & Bonnie are talking about starting a chicken co-op between us, they will help cover 50% of costs for the coop, feed, chickens etc.  Still not sure where in my yard we might put them though.  With Mountain lions, Bobcats, coyote's raccoons, and skunks we know the coop has to be bomb proof.  After a little research it looks like chicks are more available in spring, so we have a little time to plan.
  Wife has spent a few hundred $$ on plants to spruce up our yard, our neighbor Dave (His kids have chickens) says that chickes will eat EVERYTHING  in our yard, and wife taint to happy to hear that. We might have to not let them free range the yard then.
We are looking forward to the eggs though!

We have had chickens for 25 odd years now. Love my birds! They develop a language in their little flock. Gossip, warn about hawks/hazards. Absolutely fascinating animals... But, yes, they are food for EVERYTHING out there... Good luck and chicks can be ordered at any time. You don't need a rooster for eggs and I find roosters are just a PITA!!!!

 
  Oh yeah, no roosters for us!  It might become breakfast micnuggets too soon!

Whether they eat all the plants in your yard is largely up to you and how well fed you keep them.  If you have them free range for 100% of their diet, your yard is toast.  If you keep them in coup all the time with food in their coup, and just let them out every now and then to forage, well, your yard is fine.

-Allen

I actually toss mine clippings left overs and grass cuttings too... Free range, no, big enclosure yes... They love strawberrys, blue berrys, hell! anything in your garden for that matter

I used to have my compost bin share the wall with one side of my chicken coup.  They could pick at what they wanted as well as plenty of bugs/worms that they could get at.  And when I cleaned out the coop, all the chicken shit went back in the compost pile next door.

-Allen

We only have four chickens and have plenty of eggs for our family. We only feed them organic feed and organic kitchen scraps.  They roam the yard when I am out there and just like to pick through the yard and find little treasures to eat. They may get into things you don't want if you don't have a chicken run designed for them.  Raising them from babies is fun and ours are so friendly, but they will not start laying until they are 6 months old. So if you want layers quicker you need to buy them from someone who raises them and will sell you laying birds. 

We did live in a place with more land but are temporarily living in town.  We also have predator birds, raccoons and mountain lions that venture out from the nearby woods.  We let them play in a 10x10 by six feet tall dog kennel and I put chicken wire on top to protect from birds.  I bought a small 4 bird coop and modified it to put additional latches where I can close and no raccoon can manipulate it.  I also lined the floor with a 1/4 in wire mesh so nothing could tunnel in at night.  They were raised in it and automatically go in there at night.  I just have to go out and locked it to protect them from the animals.  But they do make auto closing doors that will open or close at certain times or based on the sunlight.

I also hang the feed so they don't step or poop in it and built an auto watering system that uses chicken nipples and a 5 gal bucket. So much cleaner.  Let me know if you want instructions on how to build it and I can post them.

Glad you are looking for info before jumping in because we had multiple variations before we got it right.

 

  I've heard, that when the hens get real noisy, then all of a sudden get really loud, that they might be laying an egg at that moment?  Can this be confirmed or denied?  I think if I had to shoot a football out my rear end I'd get real loud, and noisy during the process.   My other neighbor Carson has a coop with 3 hens ands we hear them occasionally and they get loud!  If the above is true, it would explain why we hear them being loud.
 

  I've heard, that when the hens get real noisy, then all of a sudden get really loud, that they might be laying an egg at that moment?  Can this be confirmed or denied?  I think if I had to shoot a football out my rear end I'd get real loud, and noisy during the process.   My other neighbor Carson has a coop with 3 hens ands we hear them occasionally and they get loud!  If the above is true, it would explain why we hear them being loud.
 

Ours do get loud when laying.  They also make a fuss everytime they see me because they think I am bringing treats. 

Just lost another hen yesterday while they were out. No feathers around. I will put a trap out tonight to get the bastard. Fox, coon, who knows.
My hens get loud when they want to lay but another one is sitting on their favorite laying spot. They squat for me to tab their ass, they think I am the rooster. Really funny.

Just lost another hen yesterday while they were out. No feathers around. I will put a trap out tonight to get the bastard. Fox, coon, who knows.
My hens get loud when they want to lay but another one is sitting on their favorite laying spot. They squat for me to tab their ass, they think I am the rooster. Really funny.

Sorry you lost another.  My wife would freak out if we lost one that's why we have the dog kennel and reinforced coop with multiple layers of security. 

Get a raccoon trap and see what you catch.  They are nasty little buggers so have a plan on what to do when you get one because you don't want to get to close. 

My .22 will do the job dealing with Mr. Coon. I live in the country.

I went all out when I built my coop and run. For the run we used Hardware cloth down low so nothing can reach through and get them. Up higher I used stucco wire without paper. It is sturdy wire. Concrete around the edge so nothing can dig under. I got it figured out and I think the eggs will be free right around 2047. 

Pictures...
 https://www.flickr.com/photos/traildad/sets/72157629091368851/

I went all out when I built my coop and run. For the run we used Hardware cloth down low so nothing can reach through and get them. Up higher I used stucco wire without paper. It is sturdy wire. Concrete around the edge so nothing can dig under. I got it figured out and I think the eggs will be free right around 2047. 

Well thought out.  Thanks for sharing.  You had some good ideas I will implement in the future.

Do it! I wish I could where I live...

As far as predators go, look into one of these for your coop:

http://www.poultrybutler.com/automatic-chicken-coop-door/automatic-coop-door.php

(Or something similar)