Coop Project: Maken the Plunge & Getting Chickens

[BeulahBreezes]

Vey nice set-up and a great use of your available backyard space!!! ~Beulah

 

[AMA Chick]

Love your coop/run area! I've enjoyed reading about your progress.
I'm in the process of building a coop for my silkies/showgirls, and then will start on another for my Easter Eggers.
I've just gotten into chickens, and chicken math has completely spiraled out of control

I never was any good at math:/

 

[Ourfamilyflock]

[COLOR=FF0000]Upon My Soapbox[/COLOR]:

I was sitting with a friend after graduation today and we got to talking about different topics; our interests that we share; family that we wish to visit in the coming weeks and of course what we will be doing this  summer. He will be traveling and enjoying his leasure time this summer and I will be working with some wonderful students and conducting research at the University of Northern Colorado (UNC).

As we talked, my collegue indicated to me that he had heard that I was starting a small backyard poultry flock,  so he explored the subject with me. He was under the impression that raising my own birds for eggs for my family was more economical than going to the store and buying commercial eggs. He was curious to know the facts and the details of my project. (I must talk to much...I'll try to fix that charactor flaw) I think I might have injured a plan of his when I responded and explained that it couldn't be further from the truth...Raising poultry on a small scale for your own consumption is not a finacially motivated descision. My project is a statement of philosophy and personal beliefs. These eggs that I hope someday to get from my pullets will not be cheap commercially mass produced eggs. The eggs won't possess a sickly yellow colored yolk with a bland pasty flavor that we all have become acustomed too. They are not the product of some venture capitalists that own controlling shares of stock in an Industrial Ag-Corporation that manages a cage based egg production business. With my project, I am making a statement against our modern manufacture of the food chain that we consume as a population and have come to think of as normal. I never thought that I would ever say or write those words...but after several years of research, reading, fact finding, and education, it is what I have come to believe.

A couple of years ago I had a discussion with a group of my upper level students about modern genetics and commercial food production...Franken Food is the anti-term that has been used to describe these types of advancements in biotechnology that has integrated into our food chain. Personally I think that our technological advancements are simply amazing and our lives are going to be forever changed once there are just a few more breakthroughs in Nano-Technology. During the course of our discussion, I asked the class an open ended question, "Where does our food come from?" I was expecting reasoned and thoughtful responces about our modern agricultural system and manufacturing infrastructure...But what I recieved as a reply, "The Store..." Frustration can be almost a physical force and not just an emotion.

I teach my students, but they also teach me. I like that arrangement very much. I have come to believe that there is a disconnect in our society. There are segments in our society that no longer understand that there is a point where a living animal becomes a carcass and then becomes food that we comsume. There is nothing bad about the cycle of life, but we are now raising several generations that do not understand this process. The eggs that my pullets will produce for me; for my family; will be the  product of a healthy happy flock of poultry. My family, my children and at the moment several children in the neighborhood, will have a little closer connection to the process of food production and simple agriculture. These animals in my backyard are not machines that produce a consumable product and then discarded once they've reached their production limits. They are enjoyable living entities and it is fun to interact with them and observe them as they grow and live out a healthy life; while at the same time they produce eggs for my family; they controll bugs and pests on my property; and help to maintain and incorporate organic materials into my garden.  

Free Ranging our small flocks is a healthy way to take care of and maintain our little charges. If your flock is foraging and thriving off the living land then we have succeeded. When Commmercial Feed has been demoted from the position of a primary food source for our flock to just a suppliment to the flock's varied and nutritious diet...that is the goal of free ranging poultry. The eggs that our free ranged flock produces are proven to be more nutritious and healthy than their commercial counter parts... and our animals are happier & healthier than the commercial layers. But more importantly we have made a powerful and growing statement about what is important to us about our food sources for our families.

Don't think less of me if you happen to disagree with my views. I'll now put my soapbox away for the moment....

Here here, I couldnt agree more.

 

[furbabymum]

Your talk about duck eggs in baking inspired me to buy 4 ducks. I think I may need a spouse who isn't so willing to get animals. We are HORRID with animals. lol

 

[Rock Home Isle]

The pullets need a dust box...that is a new item on the to-do-list. They now have 3 places in my yard that they dust bath. My garden seems to be their most favored location bar none...So they need a dust box.



Its kind of crazy watching this group of birds dust bath...they all want to be in the same 12 X 12 inch piece of realestate. Legs, wings and bodies going every which way; there are 5 pullets and 1 cockerel in both of these photos.

I'll build them a dust box...

 

[Rock Home Isle]

My son will be in High School next year. He went with members of his 8th grade class on an end of year educational trip back east. They are now in Washington DC and New York seeing our nations capital and just enjoying the east coast for a few days. They left yeasterday morning, we had to have him at the middle school by 2:30 am...So my day started very early and I was pretty wiped out for most of the day.

So today has been a catch up day for me...little tasks that I needed to get done but I just needed a day to do it...Today was that day. I put away tools that I won't need for a while and there is a list of coop items that I have yet to finish.

The vent covers under the eves needed to be installed, so I got that done today.

 

[Rock Home Isle]

I also got to wire my junction box so that soon I'll be able to turn the lights on in the coop. I want my girls to lay eggs this winter and part of the plan is to artifcially increase the length of their day with a light source.

I started by getting all my tools together.


Two pairs of pliers, some Romex cable, Wire connectors and such...

 

[Rock Home Isle]

I needed to get all my cables into the junction box, but I could not bend he wire enough to get it in through the opening in the back of the box. My final solution was to drill a 5/8 inch hole and go in through the side:

 

[Rock Home Isle]

One set of cables are for my heat lamp and therm0stat, the other set is for my lighting. At this point it is not critical to figure out which is which, so I separated the cables into pairs. Then I used my utility knife to strip back any insulation that I needed to get rid of so that I could make my connections for my wiring.



You want the blade of your utility knife to be sharp...like surgical sharp...I always start with a brand new blade. It can get very frustrating trying to work with wiring and cutting back insulation if your knife has a dull blade. It's also kind of challenging to hold the knife in one hand and take a photo with the other...

 

[Rock Home Isle]

I use the pliers to crush the insulation and then you can grip and it pull off the insulation.




This will give you an exposed end of wire that you can then used to make your connections.




Once the cables in the junction box are paired up and they have been prepped by stripping back the insulation; I use two pliers twist the wires together to make the connection. One pliers is used to grip the pair of wires; while the other pliers is used to twist them together.