well i figured id chime in from TONOPAH lol i still cant find the feed store on salome so i have to go to buckeye feed every time i *NEED* something other than that i found a creative/interesting way of houseing our desert flocks from becomeing dessert, all behold my CHICKEN TENT!!!!!!
the giant 70+' diamiter ring with a large tree as the center pole is actually quite amazing for a number of reasons
1. well where i am sometimes theres not a breeze (5mp or less) and well stagnant air is hot air especially out here (arizona where any rocks or concrete/asphalt pads) are constatly throwing off mass amounts of heat, witch dehydrates the birds ect. ect.ect . and while i could of figured out some way to make a breeze or move it to a better area i remembered this thing... thought right now it escapes me the name of it i was able to find a small like prototype style article about it but they do use these things in the middle east to make power , but im not interested in makeing power just getting moving that hot air and providing alittle relief for my flock ,
http://www.environmentteam.com/concept/solar-tower-giant-greenhouse-like-power-plant/ <<< the link if ya dont wanna read it basically the warm air climbs up the inside of the enclosed area to the center where the flight net is where it can escape thus pulling in more air at a very low slow not "drafty way" and it works 2 fold as at night the hot air is at the center where my roosting poles are thus helping keep my birds "warm"
^^ that was the long one sorry ,
2.the tree in the center is a more well " free range, but safe range alternative than say... a bunch of poles ( not that there is anything wrong with poles as i have rope tied around the branches inside to serve as more roost ) i just think the tree makes them happyer , and the tree also drops all sorts of stuff from it for them to play with scratch and pick at all they want and because its arizona theres tons of small rocks for them to bring into there gizzerds ( sorry crocks )
3. and the final one it has 2 gates on it so i cant enter from one side with a rake and clean up all the mess they make and bring to to the other side where i can open the gate scoop it all up with my skid-steer and haul it over to the compost bin throw some hay down in the center ring and nesting boxes fill the waterer.. feed and free choice oystershell bins and im in and out in about an hour
and the 2 bigest +'s i have happy happy chickens though molting , and it didnt cost me a dime
... the -'s well its a live tree in the center so it grows so i have to trim it from time to time and fix tares in the netting and tarp , and arizona is not to kind to tarps so eventually im gonna have to re tarp the whole thing ( i got tons of the stuff but to takes a while to string it all up) and the last one because its an open structure ( no "coop" par say ) i have to have a "grow out pen" for the we ones till they get used to the temp changes here in arizona mainly the falls where its awesome to alittle warm during the day but like 50 at night
sooo pictures then ill talk about my brooder and grow out pens then ill talk about my self bwahahaha
what i see when i walk outside
from the north side forgive the lack of hay and waterers/ feeders was filling them and the bale of hay i had for the center got used somewhere else , i have to get more tomorrow p.s the chickens are all roosting inside of the tree in the pen
soo kinda cool right so about my grow out pen its a mess as well it hasent been used for a while its not as nifty as that.. its just a shed with a run thats it and its ugly and needs to be cleaned... bit i have 2 or so weeks to do that so im working slowly
theres roost poles and nest boxes inside of the white shed and the brown shed is where the brooder is and some of my welding tools
and this is the brooder full of little ... 11 day old chickys australops and easter eggers and a mystery chicken
oo mcmurry lured me in with the mystery chick
i had to rase the brooder up that high as thats what got the temp right after the first week for the little guys and gals and i know i have to drop the temp more so i hooked a dimmer inline ot the brooder bulb with pre marked temp settings for that hight that i pre calculated before they got here
and this is the goofy roo thats doin all the typing
p.s can ya tell im a florida transplant
dont mind the 2 year old date stamp that was taken like a week ago befor i set the time on my goofy little camera
