Recent content by Ted Brown

  1. Ted Brown

    Sealing Roosting Bars

    Sealing a roost will not help with mites. Depending on which type mites (and lice) live on the bird or in cracks between boards. I have 4 roost bars, moisture is not really an issue as waste from chickens, while moist, is mostly "solids" and falls away from the roosts. As far as cleaning, I...
  2. Ted Brown

    Question for users of the clear polycarbonate corrugated roof panels

    It may. I use the Grey 2" tape, thicker and more likely to survive the blade.
  3. Ted Brown

    Question for users of the clear polycarbonate corrugated roof panels

    I would use a fine cut metal blade in a good jigsaw. I would buffer the sheets from the jigsaw with cardboard or thin plywood or... Support both sides of the cut line and tape the cut both sides.
  4. Ted Brown

    Is my coop too small?

    I recommend you haunt the local "market place" sites and find a shed with the intent to modify to suit. Your plan should be: 1 find/modify/install coop & run; 2 find a small flock. If you keep at it step 1 could take a year... You said "...6-7 to start". What is your max? Multiply max * 4...
  5. Ted Brown

    To refurbish a structure or start from scratch?

    Looks like the structure is a mix of squared timber & trees with boards attached to support tin roofing sheets? Also looks like random distance between the verticals? If that is correct take it down and salvage for re-use anything worthwhile. You do not want to be custom cutting everything to...
  6. Ted Brown

    Another coop build

    Welcome back, you are close I would say. I love the triangular drop board roost criss cross setup; you will need a long handled extension w/cat scoop to reach back corner. Your pictures show great imagination, design & build talent, patience. Well done! Let us know how your roost & drop board...
  7. Ted Brown

    Normal reduction in feed consumption?

    Thank you. No sign of intrusions in the run&coop, pop door never closed. More likely my tracking errors. I did have ground hogs last summer who discovered HC weld failures and dug through. Took me a bit to discover what/where; re-did apron with much heavier gauge HC. Keep my eyes more open...
  8. Ted Brown

    Normal reduction in feed consumption?

    I do not keep rigorous track; winter 25 hens 25lb/2-3 days, so 1/3 to half a pound per day dead of winter. Past 2 weeks more like 4-5 days. Will track more accurately.
  9. Ted Brown

    Normal reduction in feed consumption?

    No. Predator load too high. Avian flu a mild concern. Edit: run is steel roof fully enclosed with HC, oversized for current flock.
  10. Ted Brown

    Normal reduction in feed consumption?

    Our break from winter just underway, some extra daylight and warmer (+ temps during days). Feed and water consumption is way down. I know keeping warm requires consumption but 50-100% more?
  11. Ted Brown

    Run Floor

    Very much agree with your later points. Also if one has an unused concrete pad then put something that the flock likes on top and use it; Prince Woods emphasized that concrete is an excellent deterrent to rats and other such uglies. @BDutch are you using these as pathway stones? Once down a...
  12. Ted Brown

    Food debris in run

    I will take a rake and spread it around. Except around the edges the run does not get water so bedding is largely dry. I don't think it is composting because it is so dry. Thinking I will spray it on the regular this summer and see what happens... Thanks all!
  13. Ted Brown

    Food debris in run

    It is not an issue but it has been accumulating for a couple of years in a circle around the feeder. It is chaff "... dry, scale-like plant material such as the protective seed casings of cereal grains, the scale-like parts of flowers, or finely chopped straw. Chaff cannot be digested by humans...
  14. Ted Brown

    Food debris in run

    Animals not permitted. Fully enclosed run excludes everything including birds & squirrels (probably not bears but they do not come on property). Now about "bacterial and mold". I am happy to have it decompose along with the leaves, pine shavings, etc.. Am I missing something?
  15. Ted Brown

    Food debris in run

    For past 2-3 years I served feed in my covered run year round. Water also. Run floor is dirt & gravel with artificial mixture of mulch, deciduous leaves, pine shavings, droppings 8-12" deep on top. Six years, no maintenance. I now have an accumulation of food debris on the ground. Should I...
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