Consolidated Kansas

[ChickieWickies]

Ashncarson, this part is ALWAYS hard because we ALWAYS think too hard! On our first coop, I designed for weeks before my husband decided to just "wing" it. UGH, but it turned out great--he's like that!! On the duplex we made for breeding, I designed for weeks again. We try to think of every possible situation, but usually things pop up that we never thought of.

Make sure you have lots of secure ventilation for our hot summers. Just cover the pen with a tarp right now. We have wire across the top of ours to keep out predators, and the tarp is zip tied down on it. After it rain you need to push water off from underneath the tarp (my kids LOVE doing this--it makes a waterfall), but it provides a lot of shade for less than $20.

Speaking of rain--we got almost 2" last night!!!

I hope you got some, too, Danz. I bet Trish got even more.

Josie, what do you have?!?!?!?!?!? I haven't been to Towanda for years!!

Well, off to church. Have a great, cooler day!

 

[Polishpal]

Good morning byc we got a little bit of rain lastnight,only enough to dampen the ground. On another topic another on of my hens eggs is hatching.

 

[cleansquared]

Just a thought idk how expensive it would be but you could get some uv material (sumbrella is a brand name but surley there are knock offs) and cover your run with that they also sell tarps that are specificly made as sun protectant they are silver and black and will say they block the uv light they make a huge diff.. At least 10 degrees cooler under our uv tarp.. I dont use it for chickens but i use it myself for outdoor festivals we do.. Some festivals its so hot every one wants to hang out in our tent just because of our tarp it makes that much of a diff..

 

[chicken danz]

The two I hatched 3 weeks ago are ready to go out into the hoop. I wonder how they would get along with a broody and several of her babies. I suppose I could keep them in the inside brooder for a little longer and move her into the hoop. Would you do that after the chicks hatch or before? Maybe she wouldn't be mean to the older babies once hers were more mobile and I could add them to the hoop later?
Sharol I don't think it makes a lot of difference. She will protect her babies but not necessarily be mean to the other chicks. She just won't let them get near them. I think if it were me I'd go ahead and move them out and add the hen and chicks. Then just watch them initially to see how they interact.
The eggs in the incubator are being less successful. One is clear and 2 others seem to have stopped developing at about day 10 or so (from the pictures of chick development). I'm going to remove the clear one at lock down (when I check them again), but the other 2 will stay in there just in case unless they smell. 3 of them look wonderful -- strong veins but almost completely full of chick. I had thought about sneaking them (the hatched chicks) under Marlena after everyone had hatched. Do you think that would work?
Yes or you could let her hatch them.
I'm chattering. Got to get to work and Oxine the hoop. I got it scrubbed out this morning. It lives in the quonsett hut unless it is in use, and some mice had made their homes in the feeder, so I'm going to disinfect it before we bring it down to the yard. What is the correct water/oxine/activator ratio for a gallon of mix? The bottle shows it in ounces, and I'm stupid about that stuff.

I use 2/3 cup Oxine, about a tablespoon or two of citric acid per gallon of water. I use to measure out the citric acid but found that if I happen to add more it just increases the potency of the activated oxine. So I don't do the whole measuring thing any more. Let it set for at least 10 minutes. Longer works even better, before use. You can mix a cup or so of this with another gallon or two of water and have strong enough stuff to do plenty.

yes that was the plan...I was not sure how everything would grow so the squash is still hard to get to and I must walk in to get it to.
next year the spaghetti squash will grow up like the cucumbers do in the back left corner. I will be doing more okra next year as well ( I only did 2 for the first time this year) and then hopefully I can figure out how to space the squash better...the barrels in the back where for potatoes...

I got an idea from Sharol and ordered some vine netting to grow my climbing plants like cucumbers, tomatoes etc on. It saves a lot of ground space and is super light weight and easy to use.

My broody hen and chick are practically living in a mansion X3 my mom got a free elevated baby play pen for them to stay in. It works great because its plenty big and they cant kick the wood shavings out, it's also very easy to clean. The chicky seems go enjoy the room and mama bird has plenty of room.to get up abed move if she feels like it. I think this is a preety good way to reuse a old play pen

I will try and upload some pictures later. On another topic we put our 3 guinea keets outside in the pen with the egg birds. They seem to enjoy it, but we had to clip there wings which they did not seem to enjoy. So that's what I did to day and to anyone going to the Johnson county fair I'm going to be there almost the whole time so I hope to see you there

I've heard of other people using play pens. Great find. Good luck at the fair.
Quote:

Who knew that making plans to build a coop and run could be so hard and frustrating! We are trying to save money first off and make it as cheaply with recycled parts as possible. Pallets and a old playground my mom has so far. I am wanting the coop 8x5 and after my husband built the frame he told me that most plywood runs 8x4 and it would be easier to make it 8x4...

The run will be 13' x 10' that includes under the coop. I want to be able to roof in the whole area but money wise, its not going to be possible right now. I found some trusses that would be perfect for the whole 13x10 area but they are 1 1/2 hours away on the other side of Wichita. It looks like we will try to just cover the coop and the run part right next to it for a total of 8x10.

The chicks I am hoping to get are already 9 days old and she said she can keep them until they are feathered out! I sure hope we can get it done by then otherwise I will be waiting until spring

Is this part always hard or are we just thinking to hard?

