Deep litter method

[armorfirelady]

Just a thought... Do you plan to keep that black covering on that coop for summer? My black vehicle gets mighty hot in the summer, even with the windows down.

Yes its the billboard coloring. I haven't zip tied it all down because the black is on the outside. I am thinking I might need to flip it over to have the light coloring showing out. The only problem is I tarred around the roof vents. I am thinking that with the sides up, one end is already open completely and rolling the clear plastic on the end you can see up there will be plenty of ventilation.

 

[RoseMarie1]

Will I still need to add the arch of PVC with this setup, RoseMarie? The arch is pretty steep already, and the cattle panels support the chicken wire really well.....fenceposts are also anchored well and pretty deeply because of winds here. And I assume that the 1/4 inch hardware cloth going all the way around and 2 feet up the run will help keep the litter from flying out in the winds too....at least I hope so? Well, looks like I' going from an initial plan of sand to DL in the run. Thank you both! So helpful to be able to bounce ideas off someone else.

oh that's great! mine has a flat top so that's WHY mine did this. But yours is already arched so the water would roll off it. Plus yours looks like it has the cattle panels as well and mine just had the poultry wire and it stretched like crazy.

 

[RoseMarie1]

Bee I used 2 cattle panels for my coop and it's had almost 3 ft of snow on top and only sagged a little. Heck I was on top of it last week putting tar around the roof vents and it held me just fine

I did shovel snow off it when it got high because the snow was wet heavy snow. It easily came off with a broom or shovel.

I just recently got a free billboard and recovered the coop. Hopefully it last many years but I have the rest of the billboard stored away if it doesn't,

And I splurged on some extra heavy duty clear plastic for the ends. Lots of light in there for our dreary winter days. The clear plastic is up in this picture but you can not even tell. I need to turn up the sides for the spring/summer so they get some more ventilation in there

WOW I sure wish I could find some of that billboard stuff here. Will have to start checking around!

 

[Beekissed]

I'm switching over to clear tarps for my hoop coop this spring and will cover the top with a bikini top of silver tarp for the shade during the summer. I want more light and warmth from the sun during the winter months after experiencing this past winter.

 

[Arielle]

Quote: THis is wonderful!! Repurposing makes my heart go pitter-patter.

I use 2 x 4 lumber for roosts or something close if a branch-- I live where it can get to 5-10 degrees at night and I would like to think that helps the girls keep their feet covered. Birds nestled side byside also helps conserve heat. A warm core = warm extremities.

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.

Yup. THis is my understanding too. I tend to use what I have to match up with the needs.

We all get wet litter in the run from time to time with the weather, and most of us live where it has time to dry out, mostly on the top. Not sure how it goes in extremely wet climates. In the coop though where there isn't as much ventilation as outside, try and keep it dryer on top. If it gets really wet in the coop then move it around with a rake to avoid soaked areas. It will moisten the coop bedding. Usually the birds will dig through after you have moved it around to find tidbits. Then it will dry out on the top eventually. Hope that helps.

DL method requires a little flexibility . . .

 

[Arielle]

Bee-- I have lot of leaves in my new coop-- which means the girls are turning it up constantly and it gets in their waterer. So I added nipple waterers ( 3) for the 15 hens = 1 rooster. ANd eventually removed the waterer. Yesterday I let the girls out to freerange in their new area and several ran to the stream that is flowing due to run off and guzzled water.

THey dclearly would liek ther old waterer back-- anysuggestions on how deal with the leave in waterer problem? Even on a 7 inch bowl the girls fill the lip with leaves. Should I build a shelf with a landing bar, like a nest box????

I'm open to suggestions from anyone . . . .as well as Bee.

 

[SavageDestiny]

Bee-- I have lot of leaves in my new coop-- which means the girls are turning it up constantly and it gets in their waterer. So I added nipple waterers ( 3) for the 15 hens = 1 rooster. ANd eventually removed the waterer. Yesterday I let the girls out to freerange in their new area and several ran to the stream that is flowing due to run off and guzzled water.

THey dclearly would liek ther old waterer back-- anysuggestions on how deal with the leave in waterer problem? Even on a 7 inch bowl the girls fill the lip with leaves. Should I build a shelf with a landing bar, like a nest box????

I'm open to suggestions from anyone . . . .as well as Bee.

I saw a really neat waterer that someone had set on top of an overturned bucket. Then they surrounded the bucket with large-ish rocks so the chickens could hop up on the rocks and easily reach the water. But it was up so high nothing could get into the water.

Just an idea!

 

[Lacy Blues]

Bee-- I have lot of leaves in my new coop-- which means the girls are turning it up constantly and it gets in their waterer. So I added nipple waterers ( 3) for the 15 hens = 1 rooster. ANd eventually removed the waterer. Yesterday I let the girls out to freerange in their new area and several ran to the stream that is flowing due to run off and guzzled water.

THey dclearly would liek ther old waterer back-- anysuggestions on how deal with the leave in waterer problem? Even on a 7 inch bowl the girls fill the lip with leaves. Should I build a shelf with a landing bar, like a nest box????

I'm open to suggestions from anyone . . . .as well as Bee.

Yep, put it up high. As long as they can see its up there and you provide a way for them to get up there, it won't get so dirty for leaves and whatnot being flung high and low!

 

[Arielle]

Quote:

Quote: Thank you BOTH!!!! I think I can build a picnic table style support to put it on. THANK YOU!

 

[Beekissed]

Bee-- I have lot of leaves in my new coop-- which means the girls are turning it up constantly and it gets in their waterer. So I added nipple waterers ( 3) for the 15 hens = 1 rooster. ANd eventually removed the waterer. Yesterday I let the girls out to freerange in their new area and several ran to the stream that is flowing due to run off and guzzled water.

THey dclearly would liek ther old waterer back-- anysuggestions on how deal with the leave in waterer problem? Even on a 7 inch bowl the girls fill the lip with leaves. Should I build a shelf with a landing bar, like a nest box????

I'm open to suggestions from anyone . . . .as well as Bee.

Yes...nipple cup waterers. They still give them the opportunity to drink like they prefer but still keeps the water clean and manageable. I've found that the adult birds prefer these over the straight, red nipples that chicks prefer but that the chicks don't seem to be able to trigger these nipple cups, so this bucket below is rigged with both in case I have chicks in with the big flock and both need to drink from the same bucket. In this pic, no adult birds are using it so it's dry in the cup...this is chicks in the brooder accessing the red nipples on the bottom of the bucket.

I've found that adult birds learn to use this style nipple more quickly than the other nipples and as they drink they trigger more water to flow into the cup so the cup is never dry. You can hang a bucket and have several of these nipples in the same bucket to serve several birds....and you won't often find the cups filled with debris that has been kicked up, though the occasional leaf piece will find itself there...you just twist the cup upside down, swipe it with your finger to clean out the debris and twist it back, trigger the nipple to add more water to the cup and you are good to go.

They are even easier to install into a bucket than the red nipples. I am currently using one such bucket in my rooster pen and he learned to use it right away. This past winter I used one for a whole pen of roosters and would put warm/hot water in it in the morning and it would stay thawed and usable all day long, even when temps were in the teens and 20s. The next morning I'd find the bucket almost empty but with a rim of ice coating the insides and the nipple frozen...just add more warm water, it thaws out and stays that way all day...and so on and so forth.