converting shed into coop (update with pics)

[aart]

I absolutely was talking about LED they are bad for us- bad for chickens. Your barn your choice. I won't use them in my house or barn.

What do you use then?

Interesting discussion on lighting, but too bad it diverged from the OP's issues.

 

[RememberTheWay]

What do you use then?

Interesting discussion on lighting, but too bad it diverged from the OP's issues.

Personally I don't usually use lighting in coops, but if I did and when I do I use regular incandescent light bulbs. But like you said we have went way off the original topic so my apologies to the OP

 

[BDutch]

No- I absolutely was talking about LED they are bad for us- bad for chickens. Your barn your choice. I won't use them in my house or barn.

https://www.blockbluelight.com/blogs/news/are-led-lights-bad-for-eyes

You are right, the blue led lights are not okay for birds. Best is real sunlight.

If you need extra light, and want to save energy you can only use the high frequency /dimmable led lights with a good light spectrum.
Shops with avian or chicken supplies sell led lights that are suitable for birds.

Sorry OP, but its important for me to put this in the right perspective.

 

[RememberTheWay]

hello, this is my first thread and I had some questions about my shed being the home for my new hens. they are a little over a month old right now (my first flock of 4) and I just moved them outside from the brooder not long ago. My dad built me a coop that has a small run, a place to roost (which is level with the nesting boxes), two nesting boxes, and had wheels so it was easy to move it. My paranoia got the best of me with predators so I decided to move the coop into my stone shed with a wooden roof and a metal ventilation fan at the top. they are not confined to the coop in the shed...all of that space is for them now. I have a small fan plugged in to keep air circulating, I put a red led bulb in the overhead light, and I have a bluetooth digital thermometer to make sure it doesn't get too hot or cold for them.

my questions are: can I leave this red light on all night for them so they feel comfortable and can find their food or water if they need it during the night? should I let them sleep wherever they want to? (I made the mistake of putting them to bed in their nesting boxes the past few nights so I want to try to break that habit tonight). I also have some tools hanging on the walls of the shed still so I was wondering if its safe for them to have that stuff in there or is there a chance they will mess with it and knock stuff down? Any tips or tricks are welcome, im new to all of this and a bit overwhelmed but I love my 4 little ones and am grateful to be on this journey with them now

UPDATE: here are some pics, there are no windows but I was thinking I could add some in the future up in the wooden area of the shed. they are free to range all over my yard and they have an outdoor coop attached to the shed under the trumpet vine so they have lots of shade under there for the real hot days (like today its 104). I will be removing all the tools, thank you! (sorry I think the pics rotated during the upload). thanks for the replies everyone

To vear back over to your original topic, I'm loving what I see you have set up. Agree that they will knock your tools off the walls. Possibly remedy that by building cabinet or purchasing one to put the tool in? Also- just a suggestion but you actually could build a wall half way through the shed building with a door and either use the back half for took storage and the front half for your birds(i saw you said you only had four, and half that building would be easy more space then they actually needed and then you wouldn't be losing your shed . It you could switch it around and put the birds in the back and the storage at the front of the building. Or because they have the outdoor run and you had mentioned you only out the coop in their to protect them from predators, you could simply lock them into the little coop inside your shed at night which solves the predator issue and you could still keep you shed by letting them out to the outside each day, or if it's possible cutting a door from inside the shed out to the outdoor area and get an automatic door and then they can put themselves up and out . Am just ideas floating around in my head for you though

