My coop design and build blog

[Rancid Crbtree]

Its spring, it rained last night and i sick of the mud around the new coop and run so Im doing something about it.

Where the coop and run sit, was a huge pile of dirt just 8 months ago since we were excavating for another building on the homestead. Our soil is clay and rock and when it gets wet, its slime.

The other problem was the grading, It pitched toward the run. I got to play on the tractor all day to begin to fix this problem.

 

[Rancid Crbtree]

part of our homesteading / preparedness journey is growing stuff like a huge garden and the chickens. Part of that plan is to plant 5 apple trees between the coop and the garden.The apple trees I ordered, arrived today.

After spreading more pea gravel around the coop and run, I thought I would try my hand at using the backhoe feature on this new tractor. This ground is nothing but clay and rock. Im done digging holes with a shovel now that I have this thing.

I went down 4 feet. I will fill the hole with a mixture of sand and garden soil to plant the trees in. I dont think the roots would have taken well in the native soil. This is why our garden is a raised bed garden that we filled with a soil that will grow great food.

 

[Penpal]

It looks like those trees are going to be too close together.

 

[Rancid Crbtree]

It looks like those trees are going to be too close together.

Im planting dwarf trees 15 feet apart. That is a good spacing.

 

[Penpal]

Oh, good. I imagined an impenetrable fence with rotting apples and raccoons.

 

[Rancid Crbtree]

After watching the nearly 3 week old chicks dusting themselves in the wood chips, I made them a dust bath using, sand from the driveway, Peat moss that we use in our raised bed garden, and ashes from our wood stove.

I sifted them all, mixed them and put it in an old 9 x 13 cake pan and put it in the brooder. They knew what to do next.

 

[Krugerrand]

After watching the nearly 3 week old chicks dusting themselves in the wood chips, I made them a dust bath using, sand from the driveway, Peat moss that we use in our raised bed garden, and ashes from our wood stove.

I sifted them all, mixed them and put it in an old 9 x 13 cake pan and put it in the brooder. They knew what to do next.

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Very nice.

 

[Rancid Crbtree]

It was a rainy afternoon here so I worked on perimeter security for the birds. My main predators will be members of the weasel family (with ermine being the most likely of all), coon, fox, skunk, after that, its coyote, bobcat, feral cat, possum, Lastly wolf and bear (but far less likely)

I built 3 weasel boxes to add to my assortment of "predator deterrents". There are a few additional tools in my tool box for preventing vermin from eating my birds. I wont discuss those here. These will be deployed in advance of putting the birds in the coop/run. I think it sends a message that these birds are not for you. Tell your friends................. Oh wait, you cant because you are......................... ;-)

 

[RoyalChick]

The most likely day time killer of our chickens will be an Ermine. We have seen them near the coop already. I spent some time today closing holes that vermin would squeeze through. Then I secured the bottom of the sun shade cloth in a manner that wont get damaged by snow plowing along the run.View attachment 3794899View attachment 3794900View attachment 3794901View attachment 3794902View attachment 3794903View attachment 3794904View attachment 3794905View attachment 3794906View attachment 3794907

Oh that is a very clever solve.
Thanks for sharing.

 

[RoyalChick]

I held off on using wood shaving under the chicks in the brooder but now they are over 2 weeks old so we added wood shavings. Under normal circumstances, this means a feeder and waterer full of pine shavings and a real mess because these little buggers kick and scratch and throw shavings everywhere..

To avoid this I built an elevated mesh platform so no shavings can be scratched or kicked into the food/water. Its been 8 hours and its working as expected.

The water looks orange because of the probiotic and electrolyte packets I mix with their water.

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Brilliant idea. I love this. I actually hang mine and give them little blocks to stand on to eat/drink and that seems to work pretty well too.