Building My First Coop

[adirondak5]

Latest update . 2 of the hens are in full molt , they look like they got caught in a plucker . One is starting to grow out new feathers but the other (barred rock) is still losing them . They have been getting some xtra mealworms to increase their protein intake . The other hens are fine , still getting 3 - 4 eggs a day from them (nothing from the 2 molters). They did not like the snow we got last week , took them 3 days to decide it wasnt gonna kill them and to come out of the coop. I'll get some pics of the molters up later .

 

[aart]

Latest update . 2 of the hens are in full molt , they look like they got caught in a plucker . One is starting to grow out new feathers but the other (barred rock) is still losing them . They have been getting some xtra mealworms to increase their protein intake . The other hens are fine , still getting 3 - 4 eggs a day from them (nothing from the 2 molters). They did not like the snow we got last week , took them 3 days to decide it wasnt gonna kill them and to come out of the coop. I'll get some pics of the molters up later .

Interesting that within the same age group, some are hard molting and others are still laying.
Do you use supplemental lighting?

 

[adirondak5]

Interesting that within the same age group, some are hard molting and others are still laying.
Do you use supplemental lighting?

No supplemental lighting , don't like to force them . The 3 Red Stars are laying about every day , no signs of molting , the one olive egger mix and one barred rock are the molters right now . I figure the other barred rock will molt soon .

 

[adirondak5]

Here's the two , the barred rock is the worse of the two , the others feathers are coming back now .

 

[adirondak5]

Time for a progress report . My 2 molters started laying again about 2 weeks ago , they had not layed for almost 3 months . None of the other 4 have molted or started molting and have been laying every day or every other day through the winter . Yesterday got 6 eggs from the 6 of them , thats a first since back in November .
Anyway , the girls are all healthy , they do not like snow , they do not like wind . Cold weather doesn't seem to bother them . Still on the same batch of chopped hemp in the coop from early 2020 , still no odor issues or any problems with it , I'm very happy with the performance of it . The "Ratproof Feeder" has also preformed flawlessly , another product I'm very happy with .

 

[K0k0shka]

Good to hear! Impressed about the hemp bedding lasting this long. Yay for efficient and effective coop solutions! It's coming up on a year since I set my coop up and I've only changed the bedding inside once, in September. Been half a year now, I think I'll give it another full change soon and make it biennial.

 

[adirondak5]

Good to hear! Impressed about the hemp bedding lasting this long. Yay for efficient and effective coop solutions! It's coming up on a year since I set my coop up and I've only changed the bedding inside once, in September. Been half a year now, I think I'll give it another full change soon and make it biennial.

Thank you . To be fair I do have poop boards under the roost in my coop , I would say I probably catch 80% of their waste so that helps keep the bedding long lasting . My daughter still uses wood shavings and has changed it out 3 times since last June . She just asked me to order her 2 bales of the chopped hemp . She takes care of my coop if we go away and she likes the hemp in my coop better than the wood shavings in hers . I will probably change mine out in May and use it in the garden for mulch .

 

[K0k0shka]

Thank you . To be fair I do have poop boards under the roost in my coop , I would say I probably catch 80% of their waste so that helps keep the bedding long lasting . My daughter still uses wood shavings and has changed it out 3 times since last June . She just asked me to order her 2 bales of the chopped hemp . She takes care of my coop if we go away and she likes the hemp in my coop better than the wood shavings in hers . I will probably change mine out in May and use it in the garden for mulch .

That's riiiiight, you have poop boards. I forgot about that. Yeah, mine is on month 6 without poop boards Still doesn't look too bad though. I've topped it off with fresh shavings maybe 3-4 times for those 6 months.

Lucky you have someone to take care of the chickens when you are away!

 

[Cryss]

Poop boards are the best invention since sliced bread! My floor has deep pine shavings that I don’t add to and have only changed it once a year and even then it could have gone longer. Someday I’d like to try the hemp.

 

[adirondak5]

Took the winter water pail outta the coop today , got the outside water pail in the run , hopefully we won't be getting anymore serious freezes here but will watch closely . Hopefully Spring has sprung .