For the MINIMALISTS - those who think less is more in chicken keeping - Please help

[GetFitWithKrista]

I do think airflow is good. Assuming the whole 11x3 coop roof is like that (wire).

While I agree mostly with @3KillerBs, location plays a part in the ”rotisserie” concept. At my house, a coop with a full clear roof would not be a rotisserie. So, @GetFitWithKrista, you may or may not need to replace some of the clear with opaque/smoke or even metal. But, do keep what @3KillerBs mentioned in mind.

Good. It looks as though the whole thing is like that.

The area we plan to put the structure has sunlight and shade at various times of the day and there are a lot of trees around. I don't think there is an overabundance of either one. Thanks for sharing your thoughts

 

[GetFitWithKrista]

I have 7 chickens, 6 hens and a rooster. (Adding 4 chicks in May.) I do use a poop board, and it was a game changer for me. It's covered with about a 1/2" of Sweet PDZ, and I use a cat litter scoop to sift off the poop daily. The poop goes into a bucket, and when it's full, it goes on the compost pile by the garden. It's about a 1-2 minute chore each morning.

The bedding in the coop is two bales of pine shavings. I start with one, and add another in the fall.

In the spring, I scoop up the bedding in the run and spread it on my garden. That stuff is a year's worth wood chips, autumn leaves, the pine shavings from the coop, and whatever else I have put in there since the last spring. All shredded by the chickens, mixed with their poop, and composted into black gold. This year, I'll probably get in excess of 20 cf of PRIME garden compost out of my run. My garden has benefited greatly from my keeping chickens.

Once that stuff is out of the run, I clean out the coop. The coop shavings go into the run, new shavings go into the coop, and the cycle begins anew.

Fantastic. Thanks for laying out your process, Sally. I'm getting more of a picture. Run bedding goes into garden. Coop bedding goes into run.
How thick of a layer do you start with in both your coop and your run?
How often do you find you need to add more pine shavings?
Do you think I can even use a drop board with my set up (see photo)?

 

[BigBlueHen53]

So much info, so many opinions! It's head-spinning! I'm just going to give one small opinion: don't leave feed out in the run overnight, you'll atrract rodents and a plethora of varmints. We have a large feeder that stays in the 8x10 coop at all times (locked up at night), and a 5-gal one that stays in the run during the day and gets put up in the well house at night. Water is outside at all times. Chickens neither eat nor drink in the dark.

Above all, have fun and enjoy your chickies! That's what they are all about. Try something, and if it doesn't work for you, pivot and try something else. There is no one right answer. There is only what works best for you.

 

[GetFitWithKrista]

I have an open coop inside a netted run - no doors. I do have a small pen inside the run if I need to stash or corral a bird. I have to manually let them out to free range in the pasture and I usually lock them in the run at night.
It took me a while to get the run drainage figured out & shoveled out, that was big pain but getting the rainwater to run off really helped with maintainance of everything.

I really like the pen idea. I haven't heard anyone do this yet.

Do you not have a roof on your run? Is that why you mention the drainage?

 

[RoyalChick]

Fabulous. This is great and feels good to me. How do you handle food and water? I read something intersting about using a large trash can with feeders for food, and the rainwater collection system. I haven't thorougly researched the rainwater deal yet.

I originally planned an automatic watering system straight from rain barrel to drinking nipples on PVC pipe. Some people have that.
But what I realized is that in our winters it would be a pain to stop freezing.
I have a 5 gallon bucket with nipples in the coop (I have a large coop) and in winter I stand it on a small heated base that is rated to use with plastic buckets. That way when it is cold I don't have to run around with bottles of warm water or bring the water in overnight. I did that my first winter. Never again!
I also have a couple of regular TSC hanging waterers in their secure covered run. Those freeze when it gets cold but they don't break and the chickens can always go into the coop to get water when those are frozen.
I have several (I think 3) hanging feeders. That is less about minimal effort and more about preventing the ladies from squabbling for food. I too thought about a big bin of food but decided that there was too much risk that the feed would go stale or get moldy or contaminated by mice. I end up topping up the feeders 1-2X a week maybe.
Really my biggest efficiency is the litter and not scooping or really worrying about the poop at all because it just disappears into the deep litter.
Hope that helps.

 

[RoyalChick]

Chickens you know, they're little feckers. All those plans and attempts at being efficient and then the chickens have their say.

I've got some advice for you, buy your eggs at a store if that is all you want out of the chicken.
Alternatively, learn to enjoy the chickens. If your efficiency does save you any time spend that with the chickens. They're really interesting creatures.

I love to spend time with my chickens (as I think you know from other threads) but I would rather spend that time sitting and chatting with them than scooping poop!

 

[GetFitWithKrista]

So much info, so many opinions! It's head-spinning! I'm just going to give one small opinion: don't leave feed out in the run overnight, you'll atrract rodents and a plethora of varmints. We have a large feeder that stays in the 8x10 coop at all times (locked up at night), and a 5-gal one that stays in the run during the day and gets put up in the well house at night. Water is outside at all times. Chickens neither eat nor drink in the dark.

Above all, have fun and enjoy your chickies! That's what they are all about. Try something, and if it doesn't work for you, pivot and try something else. There is no one right answer. There is only what works best for you.

I have been pondering the food and the rodents situation. Someone suggested the attached food setup - a large trash can with the food things at the bottom. Do you think I will have a problem with critters getting into the food/trash can?

Yes, I will enjoy my hens. Just trying to get a general plan in place before they arrive so I can get this out of the way and focus on them. Appreciate your input, thanks a lot!

 

[centrarchid]

I have been pondering the food and the rodents situation. Someone suggested the attached food setup - a large trash can with the food things at the bottom. Do you think I will have a problem with critters getting into the food/trash can?

Yes, I will enjoy my hens. Just trying to get a general plan in place before they arrive so I can get this out of the way and focus on them. Appreciate your input, thanks a lot!

They will be able to access feed through the same opening the chickens use. A reliable food source with nesting habitat afforded by deep litter and complex housing for the chickens will enable rodent numbers to buildup without additional inputs to limit the rodents.

 

[GetFitWithKrista]

They will be able to access feed through the same opening the chickens use. A reliable food source with nesting habitat afforded by deep litter and complex housing for the chickens will enable rodent numbers to buildup without additional inputs to limit the rodents.

Oh boy. Does everyone move the feed inside at night? Do you have a suggestion?

 

[RoyalChick]

Surprisingly, there are a lot of people in NJ who have chickens so I would think I could find pine straw. I need to look into this. Another stupid question but is all straw pine or is straw made of different materials? Someone else may have mentioned this up but I've read through so many posts that I can't find it now.

What would you use in the coop?

I am in NJ and I have seen pine straw (which is pine needles from a particular variety of pine that has super soft needles) in ACE, Lowe's, and Home Depot but I don't know if it is always there - I haven't looked as I am lucky enough to have a few of those pines growing near my house so I take my yard cart and a pitch fork and load up!
Regular straw is completely different and is the dried up stalks of various crops. I think folk who use it buy chopped straw, I have never tried it because I worry it would go moldy.
I use whatever is to hand in both coop and run. Mostly mine is made up of oak leaves, shredded brown packing paper, and pine straw.
And in the wettest areas of the run that are not under a roof I chuck in kitchen waste - the chickens eat what they want and the rest composts down in place.
I use pine shavings from TSC in the nest boxes and pine pellets (horse stall pellets) in any particularly poopy spots to make sure they dry out fast.