Deep litter method

[gilcamp4]

I love it! thank you for sharing

it was a lot of work taken every thing out, it was still set up for camping when we got it, we left the elec in, which we use in the winter for lights, wish we had a working heater for it, took the water pipes out left, insul. on walls, had to fix screens in some of the windows but we did it so only cost for screen. it took all in all from beginning to chickens 2 weeks

 

[gilcamp4]

Just came across this thread,l ots of great ideas on here. By the way, love the Camper Coop!!! There is nothing wrong with using straw or hay for DL, farmers have been using straw for oh, I don;t know, about a thousand years, so can't be all bad!! We use only straw to foal out mares, we have never, ever use shavings for foaling stalls, as it can harbor (sp) bacteria, we use only straw. So go ahead and use straw, is all natural, and makes no difference where in the country you are located. Sorry, just had to chime in here.... carry on!

thank you for info not sure yet what we will do in the winter, we want to get another camper to make it a L shape we now have 6 more and may get more tomorrow night have to wait and see, we now have 34 hens and 2 roos.

 

[Ms Jellybean]

ok mamabear here is some of the inside, one end is fixed up for peeps in the summer,

That is really nice.

I've been meaning to ask this, what is the best diameter of roost perch to have? I want to use natural branches for my coop and I'm not sure how big around they should be. I'm starting a collection of different sizes for growing chicks.

 

[Beekissed]

I like to use no smaller than my wrist/forearm for comfort of use. I've even got some thicker than that. I like the natural roosts also.

 

[Ms Jellybean]

I like to use no smaller than my wrist/forearm for comfort of use. I've even got some thicker than that. I like the natural roosts also.

So something in the 2-3 inch in diameter range then? Or is 3-4 inches better? (I'm small boned....)

 

[ShelleyJ]

Take a look on craigslist. I've found campers that they are giving away that would still be suitable for a chicken coop. It was before I even thought about using one for a chicken coop. I have a 24 footer that I want to section off and use for both chickens and rabbits. But we are still playing around with figuring out how to take the frame out from under it to turn that into a flat trailer for hauling.

 

[Lacy Blues]

One consideration for roost size is the size of your birds' feet. For bantams you might want a smaller perch, say 2" diameter. For the larger birds, probably 3-4 inches. Another consideration would be winter temperatures. Exposed toes may suffer frostbite. A wider perch means the feet are completely covered by feathers and kept warm.

 

[Beekissed]

So something in the 2-3 inch in diameter range then? Or is 3-4 inches better? (I'm small boned....)

I have both so the birds can choose. The younger birds always seem to choose the smaller roost and then graduate to the bigger one, but most of the adult birds prefer the thicker roost.

 

[Lacy Blues]

Bee, what do you have wrapped around your perches?

 

[Beekissed]

Bee, what do you have wrapped around your perches?

I had chosen the wrong kind of sapling for that bigger perch and they wore the bark down to smooth on that, so I helped them out a little by stapling some nonskid material every so often. It really works and I only have to replace it once a year, so a roll of the stuff is going to last me quite a long time.