Deep litter method

[Lacy Blues]

THat is my kind of maintenence!! None.

I need to put in a roost, and these birds are said to need a roost only 2 feet high, not higher as they are rather heavy. Can I put a big long right on the floor?? Like an 8 inch wide tree trunk?? I have an oak which is roughbarked that can go in-- or black birch which is smooth.

THoughts ?

I would be concerned about mice on the floor eating your bird's tail feathers. Maybe you could just set your big log up on a couple of cinder blocks?

 

[Arielle]

Quote: hmmm . . .. guess I better put the poles up a bit!

 

[Arielle]

Quote: Have you looked at the woods style coop??? It has one whole face that is always open . 10x 4 THe opening needs to be on the west or s face, assuming the prevailing winds are from the other directions.

 

[Lacy Blues]

If I had the money to build a whole new coop, I would do something like the woods style coop. Right now, I'm working with a pre-existing building and trying to undo as little work, that I've done, as possible. My prevailing winds come from every direction between north and south on the west side of my coop. My east side is safe.

 

[armorfirelady]

So today I went across to the neighbors and gathered 8 garbage cans of leaves and pine needles to store up for winter. I love, love, love free bedding. I need to get some more contractor bags to store more. Hopefully I can get some more bagged before it rains.

I think theres something wrong with my hens. I dumped 2 big loads in the coops........and they never touched them..........that dang compost pile apparently more interesting than leaves

 

[Arielle]

If I had the money to build a whole new coop, I would do something like the woods style coop. Right now, I'm working with a pre-existing building and trying to undo as little work, that I've done, as possible. My prevailing winds come from every direction between north and south on the west side of my coop. My east side is safe.

THen e becomes the direction to open if-- if that works for your set up.

I didn't mean for you to build a wwod style coop but to look at the premise behind it and see if it can be applied to your current structure.

A long time ago, a professor in sheep class talked about an old white barn. I remembered it as a kid with one bull, or what I thought was a bull, in the small field . The univeristy had aquired the property and removated the brn for sheep-- then the sheep cam down with pnemonia, a lot of them. THe opened up the barn-- letting more air thru and voila, the sheep stopped getting sick. Over the winter it was very cold for us students, and sleeping over night was miserable even in the heated office. Moral of the story-- lots of ventilation prevents sickness and the animals can take it.

 

[Beekissed]

I was raking leaves today too! We have more than we've ever had here because we have very little winds lately. I've compressed and stored three big trash cans and raked my coop as full as I can without drowning the chickens in leaves, but I'm also going to fill a huge tarp with leaves and try to somehow store that on the outside of one wall of my coop for insulation on that wall, as well as storage of bedding. When God rains down free bedding I'm not one to leave it lay there! I feel like it's going to be a pretty tough winter and I think I'll need more bedding than I stored last year.

 

[Chickens R Us]

Looks like I should start raking my leaves and pine needles. I have a raised coop and plan on putting plastic around the bottom and attaching a hoop coop to the main coop, putting plastic over that. This will give my chickens extra room to roam around in this winter.

 

[armorfirelady]

I was raking leaves today too!  We have more than we've ever had here because we have very little winds lately.  I've compressed and stored three big trash cans and raked my coop as full as I can without drowning the chickens in leaves, but I'm also going to fill a huge tarp with leaves and try to somehow store that on the outside of one wall of my coop for insulation on that wall, as well as storage of bedding.  When God rains down free bedding I'm not one to leave it lay there!  I feel like it's going to be a pretty tough winter and I think I'll need more bedding than I stored last year. 

I am sure my neighbors thought I was nuts but I think they are used to me by now. The leaves were so dry I couldn't resist and my neighbor even brought a trailer full over for me. I also use leaves in my veggie garden, they break down so nice and the girls love to dig they them all winter. In the spring it all just gets rototilled under. Free and easy compost. My kind of gardening . And my kind of DL. . I do have a dozen or so trees in my yard they just haven't started dropping yet. As long as the rain holds off I should have enough bedding to last all winter. I already stored up a half dozen bags of grass clipping last spring. I am running out of room in the old chicken run but it sure makes a great storage area

 

[Arielle]

I did a little raking today then the kids finished with armfuls into the turkey coop. IT looks like rain tomorrow-- hope the forecast is WRONG! THe leaves are finally dry after the showers earlier in the week.