Is there any hope for me raising spring meat birds in a yard that often floods?

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

I really do think ducks and some aquaculture would be a good fit there... Flooding is no fun.

Maybe a small pond in which to grow duckweed as a feed supplement?

 

[FunClucks]

Maybe a small pond in which to grow duckweed as a feed supplement?

Someone on here was feeding cherry shrimp to their chickens because they had too many of them breeding in their aquarium. So many tasty chicken treats/supplements can be grown in a pond.

 

[HenriettaPizzaNolan]

Please don't do that. Using that for Cornish Cross is in my opinion a very bad idea. But if you must, I'd do no more than 2 chicks, and here's some additional thoughts. If you built a larger run than what's shown here, it might be possible to do more than 2, but I think they'd be sleeping in the run, and would not fit in that coop. Also, I would highly recommend hardware cloth instead of chicken wire, with a 3 foot apron. And you don't want CX to get rained on, or wet, so you'd need to cover the entire top of the run with a tarp or something. No wet feathers, no wet feet, plenty of ventilation, not too hot or cold. If they get wet or heaven help you drenched, be prepared to rush out with towels and a hair dryer, else they might get chilled and die.

On the other hand, if you got something that grows slower than CX, they might work better in that setup. There are other meat chicken options out there - something like the Freedom Rangers might work better for you.

I have 23 CX that I have raised to butchering age right now. Here are the issues I see with that setup. First, no more than 2 cornish cross will fit in the coop. You might get 4 in there, but they wouldn't have room to move around or move out of each others' way, and could get hurt trying to climb over each other. Imagine a chicken the size of a basket ball when full grown, and they get there in 6 weeks. They grow so rapidly, they are really gigantic when they reach butchering age. Also, they will have a lot of trouble with that ramp. Cornish cross need flat ground, with minimal height changes. They could slip a tendon or break a leg, or just plain refuse to go up that ramp because it's too steep, and narrow for them. Their bodies will be brushing the edges of that pop door when full grown. You'd need to make sides/guiderails for that ramp to be sure they don't slip off, and that angle is still bad. Assume their wings don't work, because they basically don't. Their idea of flying is flapping as they run quickly across my 10'x15' run. I think I had one get up on a 12" cinderblock once, and was shocked.

I know folks can free range these birds with an egger flock, but when they do that they also restrict commercial feed, and the CX don't get as large as a penned flock in the same amount of time. If commercial feed is available all day, they will sit besides the feeder all day and eat it. Except when they go get a drink of water, and come straight back.

They waddle, more than walk, due to their wide stance and heavy weight they have to move around, and they sit/lay on their hocks a lot. I have to make sure the water and food is high enough to force them to stand up and eat (to keep their legs stronger), or otherwise they'll eat laying down, and then just sleep there for a while. Sets them up for heart attacks and leg issues. You'll want to put the food and water on opposite sides of the run to encourage them to exercise as they walk back and forth. They won't walk for basically any other reason.

Second, I don't know if you have enough bedding space in that run or coop for Cornish Cross. You may be changing out that coop bedding every day, and you'll need at least a 2-3 inches of shavings. If you change it every night, by the next night it will be seriously soiled and caked. Don't want them to sit in poop or have damp feet, or too many ammonia fumes. Don't expect them to perch. They lay on the ground to sleep in a big pile. You might try a perch that's like an inch or so above the ground, but make sure it's a 2"x4" on the flat or something, and no guarantee they'd use it. They may need more ventilation in that coop for 4 chickens due to the massive amounts of poop and resulting ammonia. Especially in times with little breeze.

You'll want to put at least 6" deep of wood chip bedding in the entire run, and rake it around daily to mix up the poop. It will be a pain to rake under the elevated coop. I bet money your chicks will choose to sleep in that run, or you'll be out there placing them in the coop every single night to prevent that. So I'd make sure your run is Ft Knox secure. 3 ft apron, no openings greater than 1/2", make sure 19 gage 1/2" hardware cloth is what's covering the run. Have secure door latches with carrabeners.

CX don't move out of the way, you will have to push gently to move them about so you can clean, and they will sit under your feet and get stepped on, or get their toes stepped on if you're not careful. Have a plan for what you'll do if they are sleeping under the raised coop - you'll have to physically move them out of there, and if you can't get a good angle on your broom handle, you may have to get under there with a rake, or yourself to move them out.

