Arizona Chickens

[Sonoran Silkies]

SEED BOX!!!!!!!! who wants the SEED BOX????????? i will be in CASA GRANDE tomorrow afternoon(friday), also sunday afternoon, tuesday afternoon or early evening. i can meet you at the new Target, just shoot me a pm ASAP.

Okay, what all is currently IN the seed box?

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote: What I have found works best for me is not totally open sides, but having every side partially open (just wire) and partially closed. This gives more shade. I make sure to have the open parts places so that there is plenty of cross ventilation. One of my favoured plans has open corners and closed center areas.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote: Try using reflectix insulation; it will make a world of difference. I can't praise that stuff enough!

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

I went on the first tour, in May 2009. We had to quit half-way through the tour because it was too darned hot. December is a much better time of year! The coops ran the gamut from a tiny chicken tractor thingy to a huge enclosed coop/run built around a large tree. Everyone had things they would change about their setup if they had to it again. It was a good reminder that no design is perfect. One setup that impressed me in a "don't want to go there" way had a concrete slab for the entire run. The guy said he had to clean it every day, sometimes more often. Ummm... no thanks... Fortunately all the folks with dirt runs had much more realistic time frames for cleaning (every couple of weeks to every few months). That sounded reasonable, and made me much more willing to try chickens.

Wish I'd learned this on the tour but I didn't, so i'll throw it in here: Now that I have chickens, I would never again use a corrugated metal roof on the coop without some serious insulation. That metal roof may have been free (reclaimed roofing panels) but it drips condensation all over the coop in the winter and heats like an oven in the summer. Not quite so bad now that I put the semi-permanent shade cloth structure over the top of it, but still... next time I'll use wood and rolled roofing or shingles. Live and learn.

I remember that tour! We couldn't get tickets and were so bummed but then we were glad we didn't go because it was so hot. In the last year I replaced the polycarbonate roofing material on both my tractor/brooder and the main chicken coop. It was awesomely cool as it reflected back much of the heat. I absolutely loved the polycarbonate material, but it really didn't perform all that well when bent like I had it (I suspect it would be fine if installed flat, as intended). We had a couple panels blow off in a storm a month or so ago and we replaced it with galvanized metal. It is much hotter.

However, I used Reflectix radiant barrier insulation underneath. A few quick and dirty tests of the heat in the tractor with and without the Reflectix material was all I needed to spend the extra money on it. It was well worth it. As you suggest, maybe that keeps condensation from being a problem too, since I haven't yet seen that (although I haven't yet been through a rainy season with the new coop roof).

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

Try using reflectix insulation; it will make a world of difference. I can't praise that stuff enough!

HA! Great minds think alike. Mine is just so much slower.

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

What I have found works best for me is not totally open sides, but having every side partially open (just wire) and partially closed. This gives more shade. I make sure to have the open parts places so that there is plenty of cross ventilation. One of my favoured plans has open corners and closed center areas.

Oh that sounds interesting! They get the best of both worlds.

 

[turkeybreeder]

we need help in hatching muscovy duck eggs
humidity and how many days if anyone has hatch
muscovy please let me know, i google it
and it says that muscovies duck eggs take
more days to hatch then other species of ducks
some said 31 and others 35 so i am confuse
have a great day

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Muscovies should take 35 days.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote: Lol. Just happened to see it and start writing first, lol! I have wondered whether to use it over or under the roof. In my case I have it on top of thin wooden roofs. One place I was wondering is that on my skylight roof (guess where it gets its name, lol) gets really hot with the light coming in. I've thought of lining the inside (or maybe the top surface?) with the reflectix. If I do that, would you recommend putting it under the skylight or on top? In either case I will probably have to glue it as the skylight is sort of dome shaped.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote:

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Prevents hot corners and gives multiple angles of breeze possibilities. One of these is an 8x8 coop, the other is 6x6. On the 6x6 the whole front is open, but there is an insulated shade barrier a couple of feet from the front that covers the entire width. This one does not stay quite as cool, but that could be for several reasons, starting with the smaller size and not being under the shade canopy of a very tall African sumac.