Colorado

[ANG2010]

have 2 chickens in boulder county. Need a coop asap. Anyone have any advice or materials? I'm goinna go pick some free wood up tomorrow in erie so hopefully i can build em something simple.

 

[trsturself]

There are all sorts of threads on BYC about coops. We went with a pretty simple box (4x4) with a slanted roof. We put 2 nest boxes on the inside and a couple roosts. This was when we thought we'd only have 4 chickens. Since then we've moved the nest boxes to the outside and added 2 more. We've also increased the number of roosts and ventilation after moving up to 10 chickens.
I think the most important thing is the run. The more space the better, and the more protected the better.

 

[Chickenuts]

There are also lots of ideas on Pinterest! Good luck! (And I'd maker it large enough to allow for chicken math...it's on its way!!!

 

[pichuris]

Here you go. This was the best article, he writes really well and explains why he's doing what he's doing.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/how-to-incubate-hatch-eggs-using-the-dry-incubation-method

Sweet thank you.

This is a great article, but keep in mind he is incubating in VA or West VA, so his humidity will be higher than ours here in Colorado. Just a thought.......... Also, I think this is why some people are adding a humidifier to the room where their incubator is, makes total sense.

Ahh good point

Thank you!  I think Mo is going to be able to add a Delaware to her Meyer order for me.  But if that falls thru, I'll keep you in mind. Where are you?

No problemo. Strasburg but always in Denver area.

 

[yawningreyhound]

Colorado peeps! Check out what the Man did for the hens today:

diagonal roosts for the warm weather! and i just added that covered litter box and i salted it with a grocery egg and they're laying there reliably! The boombox we play talk radio from all day aimed out to the forest to hopefully deter normally-nocturnal-but-hungry-so-hunting-in-the-daytime predators.

Where ELSE can I talk about this but Backyard Chickens?????

55 degrees today. I never wanted nice weather, i thrive in rainy weather, I'm irish and I blame that. NOW, after the floods, I want only perfect weather.

it's been grand recently.

marcia in pinewood springs

 

[Pozees]

Colorado peeps! Check out what the Man did for the hens today:

diagonal roosts for the warm weather! and i just added that covered litter box and i salted it with a grocery egg and they're laying there reliably! The boombox we play talk radio from all day aimed out to the forest to hopefully deter normally-nocturnal-but-hungry-so-hunting-in-the-daytime predators.

Where ELSE can I talk about this but Backyard Chickens?????

55 degrees today. I never wanted nice weather, i thrive in rainy weather, I'm irish and I blame that. NOW, after the floods, I want only perfect weather.

it's been grand recently.

marcia in pinewood springs

I love it! Did you remove the little flapping door from the litter box, or leave it?

 

[Mtn Margie]

That is rocking! Your chooks should love it. How bout a wee bit of the Irish weather coming in tonight with rain and 85mph gusts.

really big sigh.........

 

[Mtn Margie]

have 2 chickens in boulder county. Need a coop asap. Anyone have any advice or materials? I'm goinna go pick some free wood up tomorrow in erie so hopefully i can build em something simple.

Welcome! Did you get something figured out? Need help?

 

[yawningreyhound]

I love it! Did you remove the little flapping door from the litter box, or leave it?

This one didn't come with a flapping door and I was worried about the white color since I've read they like dark. But they've BEEN laying in light places, just not where I want them to...like underneath the coop in the back corner (which I suppose is darkISH) where I have to belly crawl thru straw to get them, top shelf of the coop, a bed behind the straw.... Then I thought I could spray paint the lid black, but before I decided to do that, I've found eggs in there every day. We only get 2 a day from the 5 of them right now, occas three. And I haven't found an outside-the-run/coop laying place, so I think they're all laying inside. And I suspect it's the same 2 or 3...with the longer days and warmer weather and me not chasing them down every few days to vaseline their legs, we'll see if production picks up!

My neighbor's coop has two straw bales-high stacks in her outdoor run and some of the chickens are roosting outside there when it's not frigid.

So I thought when it gets unbearably hot, maybe mine'll roost outside the coop. We'll see if they use those or not. At least it's using that space for something.

 

[yawningreyhound]

That is rocking! Your chooks should love it. How bout a wee bit of the Irish weather coming in tonight with rain and 85mph gusts.

really big sigh.........

Thank you! I hope they'll take advantage of them when it's so blasted hot this summer. I'm always amazed how hot it gets here at 7000 feet.

I just checked weather.gov...boo hoo hoo. 85 mph gusts. great. with rain.

Now the tarps go back up; it's been so nice to have them down and the run get aired out...they stir up so much dust bathing in the mornings while they're awaiting release. Their coop floor is the forest floor covered with clean straw and they kick that stuff up 'til there's a fine layer of dust on everything.

Jim ses if I just leave the dust, the litter-now-nesting box will be dark before I know it!

Batten down the hatches!!!!!!