Recent content by AkChris

I'm in SE Alaska which is even wetter than Washington. Straw doesn't absorb much moisture and does tend to mold quickly. Wood shaving are much better for that. I use mostly wood shavings in the coop, under the roost areas so it can absorb the poop moisture. Straw does have it's place in my...

I'd do a longer "porch" so that you have room for the two bucket feeder and waters you want under it. Then you could do a half way step at the end and not be in the way of the feeders. Something like this:

I feel for you. I live in SE Alaska and our weather is similar to yours...except we get twice as much rain as you. So I'm familiar with 'damp' conditions :lau. I suggest making at least two sides of the run solid, if not three. One side already is where the coop portion resides. Close off...

Thanks for asking. We felt the quake here but it was just a little bit of shaking. We get quakes like this several times a year so I didn't really think anything of it. Tsunami didn't really happen. I guess there were 6 inches or so of raise but since we get 20+ feet tide changes a few...

So I was bored and took on your shipping crate project to amuse myself. I used a few old kleenex boxes cut in half to roughly approximate a 3x3x2 shipping crate and then thought about how I'd make them into a coop. I came up with a simple version that just uses materials from 2 crates, a...

I went with stained wood and a painted trim on the outside (mostly because I like the look). The inside is painted white with a good exterior grade waterproof paint. The chickens don't bother either. I like the white paint inside as it makes it brighter and easier to clean. Eventually the...

Pergo for the floor is a big NO. If it absorbs moisture it's going to swell, warp, buckle and eventually fall apart. It's not really made for a damp environment. It would turn into a horrible warped mess with lots of cracks filled with shit. You might get away with using it outside if...

I agree that in your warmer CA weather the chickens don't need a fully enclosed coop. They do still however need a place to get out of the wind and sleep in a protected area. So you need to consider space on the roost. Chickens need 8-12" of roost space per bird (depending upon their breed and...

Don't use an aquarium heater. They will overheat and the glass tubes will break if they get too hot. Which will happen once the water level in the bucket drops. Also they get hot enough to melt plastic so you have to make sure they can't touch the sides of the bucket. Not always easy to do...

I have a red ranger hen from Dunlap that is just over a year old now. I keep back two hens last year thinking I might try to breed them. One hen died of unknown causes last winter. The other is going strong. She is actually one of my most active forages and acts like a 'real' chicken for...

Your own birds just taste so much better. Even the old layers. I butchered a few 3 yr old hens a few weeks ago. They made the best chicken and dumplings. I love having a freezer full of good meat and a pantry full of canned broth in the fall after butchering. Its such a nice feeling of...

Recently I did have a dog attack and he really chewed up, mangled the poor hen so I wasn't going to butcher that one. I actually put it in a crab pot for bait as we happen to be going out to check our pots the next day. Not the most common way to dispose of a chicken though. One that died...

Deep litter hasn't worked that well for me with ducks. Their webbed feet mat it down really quickly and they don't scratch and fluff it like chickens will. I have my ducks and chickens together and even with the chickens it gets matted down quickly. I have to encourage them to scratch or take...

I second that a tractor could work well for you to keep them in one area. I've also just just rolls of cheap, lightweight fencing and a few garden posts. Just unroll the fencing in a big circle around the area you want them and secure it with a few garden stakes/fence posts. Mine don't make...

I also let mine free range on my 3/4 acre lot. I see a significant decrease in feed when they free range. I've just been letting mine range again over the last few weeks. I'm in Alaska so it wasn't until this month that the snow all melted. Spring shoots are just now coming up and bug...