don't have any seramas, we might have one jungle fowl mutt. Won't know for awhile. Just hatched about a week+ ago... Your in the right place.. Keep us posted
Keep me in mind for any guinea or jungle fowl mutts you're gonna have Dephane.
I haven't gotten my shipping confirmation yet. They are supposed to be shipped today. I'm not impatient at all.....
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It's not necessarily as easy on the pocketbook as you might think. By the time mine was done I had spent almost as much money as I would have building a regular, permanent structure. I bought 2"x6" lumber for the base and used reclaimed lumber and plywood for the rest of the framing. Bought three cattle panels and a bunch of 1/2" mesh hardware cloth to enclose the space. Hardware cloth is not cheap. I used fender washers to button the hardware cloth onto the wood framing, which was another expense. (The zip ties I used only lasted a few months before they started breaking.) And my cattle panels cost $40 each - we didn't have a Tractor Supply here when I built my coop.
The biggest expense I did not figure on was the tarps for the roof. The first tarp cost $40 and lasted less than four months. I finished the coop in February or early March and the tarp had deteriorated so much it blew apart in the first monsoon of the season. The coop has averaged 2-3 tarps/year, so there is an ongoing expense of about $100/year to keep the thing tarped.
If I had it to do over again I would just build a regular coop/run. It might cost a little more to start but it wouldn't have the ongoing re-tarping issue. It would be cheaper in the long run. And it would look a whole lot better. The hoop coop is not the most attractive thing in my yard. But it's what I've got.
Oh, yeah - the hoop coop is MUCH hotter inside than my regular coop/run. That tarp holds in a lot of the heat. Even though the ends are vented and the sides are staked out away from the coop, it feels much hotter when I walk into the hoop coop than it does when I walk into my other coops. It's not as hot at chicken level because the sides are open along the bottom. But it is much more uncomfortable for me.
Just some things to think about before you jump into construction...
Thank you for your insight. DH absolutely refuses to build a coop, he thinks more coops equals more chickens - don't know where he gets these ideas!It's not necessarily as easy on the pocketbook as you might think. By the time mine was done I had spent almost as much money as I would have building a regular, permanent structure. I bought 2"x6" lumber for the base and used reclaimed lumber and plywood for the rest of the framing. Bought three cattle panels and a bunch of 1/2" mesh hardware cloth to enclose the space. Hardware cloth is not cheap. I used fender washers to button the hardware cloth onto the wood framing, which was another expense. (The zip ties I used only lasted a few months before they started breaking.) And my cattle panels cost $40 each - we didn't have a Tractor Supply here when I built my coop.
The biggest expense I did not figure on was the tarps for the roof. The first tarp cost $40 and lasted less than four months. I finished the coop in February or early March and the tarp had deteriorated so much it blew apart in the first monsoon of the season. The coop has averaged 2-3 tarps/year, so there is an ongoing expense of about $100/year to keep the thing tarped.
If I had it to do over again I would just build a regular coop/run. It might cost a little more to start but it wouldn't have the ongoing re-tarping issue. It would be cheaper in the long run. And it would look a whole lot better. The hoop coop is not the most attractive thing in my yard. But it's what I've got.
Oh, yeah - the hoop coop is MUCH hotter inside than my regular coop/run. That tarp holds in a lot of the heat. Even though the ends are vented and the sides are staked out away from the coop, it feels much hotter when I walk into the hoop coop than it does when I walk into my other coops. It's not as hot at chicken level because the sides are open along the bottom. But it is much more uncomfortable for me.
Just some things to think about before you jump into construction...
I'll dig some out for you when I get the batch for @K9Dave . They don't like heat so much so I might need to put some ice in with them to ship.
I'll dig some out for you when I get the batch for @K9Dave
. They don't like heat so much so I might need to put some ice in with them to ship.
That is interesting, I wonder how it would work for an incubator since it has more air circulation than an inclosed guitar case. Please post your results if you decide to try this.
Thank you for your insight. DH absolutely refuses to build a coop, he thinks more coops equals more chickens - don't know where he gets these ideas!The coops I've built so far have come from the Coops for Dummies book but I've either tripled or quadrupled them in size. Initially I was going for the size in the book but when I flagged it out in my pasture it looked so dinky so had to go with the supersize version. Then, of course, I modified them so they would accommodate my needs. I used a lot of the materials hubby had laying around - had no idea they were supposed to be for his projects at the time! Oh well, lesson learned - don't leave things laying around when I'm building coops for my chickens!
I use a meat grinder for pork shoulder when I make hot Italian sausage. It is an electric chinese (Sunmile brand) deal I got off amazon. It works ok for the pork shoulder, but it is important that the meat be near freezing temp because the fat is easier to handle. If the meat is too warm, the fat will gum up the blades and plates. I don't think this would be as much of an issue with chicken meat.
