Backyard Chickens?

[Ravenbird]

@Ddski5 I don't remember if I posted my coop & run here, but yes, I too have one end of the run sectioned off for raising chicks, sick chickens or in the days of Bad Roosters we called it the Rooster Jail. I don't have anything fancy, it was all piecemealed together and hand built by two old ladies. For the run, I used 6' high x 10' dog kennel panels with hardware cloth at the bottom and used fabric sunshade screen on the side which kept wind and rain from blowing in - they had a plastic dog house for a broody nest.

The variety pack with the surrogate hen:

 

[Ravenbird]

6. What are the things you did wrong?
7. What are the things you would change?
8. I see some folks have outside doors to open to get into the nesting areas to retrieve eggs. The hen won’t get out if you open the door to get the eggs?
9. Did I read somewhere that the roost bars should only be 1’ off the ground to decrease risk of bumble foot?
10. How big is your coop?

@Rits has a beautiful and well done set up and answered all these questions, but I'll add a few things I learned.

6. My nests are a little too high, I have one hen that will sleep in a nest at night (and poop all night long in it). I made a hinged piece of wire fence to close at night but it's a PITA to have to close it at night & open in the a.m. when someone is desperate to get in a nest to lay.
7. See #6 and #9
8. I'd like the convenience of an outside nest door, but it doesn't really matter in my case because the coop door is open all day for the free ranging. It's not like I have to go into a coop full of chickens to get to the nests.
9. When we got our chickens it started out at 21, then we culled the roosters and got it down to 13. The roosts are staggered on the corner and long side of the coop, which meant the flight off the roosts was toward the other side. I had more bumble foot than I wanted. I read on that BYC forum to always build your roosts facing the long ways so they have more room to land. I use playsand for the floor and use a kitty litter scoop DAILY. Poop boards would be easier with no bending over. I'll check into the coffee grounds, but I'm perfectly happy with the sand. The main thing is daily cleaning. Straw/shavings will hang on to odor and no way can you pick out bird poop. If I had to keep birds up 20 hours a day, I'd clean 2x a day. Also Flies in the summer will be unbearable if you let poop accumulate.
10. I'll have to measure, can't remember, I think about 8 x 10 with the fenced run attached being 20' long.

 

[Ravenbird]

My coop/run pictures are on page 41 of this thread. And for those who wanted to see bald back hens due to the rooster, you can see some of them in the photo of them roosting in the coop.

 

[Ddski5]

Great information y’all!!
Thanks so much!!

@Rits yes I would like to see your build pictures please.

@Ravenbird yes I will take a look at yours thx.

I went to a local feed store in town and they said they can order any chicken in pairs. She even said she has some blue laced Wyandotte's and they do well down here.





Gonna fix the perimeter fence first, and then haul in some dirt to level out the coop area. Need to solidify my coop ideas on paper.

Thanks y’all!!

 

[Ravenbird]

You should have plenty of time to study the breeds that would be good for your area since you haven't started your coop yet. Big combs & wattles help disperse the heat, the tiny combs are best for cold climates. I'm so excited for you, and it sounds like your wife is on board with it now?

 

[Rits]

I went to a local feed store in town and they said they can order any chicken in pairs.

I'd order them yourself. You can buy sexed pullets that way and have them come straight to your PO. Skip the middle man.

I would like to see your build pictures please.

I'll just post them here then! Hubby has no prior experience building buildings so keep that in mind. Just a general know how and enjoyment tinkering/building things. He's helped add on to his parents house when he was younger so I guess he has a little bit of an idea on framing. His suggestion is to not be afraid to overbuild. Better to have a strong coop that will hold up. We put hurricane brackets in the rafters and we use ground anchors to keep the wagon firmly to the ground. That thing has been through 80mph winds and hasn't budged. Now a tornado would probably be a different story lol but let's hope that never happens.



We started building over memorial day weekend. I remember it was 90+ and high humidity. So work was slow. All treated lumber for the floor, so no organic certification here. Didn't want the floor to rot out.


Putting center braces on between the floor joists where the osb edge landed for more support.


First wall up, brace so nothing would lean between working on it.



All framed up with the rafters. Hubby said he could have figured a way to make the top brace of the door wall to go all the way across but this was fine lol. Braced the heaviest wall until the siding went on just to make sure everything stayed level. It went from solid to no shake solid once the osb walls and T1-11 siding went on.


Hubby is 6'3




House wrapped the OSB. I'm sanding the T1-11 siding to give it a little less rough finish for staining.

We cut the OSB out for the windows after putting it up and then again after putting the siding up. It seemed easier that way vs measuring. We used recycled windows. He said if we built it again he would get regular sash windows, install them after putting OSB up, and then do the siding so that way the window would sit in the framed wall like a house. Ours sits on top with framing around it, you will see in another picture


Part 2 will come late tonight. Gotta go for a bit!