I planned very carefully for my first coop even though I was using scavenged materials. In the end there are things I would have done differently. Most of them since then have been planned while building and work fine. There are some basic ideas to remember. Square footage for more birds than you plan to actually have. A raised floor if you plan to raise chicks in it. I seal the edges of the floor to keep rodents out when I am raising chicks in a building. You will save health issues as well as a lot of chick starter. I have used metal flashing and caulking both. No money: you can just nail strips of wood along the seams to close them in. Try to square it all up if you want the easiest build. Look on the free section of craigslist for anything you might use. Windows, doors, materials. Leave plenty of ventilation. Vents for chicks should be placed high to prevent drafts.
Posted by ChickieWickies

Just a thought idk how expensive it would be but you could get some uv material (sumbrella is a brand name but surley there are knock offs) and cover your run with that they also sell tarps that are specificly made as sun protectant they are silver and black and will say they block the uv light they make a huge diff.. At least 10 degrees cooler under our uv tarp.. I dont use it for chickens but i use it myself for outdoor festivals we do.. Some festivals its so hot every one wants to hang out in our tent just because of our tarp it makes that much of a diff..

Sumbrella is super expensive. Tarps are good but can become pricy depending on size. Shade cloth is another option but again pricey, but lasts a long long time. I have some that is 20 years old. Probably my best sun shade is made from an old bedspread. I clamped it over the pen and it drains water, the wind passes through it some what so it doesn't rip the pen out of place and it is great shade. It has also worked to prevent hawk and owl attacks. It's the only pen I have that doesn't have netting and I must say it works well. I just also put a long 6 yard piece of upholstery fabric I had had for years over the top of a pen for shade. It also worked great. Cloth works really well so any old bedding or anything with size you don't intend to save is an option. I saved all of my old sheets and things to use to protect plants in cold weather so I have a nice selection of potential shade fabrics here. I had purchased lots of fabric back when Walmart used to have all the $1 a yard end pieces. I use it for things like this at no extra expense to me right now.

 

[chicken danz]

I forgot to mention that Medawinks and family were here yesterday to visit. It was so great to see them again. Sweet Sera sang "Gold" for me in exchange for a handful of peacock feathers! Medawinks took a great picture of Sera and Fluff. I hope she doesn't mind me sharing it. I so love those kids! My son was also here and although he isn't a daddy I think he enjoyed them as well.

 

[HEChicken]

HEchicken, I think you mentioned earlier about learning your lesson with tomatoes and chicken poop? I think we might not have learned it yet. Back at the very beginning of the season when we transplanted my tiny little seedlings, we put down a very light layer of shavings from the coop. Now my tomatoes are huge, and I mean HUGE. There are tomatoes growing, but I'm not sure how they're going to get enough sunlight in there to ripen. There aren't a ton of tomatoes, either. I haven't been out to look in the last couple of days. Those tomatoes may have eaten the rest of the garden by now!

Oh dear, I'm sorry you had to experience this too. But, your experience has confirmed for me that we are correct about the cause. At least we know for next year, right?

This year I put the chicken coop clearings on the end where I was planting greens - collards, kale, chard etc. And the end where I planted the tomatoes and peppers, I used only old hay as mulch. So far my tomato plants are staying fairly small but are loaded with fruit.

 

[HEChicken]

Just cover the pen with a tarp right now. We have wire across the top of ours to keep out predators, and the tarp is zip tied down on it. After it rain you need to push water off from underneath the tarp (my kids LOVE doing this--it makes a waterfall), but it provides a lot of shade for less than $20.

Personally I wouldn't use a tarp. I did that on a dog run I was using as a turkey pen last year and the results were disastrous. We had a big rain and the water collected in the tarp and the weight of it was too great for the (chain link) dog run. It collapsed in from the weight, and has been an eyesore ever since. I've barely even been able to use it, except as a short-term "nursery" for new broodies with their newly hatched chicks, for a few days of peace until they are ready to take their chicks out into the main flock.

I forgot to mention that Medawinks and family were here yesterday to visit. It was so great to see them again. Sweet Sera sang "Gold" for me in exchange for a handful of peacock feathers! Medawinks took a great picture of Sera and Fluff. I hope she doesn't mind me sharing it. I so love those kids! My son was also here and although he isn't a daddy I think he enjoyed them as well.

That is a lovely picture of Sera and Fluff. I hope you told Medawinks we miss her on here!

We got a little over 2" of rain last night - wahoo!!!

 

[chicken danz]

I know I miss her and don't get to talk to her enough. She and Deerfield both have their hands so full it's hard to catch up with them.

 

[22qZoo]

Cute picture ! Two questions,Danz a few days ago you posted something about tilling one of the pens if you don't mind can I ask why ? and
I'm starting to do FF again , I've heard that you shouldn't put ACV in the galvanized Waters, is there any problem putting FF in a galvanized feed trough ? I took the top part off and just use the bottom part.
So glad most everybody got some rain, yay..

 

[cherwill]

I forgot to mention that Medawinks and family were here yesterday to visit. It was so great to see them again. Sweet Sera sang "Gold" for me in exchange for a handful of peacock feathers! Medawinks took a great picture of Sera and Fluff. I hope she doesn't mind me sharing it. I so love those kids! My son was also here and although he isn't a daddy I think he enjoyed them as well.

What a great picture! I hope they're all doing well.