Converting a greenhouse

[elmo]

Vancouver Island is top on my list of "places we'd like to vacation once we can fly again." We have an elderly Boston Terrier (the real Elmo, actually), and the last few years we've been spending our summer vacations in places we can drive to so we can bring Elmo along with us.

You're very lucky to live in such a gorgeous place! For years my husband and I have talked about moving out of Texas once we get to retirement age, but the fact is we've built so much chicken and other bird housing where we now are, it's really hard to think about moving and having to go through constructing new setups for all the avian pets we have and are acquiring.

 

[Junkmanme]

Quote # 1: But I would be worried about that roof at those temperatures, especially since one side of the roof is south facing. We have lots of trees, so it probably does get shade, though it's hard to know for sure since this is our first year here.

Quote # 2: The reason we don't want to use it as a greenhouse is because it's actually in a pretty bad space for a greenhouse, but a great space for chickens. I don't think it will ever get full sun because of all the trees around it.


It appears that you have already made up your mind. It is YOUR building and it is YOUR property. Enjoy your decision.

I PERSONALLY think you are making a mistake by doing it this way.... but I am NOT there and I do NOT own your property.

GOOD LUCK with YOUR Conversion.

-Junkmanme-

 

[catchthewind]

Quote:
I don't know if you can see in the pictures, but it is pretty close to trees on the south side. In the winter, it does not get full sun. In the summer, with the sun higher, it might for part of the day. We haven't lived here over a summer yet so it's hard to say. I was talking in the first quote about how I was worried it would get too hot in the summer for chickens with that roof on it. To be more clear, I should have written "it probably still gets shade in the summer" rather than what I wrote above. Since I live here now and it's sunny today, I can see for a fact that it does not get much sun at this time of year.

I do appreciate the input, but regardless of whether we use this particular building or not, it is not a good place for a greenhouse as it wouldn't do much to extend the growing season without some sun in the fall and spring. We do have some spots that don't have trees on the south side that we feel would be much better options, that have full sun even this time of year. I haven't made up my mind about whether to convert this, or just tear it down and build from scratch.

ETA: If you don't think I should use it because you think it should remain a greenhouse, then yes I have made up my mind that this will not be a greenhouse in this location. Though just to double check, I do have a friend who is a very good gardener who visits fairly often, and I'm going to get her opinion on the location as well. I'm almost positive she will agree with me as she's already commented on the location of the present garden and greenhouse. But if you have concerns about its suitability as a chicken coop, I would love to hear more about those.

 

[catchthewind]

Quote:
Thanks Elmo! It is beautiful here, but expensive too. We are discussing potentially moving off the island in 5-10 years. But really we'd prefer to stay here, so we'll see what happens. Especially if, as you say, we've put time and money into coops and other setups on the property at that point. We also have the beginnings of an edible food forest and some other ideas from Gaia's Garden in the works. It would be hard to start again.

 

[calista]

Speaking as a fellow Northwesterner with that mild maritime climate and no real temperature extremes (western Washington), I think your reasoning and your creativity will serve you just fine in your greenhouse conversion.

To set your mind at ease, why not solicit input from your neighbors who have chickens, along with any permaculture adherents and community gardeners? They may come up with additional ideas to help you make this a success. Good luck!

(Oh, and on your run(s), think about how you're going to deal with aerial or climbing predators.)

 

[elmo]

I just noticed you're planning on including Belgian D'Uccles in your flock. We have two full d'Uccles in our flock and we just adore this breed. Ours are so goofy the way they gallump around the yard they always make us laugh. And in our flock of all quite tame pets, the d'Uccles stand out as being among the friendliest. We also have three other chickens who are part d'Uccle. Our head hen is half d'Uccle, and she has two daughters in the flock who are 1/4 d'Uccle.

This is "Wrong Way" Scooter who (as you probably guessed from her name) always heads off the wrong way when I'm herding the flock between pens. She also has a "cow lick" feather sticking up the wrong way on the back of her neck.

Here's her sister, Flash:

Flash is my daughter's favorite chicken because she always flies up to my daughter's arm.

Flash and Scooter are our largest chickens, each weighing almost 1.75 lbs. Even with their size, they're pretty low on the pecking order because this breed tends to be gentle and mild. Certainly they're late bloomers, with our pullets not laying until about 5 months old when our other mixed Serama/OEGB/d'Uccle bantams laying around 4 months. Flash and Scooter have been moving up in the pecking order a bit lately as they've become fully mature, though.

It's a great breed!

 

[MareeZoCool]

Looking at yout photo, I remembered the gtreenhouse DH & I had in VA. yes, 20 chiclens would be happy in there. If you can allow free ranging during warm weather, they will roam, not concentrate or "pick clean" any one area. My chickens rarely stay in one area more than 15 minutes. They seem to be looking for bigger, better bugs or buds, ~

whatever it is chickens desire.

