I am sooo GREATFUL to have found this forum!!!
I am not sure my husband is! :|
I started out wanting 6 to 8 laying hens for family. Then my girls got the chicken fever and about 20 chickens later (12 bantams, 8 small laying hens ) we are chicken NUTS!
DH was converting part of his shed into a coop!
Which he was o.k. with because he had to put a new roof on with the chickens coming!
Next weekend we section off made nesting boxes and roost area!
((we had visited someone with a backyard coop with 20 chickens so we were going along with what he had)) which I thought was small!
We started with 12x4 out of that he made a 5x4 enclosed roost area!
left me with 7x4
after reading all the different post on 2 to 3 square foot per bird we widened the space to 7.9 x 6.8 much better!
(((it was much faster taking down than putting up))) DH tried to keep smiling
??? the roost area being 5x4
How many perches should be put up so birds comfortable?
The guy we visited used tree limbs for perches is that the best thing to use? It looked nice
??? we are going to lay tarp or kitchen tiles down under roost for easy cleaning
What kind of litter works best there?
(I was thinking sand for that spot being it would be like a large kitty litter box)
But I was concerned about smell! And how often would this spot be cleaned?
Is that the best thing to use there?
I will be using straw and pine wood shavings (deep litter) for the rest of coop
??? we should be doing run this weekend!
Going by 8 square feet per bird in the run that would be 160 square feet!
We were planning a 12 x 12 run which would be 144 square feet would this be good being 12 will be bantams! I will also be working on a tractor this summer
DH says adding that amount of space to the run it gets costly!
We will add pictures when done!
I am not sure my husband is! :|
I started out wanting 6 to 8 laying hens for family. Then my girls got the chicken fever and about 20 chickens later (12 bantams, 8 small laying hens ) we are chicken NUTS!
DH was converting part of his shed into a coop!
Which he was o.k. with because he had to put a new roof on with the chickens coming!
Next weekend we section off made nesting boxes and roost area!
((we had visited someone with a backyard coop with 20 chickens so we were going along with what he had)) which I thought was small!
We started with 12x4 out of that he made a 5x4 enclosed roost area!
left me with 7x4
after reading all the different post on 2 to 3 square foot per bird we widened the space to 7.9 x 6.8 much better!
(((it was much faster taking down than putting up))) DH tried to keep smiling
??? the roost area being 5x4
How many perches should be put up so birds comfortable?
The guy we visited used tree limbs for perches is that the best thing to use? It looked nice
??? we are going to lay tarp or kitchen tiles down under roost for easy cleaning
What kind of litter works best there?
(I was thinking sand for that spot being it would be like a large kitty litter box)
But I was concerned about smell! And how often would this spot be cleaned?
Is that the best thing to use there?
I will be using straw and pine wood shavings (deep litter) for the rest of coop
??? we should be doing run this weekend!
Going by 8 square feet per bird in the run that would be 160 square feet!
We were planning a 12 x 12 run which would be 144 square feet would this be good being 12 will be bantams! I will also be working on a tractor this summer
DH says adding that amount of space to the run it gets costly!
We will add pictures when done!
