Converting a shed to a coop

[the poppster]

Ha!!! High tech chicken multiplication!!! They will add up and multiply if you don't watch out....you can use any formula you want...but when those little feathered heads get the urge to multiply they work their chickeny magic...and you give in to their base instincts...and either let them have just one egg....that somehow becomes four...just in case they don't hatch well...at least she will have one chick to mother....I don't know...but it must have been a good year for fertility.....Cause they all seemed to hatch!!! Even the ones that got chilled every time the hen got off them and returned to the wrong nest...I caught her four times...and those eggs were Cold!!! They still hatched!!!.....or the chicken math will get you when the hatchery catalogue shows up in your mail....just a few...those sure are cool!!! Here's where the math justification comes into play...minimum order....costs a lot to get just a few...."Cheeper" by the dozen comes into play...that's the "bird in your brain" taking control of your power to reason....don't want them to get cold....and before you know it ....you are opening the pop door and they Flood out of the coop...a veritable stampede....as you watch in fascination, transfixed wondering....Where? Did they all come from....the answer to that question rushes out of the cover of the flock to attack your ankles...It finally dawns on your feather befuddled brain....They did it!!! The little "pea" brains over powered your reason....and now you got them....then they all stand there looking at you....Well where's the food!!! And you are back in their control...

 

[cavemanrich]

AND WE NEED A GOOD YEAR IN FERTILITY. Everyone is aware of the HUGE number that had to be culled because of AVIAN FLU.

 

[ladyearth]

yeah, just a thinking maybe the flu was ah planned. What better way to have everyone under the thumb of big corporations er.. I mean Big Brother ... er I mean Nanny State government.
He that controls the food supply control the People. thanks yall

 

[msv92]

I like how you made your shed into a coop. We made my daughter's old play cabin into a coop. It's so nice to be able to stand up inside the coop to clean it.

 

[21hens-incharge]

I like how you made your shed into a coop. We made my daughter's old play cabin into a coop. It's so nice to be able to stand up inside the coop to clean it.

Totally agree about the walk in coop. I hated cleaning the raised ones in the wet or the winter.
I can walk in the coop and close the door to be free of wet or wind or rain and get things done.
Current coop.

under construction. It feels much smaller now with 32 chickens and roosts and nests and feed dishes in there. This one is 8x14.

 

[msv92]

Your coop is very nice

 

[the poppster]

Read the stuff about the Avian Flu....I was listening to a radio show...they were talking to a organic free range chicken farmer and a factory chicken farmer...the factory farmer claimed that his and the industry way is the only way to go...due to the extremely tough bio-security practiced at his and most of his type of operations...all but ignored the woman talking about raising her flocks on clean fresh grass and feeding them a healthy diet along with whatever they find while they do their Normal Chicken Thing..in the fresh air and sunshine....it was strange to hear someone actually try to make the listener believe that it is healthier to raise chickens inside a building stuffed with thousands of other chickens....feed them medicated food the whole time...(Oh sorry! they don't do that, do they?) Never allow them to feel dirt between their toes and Sun on their feathers....dust in real dirt dust...instead of dried medication laced Poop...Yuck!!! That the way they raise them totally eliminates any chance of their birds catching Avian Flu from exposure to wild birds....Yet after I listened to the show I heard about how many birds were being destroyed due to outbreaks of Avian Flu within these Bio-Secure facilities....millions of birds....Hard to believe that they actually believe their own line of BS. To any rational person, who's not blinded by greed...to raise so many birds in those conditions is to temp fate...not to mention Cruel and inhumane for any living creature. That's enough about that....off I go again!!

 

[21hens-incharge]

Your coop is very nice

Thank You.
Not bad for being designed and built by a gray haired, short woman with arthritis if I do say so myself.

I got a lot of ideas for it from the coop pages here on BYC.

Today I need to fix something I overlooked in trying to get it up fast. Stinking mice have found that they can squeeze in near the roof in a few areas. They are coming in at night and chewing feathers right off my sleeping chickens. I went out very late last night and caught them in the act. I was able to see where they are coming in at since of course I freaked out and got the broom after them.
Steel wool and spray foam insulation should fix that up easily enough.

 

[msv92]

That would be a scary thing to see, but I think the steel wool is a good idea too.

 

[21hens-incharge]

They will now be hard pressed to get in the coop. Mission complete I hope. It was where the ridge is. I thought good ventilation up high. NOPE it was mouse highway last night.
I got to looking at the rafters and found little mouse poops up there. It is now all sealed up and stuffed full of steel wool to boot. Kind of a pain but worth it I hope.
If they get through that I will seal the whole ceiling up. I will use expanded metal with tiny holes so they cannot get all the way in.

I also found a black widow. I hope she likes her tomb of spray foam.