They're extremely food aggressive, and will climb on each other to get to the food, and slice each other's rears open with their claws, so it's important each chick gets trough space the width of their body in which to eat, with free access, and everyone eats at once. At 5 weeks, a 40 lb bag of feed lasts 5 days for my 23 CX, so with some math that can give you an idea of how much to feed. They were finishing a 10 lb feeder in 12 hours (daily) by 2-3 weeks old. I use a vinyl gutter fed through cinderblocks as a food trough with one gutter inverted above and wired in place to prevent feed raking. I use two 5 gallon buckets with horizontal nipple waterers, and fill them every other day.

When brooding day old chicks, most recommend about 5 days with free access to food 24/7, then restrict food to 12 hours a day. When I turned mine outside, I found they'd stop eating once it was dark, and we have about 12 hour days, so I haven't been pulling the food at night. But your setup may be different - if you have exterior lights, this is something to consider - you may have to pull the food at night, and put it out at first light. They will be extremely aggressive at that point, and may not let you in the run or coop in the morning because they see you carrying the feed.

I ended up putting in two feeders on opposite ends of the brooder - the first feeder would be mobbed, which would let me get to the place where I'd hang the main feeder, otherwise I'd be squishing chickens. Unfortunately, this literally happened once when they were about 3 days old before I figured out I needed to use two feeders. After they gorged for half an hour, I'd remove the first feeder, and everyone transitioned over to the larger main feeder.

I'd go out with a headlamp after full dark to check on them, and they'd wander over and start trying to eat food by the very dim light of my headlamp, so that tells you something about their feeding habits.

The best way to learn is to try it and see. If you really think this is a good idea, you can try it and see how it goes. But I definitely wouldn't try to do more than 4 chicks in that coop, and you might want to consider just letting them sleep in the run.

Are you going to brood them in the coop? In four weeks, I obtained 7 full size trashcans full of poopy bedding (medium pine shavings) from these CX and had to clean out the brooder every single day. For a brooder I had two 2.5'x4' dog crates I zip tied together end-to-end, and by 4 weeks, my 23 chicks covered the entire floor of one of the dog crates when they were sleeping in their pile. Thank goodness most of them were feathered enough to put them outside at that point. I'd like to have put them out at 3 weeks but it was too cold.

I'm sorry, I think you may have misunderstood me. And I also think I may not have been clear, and forgot to add some details. Sorry about that.

So I actually modified this coop so the whole "run" is the coop. I covered the screened part with wood and left space at the top for ventilation. I'd block the actual hen house part off because I wouldn't want them climbing. Then, like I said, I'd be building a run for them from T-posts and wire around that prefab coop. The prefab coop you see above would just be their house at night. They would be in the much larger run (at least 30 sq. Ft but probably larger) during the day. I hope that makes sense.

I appreciate your input on how much work the bedding will be. I do think it will be easier in a bigger space like I have planned though.

 

[FunClucks]

I'm sorry, I think you may have misunderstood me. And I also think I may not have been clear, and forgot to add some details. Sorry about that.

So I actually modified this coop so the whole "run" is the coop. I covered the screened part with wood and left space at the top for ventilation. I'd block the actual hen house part off because I wouldn't want them climbing. Then, like I said, I'd be building a run for them from T-posts and wire around that prefab coop. The prefab coop you see above would just be their house at night. They would be in the much larger run (at least 30 sq. Ft but probably larger) during the day. I hope that makes sense.

I appreciate your input on how much work the bedding will be. I do think it will be easier in a bigger space like I have planned though.

Yeah, what you just described was totally not what I thought you were asking about.

If you basically turned the pre-fab run into their coop, I think that might work pretty well, as long as the ventilation is sufficient and you can keep them dry throughout their coop and run. Just make sure you have a really good way to access the bedding so you can change it super often, and a plan for what to do with soiled bedding. Also excellent drainage throughout so their feet stay dry.

They poop whenever they eat, so once you have them on a 12 hour feeding schedule, they shouldn't poop nearly as much in their coop. Daytime poops will be a lot more than night poops, and mainly around the food and water stations.

