Chickens Graduating to Coop Soon (sniffle)

[ravanellofarm]

Hello,

We have 6 chicks with a few more weeks in the brooder before they can go to the coop. I'm a nervous chick mama and might camp out next to the coop the first night. I would love to know if I have everything set for their safely and warmth. Any advice is much appreciated!

We recently moved to a farm with a larger coop that hasn't seen chickens in at least 20 years. I've cleaned out the rusty nails, old poop and replaced the rotten wood (not to mention scary scorpions and centipedes that I'm assuming they will love eating). My son constructed new nesting boxes.

1) I am replacing the torn chicken wire and although the old existing wire is stronger than the new wire I was told predators an rip through it. Well somebody did because there are holes. I was planning to replace it with gopher wire (hardware cloth). Does that sound correct? One wall of the coop is wire for air flow and the run is all currently chicken wire. What is most recommended?

2) We painted the inside of the nesting boxes with livestock safe barn and fence paint and plan to paint the floor to stat them out on a clean foot (no pun intended). Even though it's safe for livestock is the floor and boxes too much contact?

3) It gets low 30's in the winter - do I need a lamp to keep them warm?

4) There is fox, boar, bear, hawks, bobcats, snakes in the area - other than coop security what else can we do to keep them safe?

5) What is most recommended for bedding/floor material for the coop? Is it changed daily?

OK I'm I'll have so many more questions. You are such a wonderful resource. Thank you in advance!

 

[DobieLover]

Low 30s is a nice warm winter night!! You'll NEVER need to supplement heat.

I never recommend chicken wire for anything other than keep chickens out of certain areas of the coop. It's just not predator proof.

If you really want to keep the scorpions, centipedes and I image tarantulas out of the coop, you may want to put up aluminum screening over windows and then a layer of hardware cloth.

The paint in the coop is not an issue.

I use hemp bedding in my coop as it is very low in dust.
I only clean my coop floor bedding out annually because I use poop boards with Sweet PDZ under the roosts and scoop the boards daily.

For the run I would use 1/2" hardware cloth over the upper walls and 1/4" on the lower walls. I'd install a 24" wide predator apron using the 1/2". Just spread it out and pin down the outer edge and let the grass grow back through it.

If you have power to the coop, run a couple of hot wires around the run with the first one about 6" off the ground, then another at 12" and a third at 18". Any ground predator that comes into contact with one of the wires will not be back for a second encounter.

 

[rosemarythyme]

1. Hardware cloth or small opening welded wire would be better choices than chicken wire. If it's in the budget, you could layer hardware cloth over 2x4 welded wire for extra stability/security.

2. Should be fine.

3. 30 degrees is nothing for a healthy chicken. Skip the heat, it's just an unnecessary fire hazard.

4. Hotwire, a well trained LGD, and a trail camera would be possible extras worth considering.

5. Most popular bedding is probably wood shavings. I use aged wood chips as they're free for me and can be tossed into the run during clean outs. Frequency of cleaning depends on the overall space you're working with (bigger coops tend to need less cleaning), number of birds in the space, and how you manage the poop load. I spot clean under the roosts daily but only clean out the coop twice a year.