Back in the chicken game

[Reiky's]

Its been a couple of years since we gave away our chickens. We had about 25 hens. Australorps, Americanas, Barred Rocks, Leghorns and a few bantams. we ended up with a few roosters in the mix that had to go away as they were very aggressive.
So we have decided to start again and are looking for some advice to possible reduce the daily maintenance, such as feeding and cleaning out the waterers. We typically would go into the coop twice a day to freshen the water and food. We used the standard plastic feeders and waterers that would either get poop in them or the waterers would get algae or mould within the day.
We live in the mountains of Colorado at around 6800ft. we do have a decent heating source on a thermostat but would be interested in upgrading if anyone has a better solution.
The coop is 8x10 with an 7.5ft high ceiling. The chicken run is about 15x20 that is fenced all the way around and under ground and a fenced roof. We are going to extend that into our fenced off garden this summer. Our common predators are Fox, Badgers, Skunk and Red Tail Hawks.
If anyone has suggestions or experience on how they handled the food and water as well as dealing with free-ranging we would appreciate the advice.

 

[Crazy for Chickens!]

 

[Pork Pie]

Hello and welcome to BYC. If you take a look at this link, you may find some interesting reading - https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/topic-of-the-week-thread-archive

You can also check out articles in the learning centre - https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/category/learning-center.11/

 

[007Sean]

Howdy Happy to have you join the family. Enjoy your time here at BYC!

 

[Kiki]

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[Plip]

Welcome to BYC, and welcome back to the chicken game! It's great to have you here (on both counts)!

 

[Joeschooks]

Hello and welcome to BYC!

Have you considered nipple drinkers? Also something else that should help cut down on the cleaning is to make roosts like these... I just finished making these today so haven’t actually tried it out yet but I’ll be able to scrape the poo straight into the gutter then into a bucket.

 

[ronott1]

Welcome to backyard chickens!

Less chickens and auto water and feeder systems will help. To keep water from freezing, some use stock tank heaters and recirculate with nipple water systems.
http://www.ebay.com/bhp/stock-tank-heater

 

[Reiky's]

View attachment 1302855
Welcome to backyard chickens!

Less chickens and auto water and feeder systems will help. To keep water from freezing, some use stock tank heaters and recirculate with nipple water systems.
http://www.ebay.com/bhp/stock-tank-heater

thanks for your response. Our water never seems to freeze just gets a nasty film on the inside of the container so we scrub it out each time we refill.
what auto water and feed systems do you use or recommend?

 

[Reiky's]

Hello and welcome to BYC!

Have you considered nipple drinkers? Also something else that should help cut down on the cleaning is to make roosts like these... I just finished making these today so haven’t actually tried it out yet but I’ll be able to scrape the poo straight into the gutter then into a bucket.
View attachment 1302852

That roost contraption you have built looks interesting. I decided today that I am going to use a rubberized paint on the floor of the coop to help with longevity of the floor material. We use wood chips/ shavings on the floor also. I am wondering if we should even worry about it. Maybe it just adds to the mess and dust?