My brooder dog pen was altogether just under 3 feet by 8 feet. I put the food at one end and the water at the other, so they walked about 5.5-6 feet every time they wanted to change from eating to drinking, and IMO they needed it twice as far apart by 4 weeks. Right now, I have them in a 10' x 15' covered run, and that's working very well. The more space you can have them walk across between the food and water, the better, to help them keep their legs and hearts strong. Sounds like you have a good plan. Good luck!

 

[HenriettaPizzaNolan]

Yeah, what you just described was totally not what I thought you were asking about.

If you basically turned the pre-fab run into their coop, I think that might work pretty well, as long as the ventilation is sufficient and you can keep them dry throughout their coop and run. Just make sure you have a really good way to access the bedding so you can change it super often, and a plan for what to do with soiled bedding. Also excellent drainage throughout so their feet stay dry.

They poop whenever they eat, so once you have them on a 12 hour feeding schedule, they shouldn't poop nearly as much in their coop. Daytime poops will be a lot more than night poops, and mainly around the food and water stations.

My brooder dog pen was altogether just under 3 feet by 8 feet. I put the food at one end and the water at the other, so they walked about 5.5-6 feet every time they wanted to change from eating to drinking, and IMO they needed it twice as far apart by 4 weeks. Right now, I have them in a 10' x 15' covered run, and that's working very well. The more space you can have them walk across between the food and water, the better, to help them keep their legs and hearts strong. Sounds like you have a good plan. Good luck!

Yeah my bad for not describing it well. I just went out and took some pictures. There is cross-ventilation longways and then extra vents in a few different places.

Now that I look at it, I may be able to use this outer run that I already have attached. It's 10'x3'.

That's really smart about putting the feed and water further apart so they exercise! Thanks for the tip. I appreciate you taking the time to give so much good advice.

 

[Acre4Me]

Your yard looks familiar -happens over here in west central Ohio too- along with the clay soil.

Spring meat birds: only 6? Why not raise them in the garage? Our first year, we had them in a brooder in the garage at night, then using a wheelbarrow, we transported them to a covered outdoor area. I think we raised 12 that time. A bit of work in the morning and evening, but we kept them in the brooder for the first 3 weeks, so it was only 4.5-5 weeks of transporting them. Nowadays we have an enclosed covered pen for them.


Drainage, standing water issues: we also experienced this (and a fibbing seller bc we asked about the drainage), so we spent time outside when it rained a lot, while it was heavily raining to asses the flow and depth of water. We thrn had 4 truckloads of dirt delivered (102 tons) to have spread out behind and to the side of the detached garage/barn. This is our garden area (raised beds). We created a berm to keep water in the channel between the two yards -water that flows under the road, between the yards, into the drainage swale in the farm field behind). The last project was to dig a trench and use double wall (smooth inside, corrugated outside) 10” drainage pipes to take any water flowing across two neighbor yards in the other direction to ours in one area (this only happens in very heavy rains) and this drainage pipe takes that water and any water from the yard onto the farmer field. A garden pathway sits on top of these drainage pipes. I posted pics in one thread when we were working on this in 2019, 2020.

 

[HenriettaPizzaNolan]

Your yard looks familiar -happens over here in west central Ohio too- along with the clay soil.

Spring meat birds: only 6? Why not raise them in the garage? Our first year, we had them in a brooder in the garage at night, then using a wheelbarrow, we transported them to a covered outdoor area. I think we raised 12 that time. A bit of work in the morning and evening, but we kept them in the brooder for the first 3 weeks, so it was only 4.5-5 weeks of transporting them. Nowadays we have an enclosed covered pen for them.


Drainage, standing water issues: we also experienced this (and a fibbing seller bc we asked about the drainage), so we spent time outside when it rained a lot, while it was heavily raining to asses the flow and depth of water. We thrn had 4 truckloads of dirt delivered (102 tons) to have spread out behind and to the side of the detached garage/barn. This is our garden area (raised beds). We created a berm to keep water in the channel between the two yards -water that flows under the road, between the yards, into the drainage swale in the farm field behind). The last project was to dig a trench and use double wall (smooth inside, corrugated outside) 10” drainage pipes to take any water flowing across two neighbor yards in the other direction to ours in one area (this only happens in very heavy rains) and this drainage pipe takes that water and any water from the yard onto the farmer field. A garden pathway sits on top of these drainage pipes. I posted pics in one thread when we were working on this in 2019, 2020.

