I know the rule of thumb is generally 2-3' per bird in the coop and 8-10' per bird in the run. My coop is 4x8', the upstairs is about 4x3'. I have kept 4 large breed hens at a time in this coop for several years without any problems. I let them out daily in the evenings to roam my entire...
Is 16" enough? I have a bunch of 16" square concrete pavers. I figured I could create a skirt with them for predator proofing and they would serve double duty to keep the coop elevated out of the dirt. Thanks.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I use this for feed, grit, and oyster with my adult birds. Has anyone successfully used a scaled down version in a brooder or grow pen? My chicks are about 3 weeks old and waste more feed than they eat with their current feeder.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Existing:
I want to build something like this:
Can I get away with the existing ~7" opening into the boxes? This will prevent me from having to redo any siding on the coop. I figured I could build the new box and mount it to the outside. The girls would enter the box through the ~7"...
I am replacing the roof on a coop I bought a couple years ago. I never was happy with the way the original roof performed, although it looked really neat. Here is the original:
I am stripping the panels off and pulling the nails to save the wood for another project. I was planning to rip a...
I have a welsummer and BLR wyandotte hen, both about a year old. Both will eat scratch out of my hand and can be picked up. The BLR went broody a couple months ago, leaving the welsummer to wander then run by herself for a while. I could tell she was on edge and she made a lot of noise. Maybe...
I got this EE about a month ago, and her eye was like this when I got her. I didn't notice it when I picked her out, and the distributor was nice enough to give me a warning that some of her other EE had weird eyes. I dosed Terra-Vet 10 for 7 days at her recommendation starting roughly two weeks...
What is the cheapest source of grit for adult laying hens? My local feed store sells granite grit, but only in starter size. Is Caliche okay to use for grit? Not sure if there's too much calcium in that. Thanks.
I plan to use a 3' long 2x4 mounted horizontally (hens sit on 4" side) for the roost. This will be mounted about 18-24" off the coop floor and about 1' from the wall. My poop tray will be 1' wide by 3' long, with 1-2" lip to contain sand/sweet PDZ. How does all this sound so far? Should I center...
I installed some nipple waterers on the bottom of a five gallon bucket. Will running an aquarium water heater into the bucket keep it from freezing? Just wondering if small droplets at the nipples themselves will still freeze and render them useless. Thanks.
I ordered this coop from a near by sawmill and wood shop. The one pictured is a 3x6, I ordered a 4x8 with some slight differences than pictured. It does not have a bottom on the coop. I live in a small lot residential neighborhood, been in the same house 4 years only seen a possum twice. We have...
I have ordered a small coop from a local wood shop, and wondering how to run lighting in it. I was thinking of running an extension cord from my patio to the coop, then hooking up a short strand of white christmas lights stapled at the ceiling inside of the coop. The extension cord would be on a...
I am getting a 4x8' cedar coop in a few weeks. It will have a 4x3' portion enclosed for roost and nest box, the rest is open run. I was planning on using peel n stick vinyl flooring inside this part to protect the wood and make cleaning easier. Do y'all suggest I paint the inside of the coop...
Do you guys prefer a poop board with a lip to hold sand, sweet pdz, etc. and filter clean it like a cat little box? Or do you prefer just a flat board that you can scrape clean with a putty knife?
I know hens are usually pretty quiet except their egg song. I am interested in the following breeds for a small backyard flock:
Light Sussex
Ameracauna
Buff Orpington
Welsummer
Barred rock
Copper Maran
I will only have 4 hens, just haven't chosen which 4 of the above breeds yet. Are any of...
I am looking to build a small coop for my backyard to house 4 hens. What I have in mind is an overall footprint of 4x8', with an upstairs enclosed coop box that is roughly 4x3'. The hens will be let out to roam a a larger pen in my yard probably daily, and sometimes have free reign of my entire...