My first try at a coop? ? ? ? - Page 8

Quote:

Originally Posted by Crazy Mitch 

Picture #9 here are all of them. 

 

 

 

So any help with identifying these chickens would be great . . . . As Schults would say, "I know Nothing! NOTHING!"

 

Thanks

GB

Crazy Mitch

You have easter eggers (the larger ones with pea combs and puffy cheeks), the two white ones and the smaller black rooster appear to be mixes, and the fuzzy one is a silkie mix. The chicken in picture #4 is an easter egger rooster. I can tell for sure that he's a he because of the splashes of red on the wings, only roosters have that. I agree with you that one of the white ones, the small black one, and the big black one in pic #4 are roosters. Your coop is coming together very nicely! It looks very well built,  .

Ya know what works great for the nesting boxes?  A "welcome" mat...the kind that has the plastic bristly things for wiping feet on.  We had an old one...the plastic bristles are about 3/4 of an inch high.  We cut pieces to fit and put them in the bottom with a handful of bedding on top.  The girls add or remove the bedding as they choose (they're always re-arranging the furniture! ;)  When they get icky, we pull 'em out, hose 'em off and stick 'em back in.  Works like a charm!  It also provides support for the egg if we get one that prefers not to have any straw in there, and they can't harm it by scratching.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ellandeeranch 

Well, from another newb, I think you're on the way.  Sounds like your square footage is sufficient.  I used some old linoleum I have for the floor, then plan to toss pine shavings on it once the chicks go in.  Mine are about the same age as yours.
 

im getting some 2 month old hens aswell and i was just wondering whats the best flooring for them, im going to have them in a large cage its got wire on top of 6 wooden planks asa floor at the moment but i thought that may be to rough for their feet, what flooring is easy to clean lasts the longest and is soft ?? ,,,,   CluckCluckLuke

Linoleum is about the easiest for both installation and ease of cleaning.  We used an old plywood sign as the floor for ours.  It's really sturdy and had already been painted and sealed for outdoor use.  We put about 4 inches of straw over it for bedding so it's both firm and soft ;)  So far, it's working great, but I'm sure most folks don't happen to have that sort of material just laying around, LOL

We put 4 x 1's on their side around the opening of the ramp...that keeps "most" of the bedding inside.  What does fall out gets cleaned up when we move the coop/run to the new spot.  If you put the lino in in pieces you have to be extremely careful about the seams...if an edge sticks up at all, it'll defeat the purpose of easy clean...and you can be sure you'll have at least one nosy bird digging and pecking at it, LOL.  Check Craig's List and your local Freecycle...there's bound to be someone around who has a piece leftover who'd like to get it out of their shed or garage :)  You could also just put several layers of paint on the floor...making sure the top couple were a glossy finish and I'm thinking it would still be pretty easy to clean.  That's essentially what ours is.  We mix Sweet PDZ into their bedding and it really works great...keeps the poo dry and pretty much odor free.  Because it's dry, it doesn't stick to the floor and comes right out with the bedding when it's cleaning time.

We got the last coat of paint on the roof yesterday, so ours is finally done.  We didn't paint the inside at all; the outside is the same color/trim as our house and shed and we put rubberized white paint on the roof for waterproofing and reflection of our hot, hot sun here.  DH had to re-work the ramp...he'd originally cut it from the floor and hinged it.  But that floor is 3/4 ply and it was really heavy to lift and lower.  Plus, with the configuration he wasn't able to put the cleats on to the bottom and the girls were having some difficulty getting up and down.  He replaced it with a piece of 1/4 inch and made it so the cleats go all the way to the bottom and it works perfectly now!

I'll try to upload some pix later this morning :)