ALABAMA!!

[dan26552]

Between Andalusia and opp.

 

[Member 482121]

Between Andalusia and opp.

We are practically neighbors--between Elba and Brantley.

 

[dan26552]

We are practically neighbors--between Elba and Brantley.

Nice. I’m 20 minutes from Elba, we buy our feed there.

 

[Member 482121]

Nice. I’m 20 minutes from Elba, we buy our feed there.

Rusty's or the Co-op? I buy the hay and seed and feed grains at Rusty's and Total Equine at the Co-op

 

[dan26552]

Rusty's or the Co-op? I buy the hay and seed and feed grains at Rusty's and Total Equine at the Co-op

We buy at Rusty’s.

 

[AUChickenGal]

Hi everyone! I know I've been absent for quite a while. I lost most of my flock over the winter to persistent repeat attacks of what I assume was a raccoon. I had two survivors who I gave away to ensure their safety. But I'm finally ready to re-group and start over; I've got chicks shipping from Hoovers Hatchery on the 16th (two each: Rhode Island Red, Delaware, Salmon Faverolles, Speckled Sussex, & Easter Egger) and hatching eggs also shipping from My Pet Chicken sometime next week (3 Favaucana assortment - some combination of BBS and Wheaten varieties - and 3 "mystery eggs").

In the mean time, I need to get a new coop built. My prefab one worked great for the first flock for over two years (!!), but I want something bigger and more secure. Do any of you know of someone in or around the Auburn area who might be interested in the job? I'm putting feelers out on Facebook as well.

 

[Member 482121]

Hi everyone! I know I've been absent for quite a while. I lost most of my flock over the winter to persistent repeat attacks of what I assume was a raccoon. I had two survivors who I gave away to ensure their safety. But I'm finally ready to re-group and start over; I've got chicks shipping from Hoovers Hatchery on the 16th (two each: Rhode Island Red, Delaware, Salmon Faverolles, Speckled Sussex, & Easter Egger) and hatching eggs also shipping from My Pet Chicken sometime next week (3 Favaucana assortment - some combination of BBS and Wheaten varieties - and 3 "mystery eggs").

In the mean time, I need to get a new coop built. My prefab one worked great for the first flock for over two years (!!), but I want something bigger and more secure. Do any of you know of someone in or around the Auburn area who might be interested in the job? I'm putting feelers out on Facebook as well.

Get yourself a few raccoon traps, the kind that only catches raccoons, and occasionally an opossum. When you dispatch a raccoon the most humane way is by using a .22 LR (pistol or rifle) and shooting it in the back of the head. As raccoons may carry rabies, make sure that you are not too close to them when you shoot them, as droplets of blood and particles of brain tissue propelled by the bullet's shock may end up on you, exposing you to the deadly virus if they come in contact with an open wound or scratch or with the mucous membranes of your nose and mouth. Shoot from a safe distance, and when the raccoon stops moving wear a pair of rubber gloves to take it out of the trap and dispose of it. Still wearing gloves, pick up and wash the trap well with chlorine and water before you reset it. Discard the gloves. I may sound paranoid, but when it comes to rabies it's better to be cautious. One does not contract it only by being bitten. Any bodily fluids from a rabid animal may infect a human. I remember the case of two speleologists who were exploring a cave full of bats. Minute droplets of urine from a rabid bat hanging from the cave ceiling were inhaled by the two. That's all it took. Naturally they were not aware of having been exposed. When some days later they began to show signs of the disease, it was already too late.
Opossums are much less likely than raccoons of being infected with rabies. But they do carry other diseases.

 

[SouthernCountryGirl]

Hi Alabama friends! So happy I found this thread! I have never owned chickens but have been researching to build the perfect coop BEFORE i get my chicks. There is A LOT of information on this site, however, much of the info is about cold snowy weather and we don't have a lot of that here. My concern is the heat and what I can incorporate into my coop to help the chickens cope. Does insulation help keep the heat out?? I thought is was only for keeping the heat in....? Also, had planned on a raised coop with covered run but will that make it even hotter in the summertime in the coop at night? I know ventilation is key and am going to maximize windows.
And then there's storage....
Ideally, I want a walk in shed with raised coop, with drop down clean out door (on outside wall) for DLM in coop.
I want to have storage space either in my coop/shed or run for food, treats,bedding, etc...
Is it too hot in summer to store food in metal garbage cans in the run?
So much I don't know!
Thanks for all your feed back. I really want to get this coop right the first time.

