Colorado

[lomine]

Hello @cdlord

I have ducks so my coop and run are a little different, but I do plan to make some modifications and add chickens. I personally use the deep litter method (DLM) and pea gravel in my run. I needed pea gravel around the ducks' pond. It was half and half but I found I preferred the DLM so expanded that part and now it is 3/4 DLM and 1/4 gravel. I just started in August of last year so I haven't had to do a full run clean out yet. I tried the DLM in my elevated coop but it didn't really catch so now I just have pine shavings and I scrap the top layer off each week into the run so it can start to break down. Then I add more shavings to the coop. The only time my run/coop smells is if one of my girls has just left a really sticky poo.

Otherwise it just smells like a compost pile, kind of a fresh earthy smell.

I will say that I did give them some straw in the winter to cuddle up in but I stopped giving that in December. I still have a lot of straw in the mix; it just doesn't break down as fast. Now I stick with mostly pine shavings. I did add leaves and grass clippings when they were available. I plan to use the litter in my garden this year so that's a bonus. It's also nice that I don't have to worry about filling my garbage with all the dirty litter.

 

[uzisuzuki]

Quick incubation question for everyone:

So, I'm dumb and candled my eggs yesterday (day 13). While looking up when lockdown should start, I noticed that you aren't supposed to candle during Days 11-14. Did I mess up my hatching chances by candling during that period?

 

[samsr]

I havent heard about not candling on days 11-14. Must be a developement thing. I generally acndle when i have the opertunity. I dont think you messed up. Most of my chicken hatches have been pretty good to this point. Geese hatches are a different story. Its hard to hatch geese.

 

[uzisuzuki]

I havent heard about not candling on days 11-14. Must be a developement thing. I generally acndle when i have the opertunity. I dont think you messed up. Most of my chicken hatches have been pretty good to this point. Geese hatches are a different story. Its hard to hatch geese.

Thank you! I didn't remember that being a "rule" on my first time hatching, but my memory is not to be trusted at all. I guess I'm nervous since the eggs I'm trying to hatch are the Ayam Cemani ones and they're a little more expensive than hatching my own flock's eggs.

 

[ceceuu]

Elizabeth and Kiowa feedsstill has a great selection of chicks.

 

[Latestarter]

@cdlord To answer your question(s) (as best I can) I'm trying to visualize the height and build characteristics of the coop you intend. Here are a few things to keep in mind/take into account in the planning stages BEFORE you build... You're getting pullets/hens for egg laying, so they will need some sort of nest box in which to place those delectable butt nuggets of pure joy. They tend to like to lay where others have, so for 4-8 birds, 2 nest boxes will be more than adequate. You'll no doubt find that they pick one as their favorite and most eggs will be found there. Also, I would NOT make these available to them until they reach POL (Point Of Lay - just before they start laying) or they will sleep in them at night and fill them with poop. NOT something you want them to learn to do.

If you place said nest boxes inside the coop, there are a few things to remember; they are going to eat up valuable and scarce floor space (ideally you want 4 square feet per bird inside the coop) unless you raise them up in height (figure at least 12", 18" is better) so the birds can walk beneath them, thereby NOT using up floor space. If they are inside the coop, this means you will need to open and access the inside of the coop daily (or multiple times a day) to gather said eggs. Not a major issue if you'll be using sand as you'll be in there cleaning/scooping multiple times a day anyway. If you enclose the nest boxes (put walls & a roof on them - some birds like privacy when laying), the roof should be sloped to prevent the birds roosting on top of the nest boxes and pooping all over the roof or down into the nest boxes. Many cut a hole in one wall and build exterior nest boxes for these reasons; easier to access, don't have to go in the coop, no poop on top of them, don't use up floor space.

The next issue is roosting. The birds have a natural proclivity to try and roost at the highest place they can reach, think above the reach of potential predators. Therefore, you need your roost pole/beam/log/2x4/etc. to be at that highest place. If you don't do this, again, you'll have birds sleeping in/on top of the nest boxes and filling them up with nightly poop. What most folks do is mount a small perch/step in front of the (elevated) nest boxes for the birds to use in transition from coop floor to entering the nest boxes, then place the roost on the opposite side of the coop at a height equal to or higher than the top of the nest boxes so the birds will go there at night. Many will build a removable poop tray/board under the roost as most of the coop poop will occur at night while they are roosting. This makes daily cleanup somewhat less tedious (but IMHO any required cleaning is STILL tedious). The poop board should be the same 12-18" above floor height, or more, to not use up floor space. The roost should be a minimum of 12" from the wall so the birds have room to turn around, and help keep them from pooping down the wall. If you'll be doing multiple roosts, they should all be at the same height or the birds will be fighting to determine who gets to roost on the higher one, and should be at least 12-18" apart so they don't peck at each other or poop on each other. If you intend to free range your birds or give them a large run, they'll spend most of their time out of the coop, so most of their poop will be from overnight deposits (on the poop board) under the roosts.

