Authentic Woods KD (Knock Down) 10' by 16' Coop Build

[Ted Brown]

@aart My drop board is currently 24" wide with a 1" by 1" lip to keep sand and PDZ contained; 10' wide.

I bought 50lb of silicate sand (super clean large particles) and spread it, I will need another bag to get to the 1/2" depth I have read is appropriate.

How much PDZ should I spread on top?

Thank you!

 

[aart]

@aart My drop board is currently 24" wide with a 1" by 1" lip to keep sand and PDZ contained; 10' wide.

I bought 50lb of silicate sand (super clean large particles) and spread it, I will need another bag to get to the 1/2" depth I have read is appropriate.

How much PDZ should I spread on top?

Thank you!

I use straight PDZ, but used to use 4:1 sandDZ.
Let your nose be the judge.

Hey, where did you find the PDZ?
Is it granulated or powder?

I keep my level at less than a 1/8" and sift the entire contents thru this basket.

 

[Ted Brown]

@aart My sister and BIL made a trip to Ogdensburg NY (right on Canada-US border and about 2 hours from where I live). They bought the BJ57 at Lowes and two bags of Sweet PDZ (granulated I think) from Tractor Supply Co (neither available easily in my area).

They loved TSC, spent near on a couple of hours browsing.

 

[aart]

@aart My sister and BIL made a trip to Ogdensburg NY (right on Canada-US border and about 2 hours from where I live). They bought the BJ57 at Lowes and two bags of Sweet PDZ (granulated I think) from Tractor Supply Co (neither available easily in my area).

They loved TSC, spent near on a couple of hours browsing.

Did they have to pay any duty fees?

 

[Ted Brown]

Did they have to pay any duty fees?

Funny you should ask. We are required to spend 24 hours in the US to get $800/per person duty free. They spent less than 4 hours and were sent by the booth agent to the office for the ~$75US they spent. The office agent was annoyed that they had been sent inside and told them to be on their way (did not want to process the papaerwork, happens all the time).

 

[blackdog043]

@Ted Brown Great job on the coop!

Have you thought about a heated waterer for the winter? This is what I use, it will be good to at least -20.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...ock-tank-deicer-and-horizontal-nipples.74609/

I use straight PDZ 1/4 - 1/2 inch to start. When it gets to low to spread over the whole board, I add more. I never mixed it with sand. I use a piece of 1 x 4 with 1/2" eye hooks screwed into one side to smooth out the PDZ. I tilt the board on an angle as the PDZ gets lower.

You can kinda see the eye hooks on the left side of the board. I use a wire basket to sift the smaller poop pieces out of the PDZ. I got it at Walmart, in the office supply section. My scraper is an 8" drywall tape knife.

 

[DiYMama540]

Awesome coop build! Really loved reading through this thread! Next adventure on your list is incubating those eggs!! Best of luck to you and your flock!! Really great work!!

 

[Ted Brown]

@blackdog043 @DiYMama540 Thank you both, the three of us (sister and BIL) are very pleased. Things always go better/easier with help and encouragement.

I have mostly focused on, first research, then predators and the build. I picked up a bit about the birds themselves along the way now have to dig deeper to learn about care, feeding, etc. I had to think about the eye hooks then it dawned that they keep the board at the proper height for leveling - great bit of advice!

-20F covers our winters here with very occasional days that can go lower. I knew I would need a water heater but have done no research, thanks for the tip.

Today is day 12 of the incubation, we check things everyday but seems it is a bit like watching paint dry. I understand day 18 gets a bit more interesting, that will happen quickly and if successful even more so...

Life will be more busy going forward.

 

[Ted Brown]

@aart @blackdog043

Two for PDZ only, I will follow the advice thanks. Given the small size of the basket holes I assume you are using powdered?

 

[jthornton]

How much PDZ should I spread on top?

I use 100% granulated PDZ and some of mine have watery poop from time to time so I make it 1/2" deep as it seems to help.

JT