Crate to Coop Conversion -- Part 2

[supercoops]

It is really important to remember this above all things.....YOU CAME TO US.

yes, I'm sorry I ever asked.

 

[supercoops]

Seriously your own item included above and originally placed where you were defending keeping 17 in the box clearly has a requirement of more space than you were allowing. I think it came to like 6" x 6" for your birds when I did the math before.
This leads me to believe that you are NOT basing your expectations on the "peer-reviewed studies about space requirements like those published by University of Maryland."

By you continuing to be hostile in your responses to suggestions and defending your position so aggressively it is clear to me that even though you are defending it you know it is incorrect. It is a classic response.

I did see where you have had issues with the health of your flock. Perhaps the people on here that have kept chickens for many years are not so wrong after all.

ok you're just so right about it all. now please get over it.

 

[supercoops]

Perhaps they "chose" to stay in that box because they had no where else to go.

We solved that one. The chickens were still quite young and hanging on to their brooder box. I provided 4 roosting boxes and they wouldn't turn loose of the brooder. So I finally did as one poster recommended -- I "broke them from the pacifier" by boarding up the brooder box. Now we have about 2 to 3 chickens per 8 sq ft crate, and that's enough space according to University of Maryland -- though most people on this forum trash their guidelines for minimum space requirements.

The chickens adapted to the roosts, and I reopened the brooder as an egg-layer a couple of days ago. They're forming nests and it won't be long before eggs -- just like my 5 hens with a rooster and their former brooder box. It's kind of like salmon returning to their spawning ground.

I don't fully understand the communication barrier on this forum. Maybe I'm expecting a little too much. It would be quite helpful if someone were to recommend workable solutions rather than telling me to crush the crates and trash reasonable guidelines for boarding animals. There is no need to crush the crates, and the guidelines are a minimum standard for humane treatment of animals. They are useful and it takes a creative mind to work with them for solutions.

I've already seen some pretty amazing things from customers that buy the basic crates and show me what they would do. It's better than what I did, and now in return, I enhance their solution with my tool bag. A backyard coop is not destined to be a liability -- contrary to the economic doom scenario I hear on this forum. It takes innovative solutions to make it work -- something that I don't hear very often -- but such is human nature where the glass is half empty rather than half full.

If I took everyone's advice I'd just give up on the whole idea -- it's just a fairy tale. This reminds me of Robert Fulton and his steam boat. Check out this cartoon about the Clermont:


Fulton's Folly

 

[charliethezero]

A lot of people gave you usable advice on how to make your coops better and marketable. I may have missed the post about trashing them but I did see the one about breaking them down to make a bigger coop (not the same thing). Also no one said 3-4sq ft per bird minimum was rubbish they said 17 in an 8sq foot box was asking for problems. I think you like hearing what you want and love the fight. I hope once you gain experience it will help you down the line.

 

[Fred's Hens]

OK, we're done here.