One other thing to consider is food & water (as well as grit & oyster shell). There WILL be days in the winter (high winds, blowing snow, etc) when the birds will not want to leave the coop. So will you be feeding and watering them inside the coop? Again, this will eat up floor space and additionally add to the potential cleaning issues inside the coop. If you plan to feed and water in the run, then you'll want/need a fairly protected space to block prevailing weather so the birds can come out and get to it when the bad weather happens. Some folks wrap the upwind side of the run with plastic or tarps in the winter, or block the up wind side with hay/straw bales... There are lots of ways to deal with it, you just need to be aware and take it into consideration. The primary weather patterns should also be taken into account before you build, as to how your coop is oriented! This will help not only with weather but with ventilation and shade.

If you are making a raised (above ground) coop, you've built in a nice shady area for hot summer days, but remember that some of your birds might prefer to build a sand nest under the coop to lay eggs, so make sure you have a way to reach under there to retrieve them. If one of the birds decides to go broody on you, she might also decide to do that under the coop. If the coop is raised only a bit to get it off the ground, but not enough for the birds to routinely get under it, be advised, ONE of them WILL get under there and you'll need the ability to get her out. That also promotes a nesting area for vermin - rats and mice, which will draw in snakes to eat the vermin, and it can just create all sorts of issues.

Anyway... as I said, you might want to spend some time over on the coop build pages, you'll get all kinds of great advice and shared experiences along with pictures (worth a thousand words!) that can help guide you.

Edit to add: read your intro and being in Aurora, you're out east of me (Brighton area). You get cold, and wind and snow and hail... weather. You don't need to insulate the coop, you don't need to heat the coop, they may want AC, but you don't even need to provide them that. But you will need a way to keep water from freezing in the winter (lots of ideas on here and plenty of time to research out what will work best for you), and your birds will have little to no problems with summer heat either, as long as they have some shade. You (& they) will do just fine!

 

[21hens-incharge]

cdlord,

Latestarter has given you some great advice. I will add that I had a 4x4 coop and it was to small for anything other then a grow out house. Adult birds could not fit well. I did what I could to try and make it work.
I hung the feeder on the clean out door and had an external nest box but it was still to small for adult birds.
Here is a pic with a young 12 week old pullet in it.



This is the back with an injured adult bird hiding under the coop.

This is the front.

This is what I used as a feeder in the tiny coop. It worked well enough and took up very little room.

You may want to consider making the coop at least 4x6 as I had made this coop.




One thing about straw is it can harbor mites that you do NOT want on your birds. I use pine shavings as you can see. I had 5 coops at one time and I found mites in 2 of them. The only ones to ever get mites were the coops with external nest boxes.

Due to the chicken math that Latestarter mentioned I now have a coop that is 8 x 14 foot.
This is a pic of the type of nest box he had mentioned. You will see it has a sharp slope to the roof and a board they can hop on to get in the upper level with.


I would also suggest going bigger if possible. Chickens are addicting and fun to have around. Even if you stick to only 4 they wont complain about the extra room.

 

[cdlord]

The more I look into it, the more I'm thinking about getting a coop kit instead of building one from scratch (no pun intended, maybe). I see some pretty nice ones for about the price it'll cost me to build one. I also started looking and a 4x6 coop will work better by design anyways. They'll have free run and when we're out there, free range (at least of my backyard). I could get a bigger coop, but that means cutting down on the run and I don't want to do that. 6'x10' is about my max (give or take inches). I will get an elevated coop so they can get the full 6x10 run and a convenient shelter too. Maybe I'll run to Murdoch's tomorrow and see what they got. The wife told me I had a tree to take down for her before she'll let me get chickens... :|

 

[21hens-incharge]

Something about the kits is they are usually made of really cheap materials. Look at them really closely and make an educated decision is my advice.

Make sure the kit has a floor model you can actually look at and touch so you get a feel for how light they are and how soft the wood is.

AND remember siding is only 25 bucks or so for a 4x8 sheet.

 

[Latestarter]

Echoing what 21Hens said... look over that prefab coop with a fine toothed comb. They routinely advertise false claims (will hold 6-8 birds when in fact 4 would be tight) and are almost without exception made of cheap, cheap, materials that MAY give you two years use before self destructing. Though you think you're saving time and money, it will actually cost you that amount twice over when you have to replace it a year or two from now. Just be careful and an educated consumer pls.