sn0wwhite's Wichita Coop for the Twin Cities

[jbher]

I need to go add that to the what you wish you had known before you got chickens thread... that there is a serious risk of both being locked INTO your coop and OUT of your house.

By the way, you've all probably seen this, but one of my friends realizing my chicken obsession has shared it with me and I love this. I think I'm going to do this to Sunny today.

http://www.sciencedump.com/content/chickens-ability-stabilize-its-head

Today I'm going to rubberize the floor, etch the glass and work on window frames. And roosts... I hope.

Would love to know what you mean by "rubberize the floor"! Do tell

 

[Hokum Coco]

My Coop is 4x8 and here are a few tips and a quick look at my set up.

My floor are planks with a layer of tin for rodent proofing. On top of the tin I have a piece of vinyl flooring cut one foot longer than the length and width of my coop (roughly). Six inches squares are cut out of the 4 corners of the vinyl flooring. This allows the friction fitted flooring to travel up the walls six inches around the perimeter of my 4x8 salvaged metal coop. Shovel out the heavy stuff into a wheel barrow. Pop out the vinyl flooring hose it off pop it back in.
Easy Peasy!
I have been around the sun 63 times.

It is not my first "Rodeo!"

Nobody "I know" heats a chicken coop.

Healthy "cold hearty" chickens die from heat not cold.

I live in Canada last year was subject to -40º (C or F take your pick) no light or heat in coop NO PROBLEMS.

Chickens have been raised on this continent for over a hundred years without heat.

If you feel you must supply heat to your chickens I suggest keeping your chickens in the house that way you can huddle with your birds when the hydro goes out.

Chickens will die from cold if not given the chance to acclimatize. Hydro is more apt to go out in an ice storm or blizzard when subject to below 0º temperatures in my opinion.

How would you supply heat then to your un-acclimatized birds ???

Diary of last winter cold snap check out the link:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/738994/chickens-arctic-conditions-prolonged-period

I have used all types of litter for coops.

I have not tried sand (sand gets good reviews on this site).

Of all the things I tried to date wood pellets have been the best. (I tried wood pellets as a last resort when pine shavings were not available.) They are super absorbent and swell up and eventually turn to saw dust. The droppings just seem to vanish and turn to dust when it comes in contact with wood pellets .

Replace my litter and clean my coop every October after I harvest my garden.


Works for me in my deep litter method.

I do add to pellets from time to time.

I have anywhere from 10 to 15 birds housed in my 4x8 coop.

Through the winter months it froze harder than concrete with -40º temperatures. The poop froze before it could be absorbed by the pellets and there was like a crusty layer of poop in certain areas where they collectively took aim (no smell, messy feet or flies @ -40º). Come April things started to look after themselves.

POOP BOARDS are the "BEST" addition yet. Handles well over ½ of the poop in my set up keeps ammonia smell in check 3½" below roost excellent for catching eggs laid through the night. I recently friction fit a piece of vinyl flooring over my poop board.it makes clean up even easier; Pop out; Scrap; Hose; Pop in.

In my nest boxes I fold a feed bag to fit (nest boxes are 1 ft³). When a bag gets soiled; fold a new one; pop out the soiled; pop in the new.

Easy peasy!.

Chicken coop is salvaged 4x8 metal shed.











I house a variety of birds in hear ¼ inch plywood veneer between birds and the elements no heat no light no insulation no problems!

 

[sn0wwhite]

Would love to know what you mean by "rubberize the floor"! Do tell

JackE suggested blackjack57 roof coat to coat the floor because it is durable, can't be scratched by the chickens and cleans well. So, that's what I used.

 

[sn0wwhite]

Most of the big coop stuff is done, so today we finished the roof, rubberized the house floor, put up roosts inside and out and hung a rain gutter. The chickens approve of the outdoor roost. And I etched the glass for the front window.








Tomorrow I want to do a bit on the landscaping around it so it isn't so muddy all around the front, finish the nest box and I made the mistake of closing the house door on a heat light all day today. I wanted to use it to dry the roof coat floor since it was a little cooler than recommended, and now my barrel latch is off and a strong person has to lift the door ever so slightly to engage it. Unless someone can suggest a fix, I'm going to have to move it, fill in the holes and paint over them. The door still opens and closes fine... the latch is just a bit off. I can't do that again.

 

[aart]

JackE suggested blackjack57 roof coat to coat the floor because it is durable, can't be scratched by the chickens and cleans well. So, that's what I used.

What is that 'lit up thing' on the floor?

 

[sn0wwhite]

Heh. The roofing wasn't 100% dry so I put down the tray from the old coop. They slept in that because the didn't figure out the new inside roost. Since the barrel lock was messed up I couldn't move them last night without a screwdriver. So today I'll fix the lock and then tonight move them to the roost. They have been catching on quick after being shown just once.

 

[sn0wwhite]

So it rained all day and I realized that I am trying to avoid making the window frames by doing all the other little details first. So today we drank Bacardi and cokes and used power tools to finish cutting the metal roof. No, I don't recommend alcohol and power tools but in our case this helped. We put a piece on the nest box, put the divider in, got some patio blocks and a bit of sod (which I'm sure they'll decimate) and finished the rain gutter with a rain barrel. Oh, and fixed the barrel lock so that I can move them to the roost tonight if needed.

Like it or not, tomorrow night I may have to work on window frames.

 

[chickiegrrl]

You have done so much in so little time! It looks so great! I just realized that I have to get the pop door finished this week. It looks like cold nights are going to set in next week. Living without a pop door has been ok this summer and fall, but I think the girls would like to have a door for winter.

 

[sn0wwhite]

I'll take a picture tonight. At this point it's just a 10.5x13 inch hole waiting for the ADOR1 door I ordered.

By the way, I put the chickens on their roost last night and this morning they would not jump down. When I came out at 7:30 they were just up there stretching their feet out all freaked out. It's only 30 inches high... is that too much though or is it just new and they'll figure it out tomorrow?

I guess I'll see if they jump up on their own tonight or not...

 

[jbher]

So it rained all day and I realized that I am trying to avoid making the window frames by doing all the other little details first. So today we drank Bacardi and cokes and used power tools to finish cutting the metal roof. No, I don't recommend alcohol and power tools but in our case this helped. We put a piece on the nest box, put the divider in, got some patio blocks and a bit of sod (which I'm sure they'll decimate) and finished the rain gutter with a rain barrel. Oh, and fixed the barrel lock so that I can move them to the roost tonight if needed.



Like it or not, tomorrow night I may have to work on window frames.

LOVE the rain barrel idea!! Your coop is looking SO great!! I also am so impressed with how fast you've gotten things done!