Chickens for 10-20 years or more? Pull up a rockin' chair and lay some wisdom on us!

[Gargoyle]

This is before I painted it, but it has plenty of airflow. maybe you can help me make it more efficient........seems like I might have some wasted space here.



Walt

I knew a guy 30 years ago in your part of the country, would go to farmers with old barns like that, he'd go to them, offer to tear down the old barn and haul everything away for $500; then he'd turn around and sell the weathered "patinated antiqued" wood to high end interior designers for thousands. After a few years the farmers got wise to him, and started charging him $500 instead of paying him...

 

[fowlman01]

I knew a guy 30 years ago in your part of the country, would go to farmers with old barns like that, he'd go to them, offer to tear down the old barn and haul everything away for $500; then he'd turn around and sell the weathered "patinated antiqued" wood to high end interior designers for thousands. After a few years the farmers got wise to him, and started charging him $500 instead of paying him...

There were lots of old poultry barns here and they were all made of redwood, so the patina on them was pretty incredible and the wood lasts forever.

 

[Gargoyle]

There were lots of old poultry barns here and they were all made of redwood, so the patina on them was pretty incredible and the wood lasts forever.

I know. I lived in a converted one for one winter. Pretty sparsely furnished, outhouse was a two seater at the far end (about 50 or 60 feet from my room). It high above the ground, just had open holes, sometimes I'd hear something, look down through the hole and see a cow grazing. Seriously.

 

[Beekissed]

okay al walt and bee leave my crossbeak alone. she is right here with me under my covers so she can keep warm,. after all she has special needs and i want her to feel loved.

Now that's funny right thar'...I don't care who ya are.

This is before I painted it, but it has plenty of airflow. maybe you can help me make it more efficient........seems like I might have some wasted space here.



Walt

Walt, are we going to have to have that discussion about drafts vs. ventilation again?

 

[CoopChick719]

Same here!

Actually...if something didn't look like it came from Sanford's place, I rejected it as being "too fancy".

Too funny, Beekissed! My dad was & is a proud scrounge! I have since picked up & carried the torch.

Our house did not look like Sanford's place but we surely had enough scrounge materials to jury rig something together.

 

[Beekissed]

My mother has the best farm scrap ever....I just formed storm windows for my hoop coop from PVC, clear plastic sheeting and duct tape. A large part of my coop came from her scrap lumber, tomato stakes and other such great items.

 

[MagicChicken]

Ok I'm not an old timer and I'm not a newbie. I have had chickens for almost 20 years. An old lady that owns a ranch down the way puts oyster shells in her water troughs. She says it adds the calcium to the water so the chickens drink it. Is this true? Is it worth it?

Hmmmm.... if the calcium in oyster shells dissolved in water, wouldn't there be a bunch of naked oysters running around? Just wondering...

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[Mountain Momma]

Is it a Martha Stewart paint color? It sounds absolutely lovely. That color would be perfect with pearls -- either on you or the chickens.

I bet its Ralph Lauren. And they got bought out about 5 years ago and their colors arent that good anymore. Itll be a nightmare to match it without a swatch or better yet the codes on the top of the can.

 

[Fred's Hens]

Fred, I'm curious about your experience with the straw; we've tried it a little, the chickens don't really chew it or break it up, it just sits there, and with our garden if we compost it takes a long time to break down. However, when we throw fresh grass clippings in there they love it, they spend lots of time scratching and playing in it, and then it turns into compost easily. We use wood chips inside the coop, change them out twice a year, it seems to compost ok, but very slowly as you mention.

Is there an advantage to hay over grass clippings? Looking at your setup, the grass might turn to mess and dust too quickly.

The debate of straw versus chips versus X Y Z will go on forever. Use whatever you wish. Fact is the birds are gonna poop on it and soil it and the mix is gonna provide compost material for the field.

I still prefer straw, good clean yellow wheat straw. It's half the price of chips. I've never used hay, but my brother does, as he keeps cows.

 

[al6517]

okay al walt and bee leave my crossbeak alone. she is right here with me under my covers so she can keep warm,. after all she has special needs and i want her to feel loved.

LOL your not going to get any sympathy from me LOL, I know your going to feel that wet spot very soon. Make an appointment to visit the therapist, because that ain't right at all, a cross beaked special needs Foo-Foo bird should have been thrown in the trash the second I saw the beak. I have special needs to too, that special need is to wring their necks LOL.