And lastly, I noticed you said you had your roost bars level with your best boxes? Just some advice from some one who has kept chickens for 7 yrs, you'll want to make your roost bars higher then the top of the boxes or your birds might today on the near boxes and that will cause poop in your boxes and on your eggs. The best arrangement I have found, depending on breed and weight of your birds, for heavy breeds I would place the nest boxes about 12-18 inches of the ground making sure they can't get under them to lay bc they will and putting your roost bars between 24-36 inches off the ground. If your have light weight breeds like leghorns or Andalusians and Minorca's they like their today a little higher, like 4-5 ft. Make sure your roost are all the same height ( reduces fights over who's gets top bar) and make sure you have about 13-14 inches between the bars horizontally and that same amount of space from the wall. The reason for that spacing is to prevent them from pooping on the wall, each other, and or the bars which would then need to be cleaned. Also, the most poop you will have in the coop is going to be directly under your roosting bars so plan for that which makes clean up much easier. Things like a ,"poop shelf" or "poop board" are really nice. Two styles I like are putting old feed bags around the board to make clean up a snap or designing a shelf with a lip so you can fill it with sand like a litter box and then scoop out the poop keeping everything tidy.

Anyways- all things I wish someone had mentioned to me when I first started because I learned them from trial and error and they would have saved me lots of water time, money, and labor!

Btw good luck! Going out and actually sitting with your chicks in their run and having them eat from your hands will help the fastest in getting them to be friendly too

 

[RememberTheWay]

Would love to be able to correct the typos in my previous message! Geez that's terrible

"Would of saved me water time"! Was supposed to say WASTED time

Along with about a million other typos I now see in it! Gotta love auto correct....

 

[shadow969]

Would love to be able to correct the typos in my previous message! Geez that's terrible

"Would of saved me water time"! Was supposed to say WASTED time

Along with about a million other typos I now see in it! Gotta love auto correct....

tbh I thought water time meant water bills lol thank you for all the info!

 

[paintedChix]

Welcome to BYC!! Chickens are great.

The 1st 3 years I had them, i think i made every mistake possible! Have no idea, now, how any survived, but they did & thrived. I basically turned them out of the brooder to free range. No coop, no protective run. Partially, because I knew no better, partially because the coops I'd been in up to that point STANK to the heaven's (i forgot about barns & coops id been in in GE until later, when i applied thought) & were SO GROSS, here in NC. I actually got really sick when an acquaintance of mine had me go in her coop. I love girlfriend, but UGH!! It took me YEARS after that to even think about chickens & a few more years + being gifted 15 chicks before I got going... That gift was in December 2011. My 1st coop build was in June/July 2014 - a CP hooped tractor. My chickens 1st roosted on the "stall" walls between the open 3/4 of the barn (pooping on equipment hung on "my" side of the walls or into the pony's feed & water buckets). My 1st DIY using things I had on hand? Opening up feed bags, using hay string & "quilting" them together. Covered saddles & gear in my sectioned off, "open air" feed/tack area & another one tacked up over the wall of hanging "stuff".



You can see the "feed bag quilt" covering equipment on the CP wall behind Cheri's head.



The birds LOVED 'Clipse's bucket. Shifting it to either side meant no nightly deposits.

By June 2014, our mature birds had discovered the rafters - 16' above the floor. They also perched in the carport where we had dog kennels set up.




If Bit appears sick, she was. She'd just delivered a much anticipated, but still-born colt. Spent next 2 weeks treating her for both uterine & general infection. For about 48 hours, thought we'd lose her, too.

After discovering BYC, I spent lots of time going through all those articles on coops, tractors & brooders. To this day, I still love tractors & various styles of open air coops. Just can't wrap my head around a completely enclosed coop (actual coop, not the run portion), even though ive seen several i really LOVE here on BYC...

That's my story & I'm sticking to it...

****

Based on my experiences, you'll want to close in the open "attic" space by the light bulb fixture. You will not want to "dig" eggs (or a sick/injured bird) out of that space & I already related the rafter story. If that opening is part of your ventilation, clo se it in w/ wire. If not, you can close the attic in same way as started.

Ventilation. Hmmm. From your pics & description, I really don't see much. The fan is a GREAT idea. Can you open up more of that section? Heat, moisture from roosting birds & scent rise. Having that bare minimum of recommended 1 sq foot per bird of ventilation makes a HUGE difference in all climates... Several good articles on ventilation in the articles section.

I managed to delete part of what I wrote (again). Posting this & after brunch will come back...