 

[Rits]

Windows sit on outside of siding with framing around, this is what hubby said he would redo if building again. I do like that I can vent them open even during rain storms in the summer. Nest box lid and front about to go on. This is what is too heavy for my preference.


Splits in two. He added a kick stand that is permanently attached by a hinge under the lid for propping the lid open if hands are full. Not pictured here.


We added a piece of rubber to cover the edge where the tin meets the wood to keep rain out.


Back vent. This is always closed during the winter with just the front vent open. It's attached to a pulley to pull it open and you can adjust how much so if it's really hot we have this all the way open.


Hardware cloth on the vent for predator protection. You can also see the lip so the vent door sits flush up against the opening when closed.


Vent on the front is almost always open even during the winter. Also uses a few pulleys. This is the one that lets the moisture out. If it's supposed to be in the negatives we close it but still leave a crack. I wanted a screen door so during the winter we had to insulate it lol. Now, since we live near the RV capitol of the world, I have an RV door he found laying on the road that has a door and a screen door


Drip edge we added to the front of the roof.


Part 3, the inside coming soon...

 

[Rits]

Inside. Used shower wall material for most of the wall for easy clean. Nest boxes haven't been cut out yet from inside.


Sand - Construction grade so it had grit in it. Play sand is too fine. I switched to bedding because I couldn't find a scoop at the time to let the sand fall through and keep poop without bending over, and didn't want to sit here sifting a giant litter box. I wouldn't mind going back to this but it was dusty. Chickens are dusty anyways.


Feed system I tried based on others. Did not like it. Too hard to refill, feed fell behind pipes. I use a 30lb steel gravity feeder instead and it works great. One on each side when I had a lot of chickens. Also seen here: Water system we originally tried. Worked fine until winter. Now I use a hanging bucket with nipples on it and in the winter I drop a fish tank water heater in to keep the water above freezing. It has a safety shut off if it's not in water.


Here is what I use now. It is hanging by a rope fed through an eyebolt that I can slide up or down to adjust depending on height of chicken/chicks.


Very first roost haha. It wasn't permanent but the chicks were outgrowing their brooder so we wanted them in the coop asap.


New roost. Great but all that area under them was danger zone for any walking chickens. Half the coop was danger zone.


Final draft. Poop tables! Freed up all that floor space, I can put their feed underneath, chickens can walk without being pooped on. I can scoop it with a kitty litter scoop without bending over. So nice... downside you gotta scoop. No sprinkling more bedding on top to do deep litter method like you could with bedding.

Old picture. Before we had the waterer with the nipples and before we had the gravity feeder. Green bucket is where we have the feeders now.


Gave them this ramp, the chickens don't use it so we took it away.


Hubby built little trays on the wall to hold grit and oyster shell.


Solar powered light. Can adjust when we want to come on or turn on by hand by the door when we are out there early in the am or evening.


Nest boxes. 3 on the smaller side of coop, 4 on larger side.


You can see where the roof of the nest box is cut in half here. There's a fir strip for it to rest on, so if you lift the left side (facing coop), it lifts the entire thing up if desired.


We are now 5 years later I'm very happy with our coop. It is mobile currently but now that we are settled in to our new place we will most likely be placing it on a foundation and in a permanent spot Is it a lot? Yeah but so many memories were made building it together and it's something we are proud of. It'll be here for many years to come even if we ever get out of chickens.

 

[Ravenbird]

Wow - all the details! Outstanding job & I'm glad you talked about what you changed as you saw what didn't work.

I see your hens had to wear protection too...

Did you buy or make the treadle feeder? I'm late to that party, but soooo tired of mice...

 

[Kswoodssue]

We made a separate brooder coop. By making them off the ground, hens can get out of the sun and weather and still be out.

 

[Rits]

We made a separate brooder coop. By making them off the ground, hens can get out of the sun and weather and still be out.

I love it! And so cute!! I agree on raising it up so they can get out of the elements. Good hawk protection too.

I see your hens had to wear protection too...

Yeah, haha. That's when the rooster at the time was young. I had way more hens then too!

Did you buy or make the treadle feeder?

Buy. Definitely not mice proof. Do you have a hole somewhere in your coop that they are getting in? https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/harris-farms-30-lb-hanging-feeder

There's also these on Amazon if someone wanted to make a gravity feeder out of a bucket or tote with a lid.

 

[Ravenbird]

Buy. Definitely not mice proof. Do you have a hole somewhere in your coop that they are getting in?

I was thinking you had a feeder that takes the weight of a chicken to open it, called a tredel feeder I think.

It closes shut when they get off the lever. I have a hanging feed. Food & water is in the barn, as the chickens come & go as they please and I don't want mice in the coop. I haven't had to lock the chickens up since the bobcat gave up.

 

[Ddski5]

Wow…so detailed and full of information that I will use for sure!!

Thanks so much!

