Conversion of "3 sides totally open" aviary to a "good for chickens" coop.

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Since this thread is sort of my journal of life with chickens, figure I should link to other threads I make about more specific things. I know when I was keeping my quail aviary thread, I posted a lot of other photos and things in other threads and then lost them to the ravages of time, never to be seen again. Here is one I just made about someone tunneling into my run.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/majorly-perplexed-by-this-tunnel.1307691/
 
Finally got annoyed with my feeder enough to do some modifications. Don't remember if I wrote down my "I know this isn't going to be an ideal design" theories about this when I built it, but I was thinking them since the beginning.

Problem is I have a large round barrel, but only have feed ports on about 180 of the 360 degrees. Feed in the "back" has no way to make it to the forward ports and to be eaten. I had been dealing with this so far by occasionally opening the feeder and scooping all the feed forward into a slope where the highest point is in the front. But that was not ideal. I figured installing some sort of false wall to close off some of the "back" area would save me some effort in maintenance, but would also lower my capacity. Good thing I used a 20 gallon barrel when I made this. Haha. So I foamed in a wall. Sloped it a bit so that the bottom of the wall hits near the feed ports, and the top of the wall slopes near to the back.

I always use an entire can of foam when I do a project since it does not save well. So it looks really fluffy and excessive.....which it is. Hahaha.

140OIH7.jpg


Filled and in the coop. I did not measure, but the amount of feed is 3 gallons plus about half a 50 pound bag of crumbles. I only know that because when I dumped this out to work on it, the existing feed filled a 3 gallon ice cream bucket, and when I added that back and then continued to fill, it took the rest of what I have on hand, which was half a 50 pound bag. I am glad I did not use a higher board or fill it any fuller since the lid actually recesses into the neck more than I thought. This level of feed and false wall is actually very close to the "top" of the available space when the lid is on.

A28o3yU.jpg

Q56z3B6.jpg
 
Haven't updated in a while.

Opened the nest box today and tossed in some fake eggs to give them the idea. We are headed out of town for about 2 weeks, and it is getting close to egg time.....both age wise as well as the redness I am seeing in some combs. Our chickensitter might be in for a surprise. I am hoping the ladies don't sleep in there and poop.....because I won't be able to stop it, but will be able to see them doing it via the security cameras. Haha. Also hoping they can get in there without a landing perch in front. Time will tell. If it seems like they have trouble hopping in there, I will add a perch in front when I get back after my trip.

4GfdR8H.jpg


Chicken photos with some dog photobombs.

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Back from the trip and no sign of eggs or that they have even checked out the nest box. The bedding and all the fake eggs are in the exact same spots. A bit weird since one of the people I sold a couple RIR to said both of theirs started laying on the same day about a week ago. Don't think anything is wrong with my setup. Free feeding and watering 24/7, have had oyster shell available for months, plenty of places they could lay out in the run area if they are afraid of the official nest box, etc... Ohh well, it will happen eventually.

Picked up my first 100 pounds of the fancy custom milled feed that I got as part of a Feed Co-Op organized between some folks on Facebook. We order a pallet worth at a time (which I believe is forty eight 50 pound bags) and pick up from someone's house, splitting the pallet between us all. This mill is in Spokane, so almost 300 miles from me, but the upside is it is super fresh. It is a big change from pellets/crumble that just look a standard/uniform yellow/beige color. It is not labeled as crumble (or anything else), but I assume this is more the size and texture of what would be considered "mash".

lG8hJ57.jpg


This batch was milled on 6/18, which was a day or so before they trucked it over to us. I was on vacation, so just got my portion this weekend.

Triticale is an interesting ingredient. Go read about it to learn its interesting history!

HsgmcOt.jpg


About a 1 to 1 ratio of feed to water results in this soup.

EHJpoyn.jpg


Which then looks and smells super good after it absorbs the water...

2EiJ7me.jpg


It smells strongly of fresh peas. Lots of bright green bits seen (peas), some dark bits (which I think are the camelina meal), and then generic looking wheat/barley colored bits.

I filled a 5 gallon bucket with Gama Seal Lid with this stuff (to keep it fresher) and then dumped the remainder of that 50 pound bag into the big waste free feeder. Tried my best to mix the new stuff with the old name brand crumbles that were already in the feeder so that they will get a slow transition to the new stuff if they eat from the waste free feeder.

I plan to also keep doing my current method of giving them one of these black rubber bowls of wet feed every other day as a treat and also to condition them to eat food that has been wetted/dosed with medication (if I ever need to medicate). So far they still come running to the bowl of wet feed even if they have already woken up and filled up on dry stuff before I get my butt out of bed to put the wet stuff out for them. Haha.
 
Last edited:
paneubert said:
Back from the trip and no sign of eggs or that they have even checked out the nest box. The bedding and all the fake eggs are in the exact same spots. A bit weird since one of the people I sold a couple RIR to said both of theirs started laying on the same day about a week ago. Don't think anything is wrong with my setup. Free feeding and watering 24/7, have had oyster shell available for months, plenty of places they could lay out in the run area if they are afraid of the official nest box, etc... Ohh well, it will happen eventually.

Picked up my first 100 pounds of the fancy custom milled feed that I got as part of a Feed Co-Op organized between some folks on Facebook. We order a pallet worth at a time (which I believe is forty eight 50 pound bags) and pick up from someone's house, splitting the pallet between us all. This mill is in Spokane, so almost 300 miles from me, but the upside is it is super fresh. It is a big change from pellets/crumble that just look a standard/uniform yellow/beige color. It is not labeled as crumble (or anything else), but I assume this is more the size and texture of what would be considered "mash".

lG8hJ57.jpg


This batch was milled on 6/18, which was a day or so before they trucked it over to us. I was on vacation, so just got my portion this weekend.

Triticale is an interesting ingredient. Go read about it to learn its interesting history!

HsgmcOt.jpg


About a 1 to 1 ratio of feed to water results in this soup.

EHJpoyn.jpg


Which then looks and smells super good after it absorbs the water...

2EiJ7me.jpg


It smells strongly of fresh peas. Lots of bright green bits seen (peas), some dark bits (which I think are the camelina meal), and then generic looking wheat/barley colored bits.

I filled a 5 gallon bucket with Gama Seal Lid with this stuff (to keep it fresher) and then dumped the remainder of that 50 pound bag into the big waste free feeder. Tried my best to mix the new stuff with the old name brand crumbles that were already in the feeder so that they will get a slow transition to the new stuff if they eat from the waste free feeder.

I plan to also keep doing my current method of giving them one of these black rubber bowls of wet feed every other day as a treat and also to condition them to eat food that has been wetted/dosed with medication (if I ever need to medicate). So far they still come running to the bowl of wet feed even if they have already woken up and filled up on dry stuff before I get my butt out of bed to put the wet stuff out for them. Haha.
Click to expand...
nice!
 
First egg. Well formed for shape and size, and almost a bit rough with extra calcium. No complaints there! Most of my ladies will lay brown eggs, so I don't know who this came from. Could be anyone....even the Cuckoo Marans if they start out with light brown before they darken with time.

Found it in the pile of leaves under the nest boxes.....which is what I thought might happen. Nice and dark under there. We will see if whoever laid it shapes up and learns the right spot where it is easier for me to access.

EWLPztW.jpg

DZ5nqpx.jpg
 

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