 

[catchthewind]

Quote:
Thank you! What a great idea, not sure why I didn't think about it. We're generally fairly shy, but asking advice about local chicken keeping would be a great way to introduce ourselves. We have talked quite extensively to the breeder we're getting our chicks from too, and she has been extremely helpful. As for the aerial predators, I like the idea of stringing fishing line with old CD's. We have tons of those. As long as the CD's wouldn't freak the chickens out. We may go electric, or at least one wire across the bottom and/or top, but haven't decided yet. Another nice thing about that particular location is it's close enough to the house to run a wire so we wouldn't necessarily have to rely on a battery. I have (young) kids though, so I'm a bit iffy about having an electric fence.

Elmo, yours are beautiful. They are Mille Fleurs, right? That's what we'll be getting too. I have two young daughters so had decided I wanted a few chickens that would be pets. Originally I'd decided on Silkies, solely because they're pretty cool looking. The breeder we're getting the rest from convinced me into the Belgian d'Uccles though. She has two young daughters as well and said the Belgian d'Uccles follow her daughters around and will ride on their shoulders and are overall super friendly. She also said the Silkies she's had were much more vulnerable to predators. It's good to hear that confirmed from someone other than someone I'm paying money too. The other breeds we're getting I'd done some research on and chosen for various reasons, but the Belgian d'Uccles were a bit of a last minute decision and I didn't really know a thing about them besides what the breeder told me and a quick Google search.

 

[catchthewind]

Quote:
Thanks! We don't want to completely free range them because of the garden, plus I don't want poop everywhere, but we can give them a fairly large area to wander around in at will. We figure about 1/4 acre split into 3 pastures, but we can make it a bit larger if needed. I guess we'll play it by ear and see how it goes.

 

[elmo]

Yes, our d'Uccles are Mille Fleurs. We drove about 2 hours away to pick up 5 hatching eggs from a breeder and slipped them under one of our own hens to hatch last spring. Of the five chicks, three were cockerels that we sadly had to rehome (roosters are illegal where we live). d'Uccles make wonderful pets!

A couple of things to think about. Yes, d'Uccles are a wonderful, sweet breed, but letting any chicken perch on your shoulder carries risks. Chickens naturally peck at anything shiny or interesting, and eyeballs can look shiny and interesting....we let our chickens perch all over us except for the shoulders (heads are even ok because poop washes off), but when holding them on our arms we don't bring them close to our faces, just as a precaution.

The second thing to think about is that because of the sweet and gentle nature of the d'Uccles, you'll probably want to watch out for whether yours get bullied by the other, much larger breeds of chickens you're getting. A friend of ours, the one who gave us our original five chicks, has a d'Uccle (the mother of our half d'Uccle hen, actually) in his yard mixed with standard breeds, but his yard is quite large and has lots of shrubs, trees and other hiding places for a bullied chicken to hide from her tormenters. A typical chicken run (empty of anything vertical inside the pen) would be very hard for a d'Uccle being harrassed by bigger, fiercer chickens. It looks from the picture of your greenhouse that the pens would also have shrubs, etc. in it, so that will help a great deal, as will being sure that there's plenty of room for the flock. And every once in a while you do run across a chicken with a vindictive personality, something that goes beyond ordinary pecking order. Last year, the top hen in our flock was Martha, a half Serama, half Old English Game hen. She had a vendetta against Billina, our half d'Uccle hen and our favorite. She used to chase poor Billina all around the yard even while free ranging and just would not let up. When we had to rehome our rooster after a neighbor's complaint last spring, we sent Martha along with him (because it's easier to rehome a rooster if he comes with a hen as a pair). With Martha gone, Billina eventually ascended to the top job, but she's a benevolent monarch and never gives her subordinates more than a couple of pecks on the back of their necks to keep them in line.

D'Uccles are also quite good fliers. Ours seem to leap/fly up before flying forward, maybe because they don't want to trip on their own feathered feet? Ours can easily fly 6 feet high, perhaps more. Something to think about as you plan your pens and what is to go over the top. You would not want the d'Uccles to get tangled up in fishing line, etc. Chickens do freak out about everything that's new, but get used to most things once they become accustomed to them. My flock hated the plastic tarp I got to go up to block the wnd on the side of the run last winter because of the noise it occasionally made in the wind or as I moved it. The 6 mil plastic I used this year doesn't make a loud noise when it flaps in the wind so they don't mind that.

I think it's great that you'll be getting your chickens from a breeder and not from a commercial hatchery; I expect you'll be getting better stock to start with that way.