 

[Ravenbird]

And then there is always death. One of the two left from 2016 died this morning. She hasn't been doing well for a few weeks. Did a necropsy and ovaries covered in cancer as was parts of the intestines.

This describes it perfectly. I'd post my own photos, but I don't think that many of you would want to see, They look very similar to these.

Carcinomatosis in laying chickens - Texas A&M Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory

Carcinomatosis in laying chickens Martin Ficken, DVM, PhD, ACVP A female Gray Barred chicken was presented to the Texas A&M Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory (TVMDL) in Gonzales. The chicken was approximately 2 years old and weighed 1.41 kilograms. Following necropsy evaluation, it was...

tvmdl.tamu.edu

 

[Rits]

I was thinking you had a feeder that takes the weight of a chicken to open it, called a tredel feeder I think.

Oh no, just a normal gravity hanging feeder but we set it up on cinderblocks. I was reading that the tredel feeders aren't rat proof either

And then there is always death. One of the two left from 2016 died this morning.

Aw, damn. I'm sorry!! Yes, death is a part of chicken keeping. Birds are notorious for hiding any illness. If you do notice they are off, they are probably sick. And then since hardly any vets will see chickens, its doing your best to try and treat the symptoms on your own... though that is becoming more difficult now that more and more animal medicine is being banned in feed stores. Biggie, my australorp rooster, was my last one to go due to illness a little over a year ago. He acted off one day, brought him inside to give supportive care, heat lamp (usually when they are sick they have trouble staying warm), he was back to normal and crowing again the next day or so. So I let him back out with the flock. Shortly later he had a heart attack and died fast... some birds you just can't save. Roosters when they die seem to commonly die of heart attacks. There's also the issue that some of the common diseases are everywhere, its just a matter of when your flock will be exposed, not if. Marek's is one. I believe they say most flocks have Marek's, its just dormant. Wild birds carry it and it spreads by dander, which with chicken/bird dust, that can float on the wind! Bacteria in the ground. Its lovely. So yeah, we try our best to keep hardy birds. If one decides to incubate and hatch their own eggs, keep eggs from hens that aren't sick as often (ever) or are older. But inevitably, they all die from something.

 

[Ddski5]

Questions:

Is it better to have diagonal ascending roost like this? with one big poop tray in there?


Or straight horizontal perches with poop trays underneath?

I am thinking the horizontal perches with poop trays underneath will be easier to clean?

How should the perches be shaped? I’ve read to use a flat perch whereas some folks say that a rounded perch is better- tree limb?

 

[Ddski5]

What about nesting boxes for hens?
Would putting these up be better than building the standard 12x12x12 nest box?



Would having nest boxes side by side closer together be better than individualized compartments like as in picture?

 

[Rits]

Questions:

Is it better to have diagonal ascending roost like this? with one big poop tray in there?
View attachment 134315

Or straight horizontal perches with poop trays underneath?

I am thinking the horizontal perches with poop trays underneath will be easier to clean?

How should the perches be shaped? I’ve read to use a flat perch whereas some folks say that a rounded perch is better- tree limb?

Just remember, you are cleaning it so think of what seems easier to you? Build it for your self, the roosts being like that or horizontal doesn't matter for the chickens. Though I've had the stairs roost and some larger chickens roost with their butts towards the camera there and then poop on the chicken roosting below them

Flat and wide is better so they can sit on their feet. So a 2x4 on its widest face. Chickens can sort of perch like birds but they can also fall with their weight. Flat let's them sleep without worrying. I know you don't live in a place it gets cold but that's another reason for flat so their body can sit on their feet and feathers cover them to keep warm.

What about nesting boxes for hens?
Would putting these up be better than building the standard 12x12x12 nest box?

Those can be fine, just make sure they aren't up high as the roost or higher, then you will have chickens wanting to sleep in them.

 

[Ravenbird]

diagonal ascending roost like this?

They fight more, all prefer to be on the highest roost. It's not too bad with a few chickens, but every evening it would be the same chickens fighting for the highest perch. Plus what @Rits said, you find poop on other chickens or on the roost below. And stooping below to pick up the poop isn't real handy either. The way her poop boards are, there is actually usable space below the roosts. Not so with ascending roosts.

Would putting these up be better than building the standard 12x12x12 nest box?

I just used 3 milk crates turned on their side with slanted board above them (so they don't walk on top of them - again, a poop problem, plus no privacy for the setting hen). And like @Rits says, make sure that they are not as high as your roosts. You won't believe what a PITA it is to have a hen that sleeps in a nest all night.

I'm so excited for you! How are the breed decisions coming along? Is your wife on board now? and hopefully getting excited about it too?

 

[Rits]

They fight more, all prefer to be on the highest roost

Oh! Great point! It's been so long since we've had roosts at different heights I forgot they did this lol! Yep obviously with my forgetfulness none of that is an issue with roosts all on the same level.