I really enjoyed reading this article, even though it helped me to decide not to get turkeys. Gently humorous and highly informative.
Reviews by Kiwibird
Shadrach
Thank you for reading the article. I'm pleased you found it interesting.
gtaus
Thank you for the review and adding a link to my thread about my efforts to hide my growing fodder in the second bathroom from Dear Wife. And yes, one advantage of the flood and fill tower system is that you only need one bin of water to water all bins in the system.
Gailens
Kiwibird thank your for your questions.
1. Yes, netting is supported by those two birches with wire. If there would not be any tree on the run, I assume I would support it with two poles. Pole is placed in reverse direction, so it lasts longer in wet weather. At first I thought that the netting wouldn't last a season, because it is very cheap and doesn't feel very reliable, but I was wrong. This will be the third winter for netting and there is no worn-out signs. It holds winter heavy snows and small branches from those two trees. Hover the challenge was to install netting because I had to stick multiple nets together.
2. Coop connects to the run with hardware cloth.
3. The right side door was supposed to function as cleaning doors, but haven't used it because it is lower than wheelbarrow and composite boxes are inside run. Therefore, for cleaning purposes I just use run doors because composite boxes are inside it.
Doors on the left I mainly use for small run when I have new chickens and I need to separate them from old ones. Glad I made this left door.
4. There are two ventilation holes at the front and the rear of the coop. In summer, I keep windows open as well.
5. Since post was written I have:
* added small roof over run doors, so the food bowl doesn't get full of rain water when it is raining.
* made modification to nesting box so now eggs roll in boxes. Chickens used to crack eggs with thinner eggshells and other eggs got dirty, which were hard to clean. Of course, chickens love soft bedding in nesting boxes, but I had to make compromise.
* made "easy to install" separate section for newly added chickens. Although I had built "safe area" when built coop, it was too small for 10-12 chickens. When new chickens are brought home, I just install three hardware cloth walls to "safe area" and keep them there for two to three weeks until the old chickens are used to them. As I mentioned above, they have separate doors to small run and they are very close to old chickens.
* added additional roosting bar :)
You can see some images of these updates on the one of article (just updated)
1. Yes, netting is supported by those two birches with wire. If there would not be any tree on the run, I assume I would support it with two poles. Pole is placed in reverse direction, so it lasts longer in wet weather. At first I thought that the netting wouldn't last a season, because it is very cheap and doesn't feel very reliable, but I was wrong. This will be the third winter for netting and there is no worn-out signs. It holds winter heavy snows and small branches from those two trees. Hover the challenge was to install netting because I had to stick multiple nets together.
2. Coop connects to the run with hardware cloth.
3. The right side door was supposed to function as cleaning doors, but haven't used it because it is lower than wheelbarrow and composite boxes are inside run. Therefore, for cleaning purposes I just use run doors because composite boxes are inside it.
Doors on the left I mainly use for small run when I have new chickens and I need to separate them from old ones. Glad I made this left door.
4. There are two ventilation holes at the front and the rear of the coop. In summer, I keep windows open as well.
5. Since post was written I have:
* added small roof over run doors, so the food bowl doesn't get full of rain water when it is raining.
* made modification to nesting box so now eggs roll in boxes. Chickens used to crack eggs with thinner eggshells and other eggs got dirty, which were hard to clean. Of course, chickens love soft bedding in nesting boxes, but I had to make compromise.
* made "easy to install" separate section for newly added chickens. Although I had built "safe area" when built coop, it was too small for 10-12 chickens. When new chickens are brought home, I just install three hardware cloth walls to "safe area" and keep them there for two to three weeks until the old chickens are used to them. As I mentioned above, they have separate doors to small run and they are very close to old chickens.
* added additional roosting bar :)
You can see some images of these updates on the one of article (just updated)
