Advice for Chicken coop with Greenhouse together

[FoxyChicken]

swimM4r - Is your dog a herding breed? (looks like it from your profile pic) They're so smart, I think they understand the chickens are now part of the family and are to be protected. You might just want to keep an eye on the intense focused staring, that's what my dog would do before he would snap at them. I would correct him when I saw that look, and reward whenever he would just lay next to them and relax. You just have to be able to read your dog. But it does sound pretty promising if he's been around them so much without making a move.

Here's a picture of Smokey when he was aggressive toward the chicks. You can see the intense stare.



Here he is after just a few short training sessions. He really watches over them and tries to keep them all together if he sees some wandering. He takes his job very seriously!

 

[4 Acre]

yup that's a ACD alright!! It is good to see that he took up the job. I think this will be good for mine as well it is very important for the herding breeds to have a "job" keeps them thinking. Ours was always to keep the property clear of pests. There is not one ground hog camp within a 1/4 mile of our place. the only thing that is on the acreage is rabbit and squirrel, and they both are " the strongest survive" so it is good stock and healthy. Fringe benefits to having cattledogs..

Well I hope to start putting up pics once I get construction going and again any pics or thoughts of the combination coop/GH is MUCH appreciated!
Thanks!

 

[4 Acre]

I would also say the he is 100% ACD by the way....

 

[FoxyChicken]

Smokey's arch nemesis is the crow. He will sprint for a quarter mile if he even sees a speck of one up in the sky. So I was a little nervous having black chickens!

 

[swimM4r]

Yes, he is a herding dog. He even has his AKC sheep herding title. The look is EXACTLY the same as your dogs in the first picture, My birds are about the same size too. Last night i did leave him next to them and he did at one point make them freak out, i Immediately grabbed his collar and yelled "bad" after a 5 minutes his feelings weren't hurt anymore and he displayed a little less interest in the flock. If i had to guess he will turn out just fine with them. I honestly think he was just trying to smell one up close. Smokey looks like an excellent doggie, hopefully mojo will take to his protective/herding instincts with the chickens as well.


After they relax they get closer to him and he really just watches. I moved them into their house today with the heat lamp. So he wont see them until they are old enough to go outside.

 

[FoxyChicken]

I think waiting until the birds were bigger was key, then they're not so "bite sized". They can get away better if they need to also. Smokey took a couple of pecks to the nose, so that helped too

 

[CrunchyNana]

As for greenhouses and chickens... have you seen Joel Salatin's Polyface Farm? He's got a nice setup with a hoop house that he winters the chickens in. Basically turns it to compost on the floor during the winter {deep bedding method?}, and they chickens get it ready for planting while they are in there during the winter. There are some videos on youtube. Search either Polyface Farm or Joel Salatin. I think the one I saw that has the poly hoop house was an interview that one of the chick hatchery's {McMurray?} did with with.
Talk about the holy grail of permaculture!

 

[readymom]

Do you happen to have a thread that shows your progression when you built the greenhouse/coop combo. I love your design and showed it to my builder, He wondered if you have the specs/pictures in one location. I searched the forum but could find it. I am new and not very computer savvy so I may have missed it. Thanks for any help you can give me.

 

[aart]

Do you happen to have a thread that shows your progression when you built the greenhouse/coop combo. I love your design and showed it to my builder, He wondered if you have the specs/pictures in one location. I searched the forum but could find it. I am new and not very computer savvy so I may have missed it. Thanks for any help you can give me.

I think this is the only place FoxyChicken showed the build.

Hey @FoxyChicken ....how'd it hold up over the winter?

 

[Stiggy]

Good to know I'm not the only one who had a greenhouse/tunnel house for my hens in winter. It depends if they are spending all winter in it, how often you want to clean it ( scrape the floors etc) and the size of your birds. I had 18 chickens ( 14 of them small Silkies and 4 young Orpington pullets) in ours which was 2.5m wide and 4.5m long. they spent most of winter in there especially in the heart of it where all it did was rain, snow sleet , where I was at this point was walways wet and cold in winter and boggy which is no good for small low to ground birds. the tunnel house was on higher ground so it stayed dry was had closable vents and door so keep the drafts out. however on a nice day they were allowed out to free range and if it was wet/ to cold they would stay inside which didn't worry them in the slightest. so for that many birds unless they are bantys then at least 3m by 3m min I would say