Chantecler Thread!

Heel low:

It is winter in Alberta...exactly what the Chantecler was bred for. Winter in Canada where we, the common folk, may keep chickens. :-D

Jan 10 2024 IMGP9411.jpg


Open up the hatches to the outside runs again when it is a more tolerable temp... -37C this morn, so not terrible. Lowest was -41C.

Dec 29 2023 IMGP6101.jpg


The Duece Coop runs to the outside, we keep those hatches open all year; the floor is raised and topped with straw so there is no risk of frozen feets. Some of our Chants are in the middle run.

Jan 10 2024 IMGP9213.jpg


The Jacob lambs sum up the mornings; tad frosty!!

Doggone & Chicken UP!

Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada
--
____(\ Tara Lee Higgins /)____
(_____~> Rat Ranch - An ACD is for LIFE <~_____)
( `` `` ranchrat at telusplanet.net `` `` )
\ Alberta Canada /
) http://www.telusplanet.net/public/ranchrat/index.html (
 
NIce! Are those runs walk in height? They are terrific, but look low.
And the lambs are very cute!
Mary

Heel low:

Here's a better angle on the Duece Coop building & five outside raised runs. Floor is painted grey with porch enamel...if my memory serves me well, the building was built in 2001, so it's been in use for the past 23 years.

x dcjun08.jpg


I have no want or regular need to go inside the outdoor runs. Each of the five entrance doors, these can be removed & then one steps up into the run. I duck my head and stand up (I am just under six foot), but I don't have a regular want to go in there...the birds lay eggs inside and I feed/water inside the building.

Dec 31 2023 IMGP7186.jpg


This is Em giving her boo birds a sniff. I lift the doors off and set them down which leaves the run end fully open for things like cleaning or adding straw, etc. We've talked about opening a run in the summer and letting the birds pop out on the ground but the area is well shaded by our forest, so recovery for the ground may be slow. Not done it yet, may never.

Dec 31 2023 IMGP7069.jpg


Very tall at the back of the outdoor runs. I don't think I can reach up and touch the underside of the run roof where it attachs to the building. We wanted the breeder birds to be safe, contained nicely but have regular access to outside air, and the view is part of the entertainment for them. I have watched predatory owls & hawks hit the hardware cloth and bounce off.

june 25 2018.jpg


Still only ever lost one creature to predation here in Pear-A-Dice. On Earth Day, 2007 a bantam Dark Brahma hen from the Coop fur Sure stayed outside instead of heading in the coop and a lovely mouse eating owl harvested her. I am back to head counting the birds each evening when they are let out on the grass. I got lazy after years of them all being inside. My bad & my issue to fix.

Dec 29 2023 IMGP6499.jpg


Inside the Duece Coop are five compartments, regular room size, maybe even a bit taller inside?

Jun 12 2023 IMGP0968.jpg


I love the versatility of the Duece Coop. In the inside walkway, I can put my stainless brooder I named Stanley at the far end, in there for growing out my birds.

Sep 28 2023 IMGP7467.jpg


I have a nice shelf in the middle area side of the walkway and I use to take a setty hen or two and have them raise chicks in November or December inside the Duece Coop.

dec 2013.jpg


Dec 2013 (ten+ years ago), F1 Higgins White Dove Project hen hatching & raising Brahma chicks.

The Duece Coop was the second of 30 outbuildings that Rick has built for us and there isn't a thing I'd have changed in it. For our uses, it is perfection. :-D

Doggone & Chicken UP!

Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada
--
____(\ Tara Lee Higgins /)____
(_____~> Rat Ranch - An ACD is for LIFE <~_____)
( `` `` ranchrat at telusplanet.net `` `` )
\ Alberta Canada /
) http://www.telusplanet.net/public/ranchrat/index.html (
 
Last edited:
After a few nicer days, now we've got an overnight low forecast of somewhere between -23C and -28C, depending on which model one considers.

Last night I tried putting in a couple of milk jugs full of very hot water. Not sure if helped much.

So today I put a pet-heating-mat (which originally saw use as a cozy-mama brooder for these very same chickens; it's about 60W I think) under the poop-trays, which are full of D.E. and about 6 inches under the chickens.

The plan is that it'll warm up the gravel and radiate the heat up. Should work, I think.

Anyway, keeping a close eye on things tonight.
 

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