Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[Triple Willow]

Does anybody know the amount /day of ff confined birds should have? I am afraid mine need to meet Jenny Craig.

 

[Beekissed]

Right now mine are on about 1/2 c. each and they are a little big but I let the birds put on a little more weight than usual for winter, particularly when it's this cold.

 

[Triple Willow]

Right now mine are on about 1/2 c. each and they are a little big but I let the birds put on a little more weight than usual for winter, particularly when it's this cold. 

Thank you Bee. I like to get my animals a little more plump during the winter too. My older pullets are looking a little too plump. I haven't been measuring their feed and I think I have been giving them too much. Shortly they are going to have to do like yours, graze all day and eat at bedtime.

 

[Triple Willow]

@Bee... About the hoop coops... I am wondering how well it would work to weld two together and make the coop 16' wide instead of 8'? I'm pretty sure it would need a center support but that shouldn't be too hard. Could also make the coop longer. Might have to get the lumber for the frame special cut from a mill or you could piece together 2X4's with supports. The ideal frame might be angel iron and the cattle panels welded to it.

 

[perchie.girl]

@Bee... About the hoop coops... I am wondering how well it would work to weld two together and make the coop 16' wide instead of 8'? I'm pretty sure it would need a center support but that shouldn't be too hard. Could also make the coop longer. Might have to get the lumber for the frame special cut from a mill or you could piece together 2X4's with supports. The ideal frame might be angel iron and the cattle panels welded to it.

as long as the wire is overlapped by a couple of inches and the base is formed out of good wood There is nothing to keep a hoopcoop from running as long as you need. You come across some problems with welding unless you weld after the coop is assembled You see sheet metal and wire stretch when they are bent.... Hard to believe but it could be enough to cause the welds to fracture...... When you weld you crystalize the material you are welding and it can be more brittle. Thats why large welded objects have to be stress relieved before finishing.

four cattle panels would make a bit under sixteen foot long hoop coop. The wood along the sides would have to be supported structurally across the bottom.... Either with a nother board or you could use cable Or even black pipe.

So for instance Build your non expandable frame... The bend your cattle panel in place With the bottom edges fastened inside the frame with staples or lag bolts and Large fender washers. (fender washers are designed for fastening thin materials down. Then the next hoop goes on with some overlap. That hoop gets fastened to the previous one with hog clips. Hog clips will allow the wire to move when the temperature changes.... This is not the time for zip ties.... with the exception of using them for another set of hands to hold in place tempoarily... you can go on with each hoop as you go.....

I cant see the need of internal support. The general shape of a hoop coop or cattle panel coop will not allow too much snow to build on top. Therefore unless you want something in side it would not be needed to support the roof as long as the base is sturdy enough to keep the cattle panels from springing back. Also the fact that cattle panels are made of four gauge wire which is almost an eighth of an inch thick..... pretty sturdy in of itself.

deb "taking her engineering hat off now"

 

[Beekissed]

There's a member on here that went with 3-4 hoops on their coop and it collapsed under the weight of their big snows, so I'm thinking any expansion in length would be wise to have some support under the roof line.

Here's a thread where someone is reinforcing at the roof line on a longer hoop house. https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/270088/permanent-hoop-coop-in-progress-update-see-post-34

TW, I was thinking along those lines myself and I think there would have to be a center support and a good overlap on those panels and with a sufficient height on the arch to pull it off unless one was to build support along the walls as well.

I'm thinking with my original design pretty much locked into place, I'll have to go longer instead of wider and just redo some of my design features. I want to move where the nest boxes are and take them to the front of the coop and I want to add more, varied nesting. I want laying and feeding in the front and lounging, dusting and roosting in the back. I also want a pop door out the front. I'm going to change out my old tarps for new, clear tarps I found at a reasonable price and just use a darker tarp over those for shade in the summer time. I'm going to apply bubble wrap along the roof cap for insulation under the tarps and to protect the tarps from friction on the hoops. I also want to expand a lower hoop portion out the back for a "porch" under which to place the dog house in the winter and where the birds can use that pop door during that time as they do now. I like the dog and chickens to have a dry entrance that doesn't get all wet and muddy....I am currently providing that with the use of tarps stretched to the dog house but it's a clunky setup. I want it to be more functional and streamlined for maximum water and snow shedding.

 

[Triple Willow]

That sounds like a good plan Bee. I like the dog and chickens housed as close as I can get them without being together in my case. I wish I had ran across this hoop coop design years ago -in my younger days too, no doubt! LOL

I found an Amish guy here that makes custom tarps. Thank goodness! I have spent a fortune on regular old tarps!

 

[Triple Willow]

@Deb, I believe you are right on that overlapping. I will keep that in mind. Thanks yet again for your professional know-how.

 

[Arielle]

Quote: Alass he would not beleive the drama!!! I can handle snakes and spiders and toads and frogs and worms and mice and such. Used to have pet mice, so he is not likely to beleive me if I screamed bloody murder. Now there a few creepy crawlies like centipedes and ear wigs that I will NOT NOT NOT hold.

ANd my son got a kick out of thowing a huge cockroach on me and yes I screamed, then glared at him and his brother for laughting so hard. A 2 inch plastic cockroach from a HOlloween party!!! THey like to leave them on my keyboard too. Startles me every time. Dang those boys!!

 

[Triple Willow]

Alass he would not beleive the drama!!!  I can handle snakes and spiders and toads and frogs and worms and mice and such. Used to have pet mice, so he is not likely to beleive me if I screamed bloody murder.   Now there a few creepy crawlies like centipedes and ear wigs that I will NOT NOT NOT hold.

ANd my son got a kick out of thowing a huge cockroach on me and yes I screamed, then glared at him and his brother for laughting so hard.  A 2 inch plastic cockroach from a HOlloween party!!!  THey like to leave them on my keyboard too.  Startles me every time. Dang those boys!!

HA boys! hehe One of my nephews put a little plastic snake down the back of my shirt and I didn't know it. After I got home it fell out in the floor and scared my mom to death. LOL I thought it was real too. I snuck up behind it and grabbed it - plastic! LOL