Advice for Chicken coop with Greenhouse together

[FoxyChicken]

well now that winter is not leaving...... how is everything going with the coop/GH. I will be doing the same this year also. first time with chickens too. they show up on st.pat's day..
PS great post by the way..

The greenhouse has been a godsend this winter!! I can't even imagine what my girls would be like if they didn't have it, it has been one of the coldest winters on record and it's also been very snowy. I open the outdoor run for them every day that it's above zero but they still have no interest in going outside. The only place they want to be is the greenhouse, which I totally understand with how cold it's been this winter! And they love just watching all the goings-on out the windows.
Unfortunately they must still be getting cabin fever because they have just started seriously feather picking!

Good luck with your babies 4 Acre!! What are you getting? So eggciting

 

[ChiniakChicken]

I live in Alaska and also combined by chicken coop & green house. The chickens have a small access door under their coop that lets them into the greenhouse but they only have access to a small perching area and run under the plant bench. Here are a few photos of what it looks like.
Inside the greenhouse, this is where the chickens gain entry, the coop shares a wall with this end of the greenhouse.


I've put hardware cloth along the edge of the plant bench so the birds can run the length of the greenhouse but can't get to any of the plants,


Here's an exterior view - greenhouse on the right, chicken coop & run on the left.


During construction- greenhouse is nearly finished but only the run is framed (no coop), this hen belongs to my neighbor, she spent many days supervising construction of our coop, we called her quality control.

 

[Nematocyst]

This is amazing. I love the ideas in this thread. I would love to somehow combine a coop/greenhouse. I was looking at mainly the prefab greenhouses (Sturdi Built in Oregon has some beautiful ones), and I wonder how I could modify them?

 

[4 Acre]

I am getting Dark Cornish and Blk Astrolops ( sp). 16 of each. They will be mostly free ranging around the place but I will be working on focusing them on my mulch piles. I have several composting raw wood chip piles that I will be turning them loose on. Their main employment will be to keep the bugs in check on the property then the benefit back to me will be fertilizer, eggs and meat.
The greenhouse/coop is the plan for the winter with a poultry fence going around a couple of compost piles. During the warmer times I plan on having a secondary mobile coop and move that around the 4.5 acres that I have. Longer in some places than others so that I can recapture some of this ground into fertile good growing ground for edible perennial plants, shrubs and trees.
It's a plan I have been working on ( in my head and on paper) for a couple of years and now it is time to start acting on it! So who knows how its going to turn out but we ( the 3 kids and I) ( the wife wants NOTHING to do with it) will have fun learning and watching birds and plants grow!

Marc

PS I love all the pictures that everyone has put up it really helps me do some visualation..

 

[Alaskan]

This is amazing. I love the ideas in this thread. I would love to somehow combine a coop/greenhouse. I was looking at mainly the prefab greenhouses (Sturdi Built in Oregon has some beautiful ones), and I wonder how I could modify them?

Easily, you just need a pop door and some way to vent.

 

[Alaskan]

I am getting Dark Cornish and Blk Astrolops ( sp).  16 of each.  They will be mostly free ranging around the place but I will be working on focusing them on my mulch piles.  I have several composting raw wood chip piles that I will be turning them loose on.  Their main employment will be to keep the bugs in check on the property then the benefit back to me will be fertilizer, eggs and meat.
The greenhouse/coop is the plan for the winter with a poultry fence going around a couple of compost piles.  During the warmer times I plan on having a secondary mobile coop and move that around the 4.5 acres that I have.  Longer in some places than others so that I can recapture some of this ground into fertile good growing ground for edible perennial plants, shrubs and trees.
It's a plan I have been working on ( in my head and on paper) for a couple of years and now it is time to start acting on it!  So who knows how its going to turn out but we ( the 3 kids and I) ( the wife wants NOTHING to do with it) will have fun learning and watching birds and plants grow!    

Marc 

PS I love all the pictures that everyone has put up it really helps me do some visualation..

Sounds like a great plan.

 

[FoxyChicken]

Good choice on the Black Australorps! I only have 6 hens and I wanted some variety, but mostly "pretty" chickens, so I asked for 3 silver laced wyandottes, 1 barred rock and 2 buff orpingtons at the local feed store. Well two of my wyandottes grew up to be Australorps, and the orpingtons grew up to be Red Sex Links! I have to say I was kind of disappointed about the Australorps, but now after having them they've turned out to be my favorites.

Very sweet and quiet. I could see myself switching to an all Australorp flock when I'm in need of more girls.

 

[4 Acre]

Foxy,
I saw in the back ground of a picture a dog.. It looked to be an ACD? was it? that's what I have and I wanted to ask how is the relationship with the canine and poultry?? I'm not too worried about it the two I have right now. They are not A typical cattle dogs, they were rescues that I could not find homes for so I kept them. and with the electric fence they will learn quickly but I still have visions of chickens wondering around and the dogs getting plenty of exercise!

 

[FoxyChicken]

Yep, that's my cattle dog in the background of the pics. I have two dogs, the one in the pictures is mostly ACD if not pure, but he came from a shelter so we don't know for sure. My other dog is 1/4 ACD. They are very good with the birds, the 1/4 ACD doesn't really pay attention to them at all but Smokey took some training. He definitely wanted to eat them when they were little fuzz balls so we kept them separated until the birds were bigger and feathered so they were able to get away if needed. Once they were that size we just spent some time each day de-sensitizing the dog to the birds by keeping him on a leash and sitting in the grass with the birds pecking around us. He would get a correction for even looking like he was going to pounce on them. Now he's very much their guardian and I'm actually not comfortable free ranging them unless he's out there with them. He tries to herd them but he doesn't really know what he's doing so it's not always helpful. There have been a couple times though when he actually has helped me get them back to the coop in the evening. But for the most part he just watches over them, he's not an obsessive herder or anything.
I'll have to post some pictures when I get home. (I'm at work right now, don't tell the boss I'm on BYC!

)

 

[swimM4r]

Oh man ChiniakChicken im really envious of your set up. I just got some chickens and want to get into greenhouses a little bit down the road. It seems like the Hen house and the Green house can really benefit each other in colder climates. I dont live in Alaska but the Sierra Nevadas have their own set of difficulties i will have to deal with im sure.

FoxyChicken, glad to hear your herding dog isn't predatory with you flock. I am raising some chicks and my dog will just stand there and stare at them, i have a cat too but he hasn't seen them. No aggression, just intense focused staring. They're little fuzzballs, and not a predatory move has been made after hours of contact so im hopeful. Reading this behavior is difficult, any thoughts based on your experience?