Chicken cote (update in post#12 of thread).

[ChooksChick]

I'm looking forward to the answers I assume are being written carefully and with attention and effort.

I'll be waiting patiently in the front row.

 

[Medicine Man]

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Im waiting right here with you because I have some coops under construcion and I cant decide on some things.

(exept that i think hes in the other thread)


"Education is learning what you didn't even know you didn't know."

-Daniel J. Boorstin

(and when I do learn something like this, its easy to see how it relates to the RJF and say "OF COURSE! IT MAKES PERFEC SENSE!")

 

[Yashar]

Well, I've had this "post a reply" window open for a day and a half... Not that I have a whole lot to say, I just think what I say is being picked apart a bit....
I don't mind constructive critisism, I just don't understand why I get this flack for calling my structure a cote instead of a coop. If you think it's a coop. You are free to call it a coop. I won't even directly correct it otherwise. I may in the next sentence call it a cote, because that is what I call it.
If I may repeat myself in the matter, I like to make a distinction. If your coop is a 10x10 about 8 foot tall I will might even call your building a cote to. Especially if you have your food off the ground and made the birds fly up 3 feet to the door.

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Now, this is a very clear question...
I have some ideas... I don't even mind if you build a "coop" using them.

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I think what I was saying was that I wanted to use that wavy translucent fibreglass roofing for our next structure. It's just like metal roofing but allows light in.

Well,
I'm going now, be back on Sunday....
Yashar

 

[patandchickens]

Especially if you have your food off the ground and made the birds fly up 3 feet to the door.

Now THOSE are interesting and specific ideas. Thank you! (Sincerely.) I will have to think about ways of doing that, for my setup... especially the food up off the ground idea, even if just for 'habitat complexity'.

Pat​

 

[Carols Clucks]

Back in the day.....

We had a pigeon "cote" with a high take off and landing door/platform, raised nest box, branch roosts and food shelf and the whole thing up on stilts. I never saw a hen in it and yes they could fit through the door.


I think a big factor not listed by a few of the people posting is exactly what type of chicken they are keeping for those cotes. Game birds that are light and can fly might truly enjoy the opportunity to fly up several feet to get in and some Banties too (those two types did like to roost in the trees)

But other chickens are just too big and too heavy to be forced to fly. The LF chickens most of us keep for eggs in our back yards are very different from their ancient ancestors

Our chickens have the range of the garden, they will hop up on saw horses, the compost bin wall and a stump of a tree. And of course over the fence/gates to the veggie garden. But I do not see them fly up to the open bird feed plate (4 feet off the ground) or up in any of the trees. On the other hand, they have their favorite trees to hang out under, all with low branches they could easily choose to perch on. Our hens, LF, seem to prefer the ground. Even hidden nests are located under bushes. If you saw our lot, you would realize they could pick many places up high to hide their nests away. They love to run down the hill flapping their wings to help them race to the bottom of the yard, but they do not try and fly.

That all being said, our new coop is raised, they have to hop up about 3 feet or use the chicken ladder to get in the coop at night. They love the high roosts (a good 6+ feet off the ground ( 3.5 feet from the floor of the coop) We find a few of them in there at odd times of the day choosing to nap in there rather than a tree branch. Before you say that is cause they were raised in that coop and that is why they pick that spot, the new coop has only been used by them a couple of months.

My point; coop or cote, seems the bigger question is the type of chicken using it.

 

[Medicine Man]

Its all relative Carol, they're keeping Buff Orpingtons in one the cotes shown in the photos. The point is the higher level of stewardship. bigger chickens = lower roosts, lower tables et cetera but its the same thing just different scale.

 

[Moabite]

So, I've got a rough design idea for a "Cote". Imagine a umbrella or mushroom shape. Center pole would have a spiral ladder that would lead up to a trap door or maybe it could be a floorless design. It should probably have sides, maybe octagon in shape. Food could be served up high, near the roosts, but water down lower. This is just a brain storm please add comments and suggestions.

 

[Yashar]

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I know I said it already, but I really like the way you put this question. I think we really came to something that we can collaborate on. Cote, coop, or "hens' hause" - what can we do to encourage cleanliness, exercise, and safety (and other things that lend toward the well-being of a flock). Specific ideas for design. What have we tried that didn't work so well (I have a few of those).

Anyway, I wanted to start a fresh thread with welsummer4's question as the basis. I really hope it will be full of useful information for those who are interested in stewardship to glean from.

Here is the link https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=5297797#p5297797

 

[the-bird-man]

wow this thread was starting to look like a jerry springer show

its good its back on track. i wanted to thank everyone for their opinions. i have learned a lot from all of you

 

[MamaChic21]

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I youtube it and mainly they showed the inside of the coops