sn0wwhite's Wichita Coop for the Twin Cities

[aart]

Is there some bedding in there to soften the jump?
That looks like pretty tight space (same pic with the tray in it?) maybe they're just nervous cause it's new.

Put some treats down, that'll get em jumpin!

 

[sn0wwhite]

Good idea... and I should put some bedding down. It's a chicken and an egg thing...

I was waiting to put down bedding until I saw how well the roost with the poop board under it worked, and they're unwilling to use the roost and poop board until I put down bedding. Silly chickens.

 

[sn0wwhite]

So last night was spent using a table saw to route a groove in a trim board to become a window frame, then painted it last night and this morning. So tonight we made the first window frame. My dad recommended a small amount of silicone in the groove to help seal it and it gooped the window a bit, so I hope it washes off well. Overall I'm pleased with how it turned out.

 

[aart]

Very nice...always wanted to try etching glass..used to love to cut stencils for silk screen.

Silicone won't 'wash off'...but you can use a razor blade and/or exacto knife to remove it from where you don't want it once it's cured.

 

[sn0wwhite]

Hmmm... the razor blade wasn't working as well on the silicon fingerprints, but a magic eraser has done well.

By the way, the chickens came down from their roost in the house yesterday but I have been putting them up every night and I had to let them down again today. It's 30 inches up... is that too high? Or is the poop board about 4 inches below it in the way?

 

[chickiegrrl]

Our roost is only 2' off the bottom of the coop, the poo board is 1' beneath it and I have about 6" of shavings in the floor of the coop. My girls don't have to jump up too far. They hop onto the poo board and then hop onto the roost. My coop isn't as tall as your coop is, so to keep the girls out of the airflow through the vents I had to keep the roost low. Plus they can see out the window and they like that. 30" may be up too high for them.

 

[sn0wwhite]

It might be.... I'm trying to get them above the nest box though...

I wonder if it's also just closeness to the wall and cielling... I hate to move the roost until I know how much space I'll have around the ADOR1 door.

 

[chickiegrrl]

My hens are so roosty (is that a word?), they love their roost and don't want to sleep in the nest. The nest box is right next to the roosting area. The roost bar is actually attached to the top of the nest box and the poo board is attached 1/2 way down the side of the wall that makes the nest box. It doesn't have to be really far above the nest box, I don't think.

 

[sn0wwhite]

I fear I may have placed my nest box too close to the back wall. I just put it in the middle, but I feel like I'd have more options now if it were more to the front. But there's no changing that now. Their old little coop had a roost bar only about 2 inches off the bottom and I think they just prefer to chicken pile. I almost feel a little bad taking them from their comfy snuggle group and throwing them up on the roost. Maybe I should just leave the poor things alone at night.

 

[chickiegrrl]

Is there any way you could make a little ramp so they could go up without having to fly up?