 

[Member 482121]

Well, I can tell you what I did. It seems to work, so here it is:

I have three chicken houses, each one inside a large run made of chicken wire (metal netting) and metal and wood fenceposts. The netting covers the top of the enclosure, too, to keep hawks and cats from going inside the enclosure. The first chicken house I had made (I am not a handy man, so I hired a fairly good worker) was made of plywood. It has boards across it for perching and a shelf on which I keep three milk crates stuffed with hay for the egg laying. I have two infrared lamps attached to the ceiling that I keep on when it's cold and are turned off when it's warm. The ceiling is high enough for me to stand inside. There are two small rectangular windows, one on the door and one on one of the walls. There are two large doors on the outside of the wall where the laying boxes are, and these open to let me get the eggs. I am not too worried about the heat because this house is under a huge oak tree that provides abundant shade most of the day.

The second house we built was made in a very shady place on the side of my garage, and this, too is under a large oak tree. We built this of those outside boardsthat are discarded at the sawmill when tree trunks are squared previous to making boards and posts out of them. They were free--much better than treated plywood. We made this log cabin-style, with the bark of the cypress boards on the outside. It has an open space between a wall and the roof and above the door for aereation. This, too, has two heat lamps for the cold months. The problem with this house was the time and work that was necessary to fill up the gaps between the boards with caulking. Otherwise, when the rain comes down slanted because of the wind, you'd get lots of leaks. The first time we caulked it the boards were still fresh and they shrank, so we had to caulk the gaps that formed all over again. The perches are cypress boards nailed to the walls all around the inside.

To avoid the caulking, and also because the third house was built in a sunny place without shade, we decided to overlap the cypress boards so that the rain would not come in but gaps would be left through which plenty of air can circulate. This house has also a winow on one side and a bathroom fan on the opposite side. During the winter and due to the large size of this house the heat lamps are absolutely necessary. We built several parallel perches close to the wall opposite the door, and in one of the corners. The laying boxes are milk crates screwed onto the walls, away from the perches to keep the perched birds from pooping into them.

I don't know whether there are predators where you want to build your coop, but where I live there are plenty, winged and four-legged. I originally wanted to free-range my chickens, but the vicinity of the state highway where everyone speeds and the predators made me change my mind. I lost two of my wife's pet chickens to a raccoon. At dusk we close the coops' doors and I have traps around. So far i've killed five coons, several opossums, and a grey fox.

I hope this will give you some useful ideas for your own clucker hotel.

 

[SouthernCountryGirl]

Well, I can tell you what I did. It seems to work, so here it is:

I have three chicken houses, each one inside a large run made of chicken wire (metal netting) and metal and wood fenceposts. The netting covers the top of the enclosure, too, to keep hawks and cats from going inside the enclosure. The first chicken house I had made (I am not a handy man, so I hired a fairly good worker) was made of plywood. It has boards across it for perching and a shelf on which I keep three milk crates stuffed with hay for the egg laying. I have two infrared lamps attached to the ceiling that I keep on when it's cold and are turned off when it's warm. The ceiling is high enough for me to stand inside. There are two small rectangular windows, one on the door and one on one of the walls. There are two large doors on the outside of the wall where the laying boxes are, and these open to let me get the eggs. I am not too worried about the heat because this house is under a huge oak tree that provides abundant shade most of the day.

The second house we built was made in a very shady place on the side of my garage, and this, too is under a large oak tree. We built this of those outside boardsthat are discarded at the sawmill when tree trunks are squared previous to making boards and posts out of them. They were free--much better than treated plywood. We made this log cabin-style, with the bark of the cypress boards on the outside. It has an open space between a wall and the roof and above the door for aereation. This, too, has two heat lamps for the cold months. The problem with this house was the time and work that was necessary to fill up the gaps between the boards with caulking. Otherwise, when the rain comes down slanted because of the wind, you'd get lots of leaks. The first time we caulked it the boards were still fresh and they shrank, so we had to caulk the gaps that formed all over again. The perches are cypress boards nailed to the walls all around the inside.

To avoid the caulking, and also because the third house was built in a sunny place without shade, we decided to overlap the cypress boards so that the rain would not come in but gaps would be left through which plenty of air can circulate. This house has also a winow on one side and a bathroom fan on the opposite side. During the winter and due to the large size of this house the heat lamps are absolutely necessary. We built several parallel perches close to the wall opposite the door, and in one of the corners. The laying boxes are milk crates screwed onto the walls, away from the perches to keep the perched birds from pooping into them.

I don't know whether there are predators where you want to build your coop, but where I live there are plenty, winged and four-legged. I originally wanted to free-range my chickens, but the vicinity of the state highway where everyone speeds and the predators made me change my mind. I lost two of my wife's pet chickens to a raccoon. At dusk we close the coops' doors and I have traps around. So far i've killed five coons, several opossums, and a grey fox.

I hope this will give you some useful ideas for your own clucker hotel.

Thanks for sharing! At what temp do you turn your heat source on? I'm in central Alabama and didn't think I would really need heat in the winter. BUT I don't have chicks so any info is helpful.