Yes, only 6 because we are in the city of Cleveland and there are limits on how many chickens we can have on our property. We did 6 last fall that hatched in September, slaughtered in November, and we are just now running low on the meat. It's only two of us.

We have a screened in back porch and that's where we will brood them. It worked well last time. Our garage just isn't big enough for our cars plus the birds. The nice thing about the screened in porch is it makes it easy to wean them off the heat lamp. When I turn it off, they are getting the real outdoor temperature. So to harden them off I turn the light off for an hour or two a day when they are more feathered out. Once they seem alright without the light, they go outside.

It's really difficult for me to know what to do with the water situation. We're in the city where houses are directly next to each other, so if I direct the water away from my house by adding elevation, I will create a problem for my neighbors. I wish my driveway already had some drainage pipes, because then I could just add some in my yard that connect to it. But as it stands, I don't even know where I would run pipes to if I put them in. I may need to call in a professional.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Is your back yard higher than the street? In the New Orleans area the backyards usually are. That's been a requirement for new construction for a while in many jurisdictions. We get heavy rains and the streets are used as supplements to the storm sewers to temporarily hold and direct the water to reduce house flooding. In residential areas it is fairly common to see a drain pipe that runs from a collection area in the back yard buried pretty shallow to the street where it dumps at the curb.

I don't know if you can do this with your elevations, curbs, streets, and storm sewers. You might need a permit. There are probably buried utilities in your front yard like electrical, water, gas, or cable you'd have to go over or under. You'd need a grate on the inlet to keep leaves out so it doesn't get blocked. You'd probably need to clean off that grate regularly so it did not block the drain. I had to clean mine a lot, I had a big longhaired dog that shed a lot. That was a worse problem than tree leaves and cut grass but mine was in a concrete pad that collected water. Thank you former owner. I did get a professional to install it.

You mentioned this was in the spring but I'd think you could get some downpours at other times that might make it worth the expense. I'd think two or three strategically positioned drains could make a lot of difference.

Just something else to think about.

 

[HenriettaPizzaNolan]

Is your back yard higher than the street? In the New Orleans area the backyards usually are. That's been a requirement for new construction for a while in many jurisdictions. We get heavy rains and the streets are used as supplements to the storm sewers to temporarily hold and direct the water to reduce house flooding. In residential areas it is fairly common to see a drain pipe that runs from a collection area in the back yard buried pretty shallow to the street where it dumps at the curb.

I don't know if you can do this with your elevations, curbs, streets, and storm sewers. You might need a permit. There are probably buried utilities in your front yard like electrical, water, gas, or cable you'd have to go over or under. You'd need a grate on the inlet to keep leaves out so it doesn't get blocked. You'd probably need to clean off that grate regularly so it did not block the drain. I had to clean mine a lot, I had a big longhaired dog that shed a lot. That was a worse problem than tree leaves and cut grass but mine was in a concrete pad that collected water. Thank you former owner. I did get a professional to install it.

You mentioned this was in the spring but I'd think you could get some downpours at other times that might make it worth the expense. I'd think two or three strategically positioned drains could make a lot of difference.

Just something else to think about.

If my backyard is higher than the street, it's not by much. It's hard to tell. Honestly it's such a big problem that this morning I've started calling around for some estimates from professionals. I just don't know what I'll be able to do on my own with no machinary (digging solid clay with shovels is not easy) or experience. I wonder how much they will quote me. Likely thousands, but I guess there is only one way to find out.

 

[HenriettaPizzaNolan]

Hi everyone! I'm reviving my old thread because I DID end up getting some CX chicks. They are about 2 weeks old now and I'll try to get them outside next week, weather permitting. The plan is to try to start them in the tractor if the weather isn't flooding our yard. If we get more than one rainy day, I'll have the prefab coop I posted above set up on the high ground in my yard, with a big run around it (I estimate about 4'x20'). I'll transfer the chickens there and even if we end up having all rainy weather, I can just keep adding bedding and raise them stationary in that spot. I can even transfer them back to the tractor if the yard dries up.

Only problem is, I haven't been able to locate any free wood chips yet. That is what I had planned to add to the run if they are in there. Where do you get free wood chips? I was ghosted on Craigslist a few times.

Also, if I can't use wood chips, can I use dry leaves? I have a bunch in my garage that I've been using as coop bedding, but I wasn't sure if they would get soggy in the uncovered portion of the run.