Coop design, should the floor be., BYC page up! please comment! )

BTW, keep the avatar. It is priceless.

I just thought the avatar was somethin other than another pic of a chicken head lol. Not meant to glorify KFC i hope nobody thinks, but then again they got good chicken
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just too expensive for us
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I just thought the avatar was somethin other than another pic of a chicken head lol. Not meant to glorify KFC i hope nobody thinks, but then again they got good chicken
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just too expensive for us
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No offense taken - it is what it is.

{{{{ Psssssst, just between you and me, in one fell swoop it pokes a bit of fun at many sacred cows here at BYC. Anytime you can do that, it's a win. Just wait til someone mentions diapers for chickens....}}}}
 
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:lau:lau

Theres chicken diapers? i near died laughing when i saw "chicken saddles" last night.

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I wont even open the diaper can of worms
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:lau:lau

Theres chicken diapers? i near died laughing when i saw "chicken saddles" last night.

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I wont even open the diaper can of worms
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Oh yes, there are diapers. And sweaters and the aforementioned saddles.
Diapers? Say whaaaaat?!
Well, people put them on chickens so they can have them in the house, as.... housepets. They roam their homes at will, watch TV with them, some even sleeping with their owners. As Mr. Ripley would say, "Believe It, or Not."

Sweaters, well, same reason people put them on dogs. No other reason but that they can.

Saddles, apart from these two, have a "real" purpose - they protect the hen from over-amorous cocks.

However DO NOT laugh too loudly at your fellow BYC'ers for these seemingly inane things. You are liable to end up like me, drummed into the hinterlands for your insolence.

See my subname... "Pushes his limitations?" That didn't get there by accident, my friend.
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i assumed thats why you had that. I am not lauhging at any except the diapers. but then again, my neighbors laughing at me just for spoiling them with good eats. they i laugh, but i got ma y many free eggs in 2 days
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we have chickens in alaska (some people think that is impossible cause of the temps) we got down to negative 35-40 this winter tori in soldotna didnt have a heat/light source (as far as I know) in her coops and was still getting eggs.... I have the chicken spa here and they weere kept at 50 degrees all winter with 16 hours of artificial sun....... and got eggs all winter.... I would recomend the deep litter method for a chiken coop unless you live some place like arizona or nevada because of the extreme heat there... then you might need that airflow to keep the girls comfy... good luck and enjoy them!!!
 
wow thats cold! I miss it there, fished it 1x. Ya they seem to like the light i added last night and turned on this morning.

Q: do they prefer the light or warmth? should the "nests" be lit or dark? i wonder because under the nests theres a long space with just straw in it and they have laid most eggs there. it has a sun window in it and thats where they are goin v/s the nests..
 
Boy this has been an interesting discussion. Thanks everyone for answering my cold/mesh question and for all the other excellent advice and things to er...ponder.

this is definitely a friendly an informative group!!

And Stir Fry, that's great about the eggs. I'll be getting chicks so I guess they might start laying just as the fall starts....a little silly but I do want to get to used to them and vice versa.
 
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Well chickens aren't too bright, to be blunt. There is no real thought process at work that I can discern. They lay wherever, often enough, but mostly it's because they havent been trained to the nests. Free rangers are bad about this.
Thats probably why yours are doing it where they are: They are in full lay, so first off, they cant help it.
You are making them comfy and stress free, so only minor cycle interruptions, if any, are occuring.
They are unaccustomed to their surroundings.
So they are likely to lay anywhere, for now.

However, they do have "preferences" and once they settle on a place, they stick to it, for the most part. The thing to do is take advantage of this and attempt to regulate their processes as best you can.

Here are some of the ways the old timers did that:

- Keep their roosts and nests near each other, as they tend to lay soon after waking up.
- It's recommended you confine them to their coop until about 11am, for this reason.
- Don't feed them heavily until late morning. The old Doctor Pepper slogan, "... at 10, 2, and 4," works pretty good for chickens.
- Give them one last feeding of grain in the evening as a treat.
For reasons I'm not smart enough to figure out, these things combined help get them on a schedule.

NESTS
- Keep their nests dimly lit, as they prefer seclusion and privacy when laying. It also discourages egg eating.
- Have one nest, 14"-18" square, for each 4 hens.
- Give it a perch outside and 12" wide opening they can "peer" in through, with a 4" tall frontispiece.
They have a little ritual they perform of checking out the nest before entering. Once inside, all you should see is their head. This also prevents them from kicking the litter out of the nest.

If there are places you don't want them nesting in, do the above things so they lay where you wish and then bar them from the undesirable area. Before long, they normally get with the program.
 
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