Getting really confused, can anyone help?

sezjasper

Songster
7 Years
May 6, 2012
471
49
128
Eldersburg, Maryland
Hello all, I'm doing a shed conversion and I'm stuck right from the get-go! Trouble is, I keep reading all the posts, and everyone has their own ideas about what works for them, but now I've got so many ideas in my head I don't know what to do to make it right!

First of all I read up on poop boards with PDZ and that sounds like a must-have! One of the posts described the PDZ as "like flour," so at the store when the clerk asked if I wanted powder or granular, I selected powder. Now I've read a post where someone said the powder kind can hurt a chicken's respiratory system. Could anyone share their opinion on this question?

Second question...I'm so confused about roost height. I planned to install two 2x4s for the roosts, they will each be 6' long which I thought would be plenty of room for 8 chickens even if they all insist on being on the same roost. My shed is shaped weird...I think they call it a Dutch barn shape...the roof is a modified curve so the ceiling pitch (on the inside) starts a little lower than it would if the shed had a normal roof. I placed the first (higher) roost at the highest point possible so that my girls wouldn't be bumping their heads on the ceiling...it's about 54" high. I want to install the second roost a bit lower so that they can use it like a step to get to the higher roost. But I can't decide how high (how low) it should go. Again, I need some opinions!

Last question, and this is a bit off-topic...how do I get my girls to recognize this shed as their new home (assuming I can get it done!) Right now my 3 older girls are living in a smaller coop with an attached run, but I let them out to free range in my yard every day. When they move to the new coop/shed, I have 5 babies in the house that need to be outside the sooner the better...lol...and they will be moving into the old coop/run with no free range until they are old enough. I don't want my older girls distressed when they can't get into their old coop at night! Should I keep them confined to their new home for a few days...a few weeks...??

As always I appreciate anyone who can offer some advice!!
 
I'll help! PDZ only can hurt the chickens if it is moved, stepped in, or disturbed, if it is left alone is won't create dust.

The roosts, if you want is to be like a step the the highest one, needs to be about a foot lower, it can be less though, but no more than a foot.

You will need to keep the older chickens in the coops for at least three days, if you can, up to five days. It's that or for over two weeks you move them from their old coop into the new one every night. Hope this helps!!!
 
Chickens can hop and leap pretty good, so my lower roost is about 20 inches off the coop floor, and they use it only to leap onto the higher roost, which is about 2.5 feet. I use a mixture of spdz and de, and its a very flour like consistancy. just on the poop drawer, and it works great, no problems at all. If you put your roosts in the shed, and that is the only place for them to roost, that will become their "home". moving is a big stress for us all, and probably for chickens too.
 
I have sprinkled the PDZ in with the bedding for ducks and such, and it caused no issues...I also got the powder when I now know I should have gotten the granular...The powder is too dusty..for ducks it doesn't matter, because they will wet it all down in 18 seconds anyway...
I don't have poop boards...although I might install some once I have more chickens if the need arises...
What I would really like to do is just turn our lower field into a hay field that way I can stop buying hay...
You know what I should do....start gathering up leaves and using those as bedding...
I want to use something that I don't have to buy...even though a bale of hay is $3-$4 and it lasts quite awhile...We don't have a truck, so I have to shove the hay in our Montero, which isn't that bad, or I have to try to put it in a NIssan Versa...Which gets us laughed at...until we stuff 4 huge bales of hay into it...That stops them laughing...
For real...Tiny car, Ridiculously huge amount of room...No way...I don't know how they did it...but the trunk is huge...the other day I had 2 big bags of soil, 300lbs of feed and then we went grocery shopping, for real...crazy huge trunk...anyway It's my rambling time of the evening...

Oh and as for the dust...breathing in any kind of dust is harmful to the respiratory systems of anything that breathes...whether it is silica dust, Ashes, PDZ, baby powder, or dirt road dust...it is all harmful, but it happens, and most things seem to survive it...Breathing dust consistently increases chances of respiratory infections, and other breathing disorders...regardless of the type of dust...Chickens turn everything into dust, so I would say there is no escaping dust if you are a chicken...except if you are a wild chicken that sleeps in the trees, and there are no roads or houses anywhere around...because then the dust they create is washed away, and not left to get kicked up and bother them...then again chickens like to bathe in dust...which is of course only dirt, but when the weather is dry it can become a small inhaled, well dust, that would again be harmful, so I digress...if you are a chicken there is no escaping breathing dust...not no way--not no how.
 
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Chickens can hop and leap pretty good, so my lower roost is about 20 inches off the coop floor, and they use it only to leap onto the higher roost, which is about 2.5 feet. I use a mixture of spdz and de, and its a very flour like consistancy. just on the poop drawer, and it works great, no problems at all. If you put your roosts in the shed, and that is the only place for them to roost, that will become their "home". moving is a big stress for us all, and probably for chickens too.
Our roosts are the roof rafters of the coop and they are 7 feet up maybe...We have some huge chickens making that leap every night and each morning...had a silkie that slept in the rafters...they can jump higher than you think...Lol. Of course my big Old White Rock Bruce hits the floor like I would Imagine The HULK would sound hitting the floor...

!ROOSTER SMASH!
 
A great big THANK YOU to each of you who replied...I feel better about the roosts and as far as the PDZ goes, I think I will exchange the powder for the granular...my chickens (one year old) STILL sleep in nest boxes, so with my luck they will want to sleep on the poop board...and I don't want them inhaling powder all night. Better safe than sorry! Here's hoping for a smooth transition and that eventually, my older girls and my new girls will be friends...or at least, will coexist peacefully!
 
I have a dutch barn that we converted part of here are some pics

The chicken area is on the left of the barn in about 4'+ the rest is storage to the left



pre chickens looking in the double doors from the run.

Unfortunately the part of the barn that did not house the chickens got destroyed during storm sandy,
we've rigged it and will rebuild as soon as the weather cooperates...The inside is still rather the same
now, when we rebuild the chicken area will be bigger
this is what it looks like now from the outside


We've also built a new roost/poop board/nesting box below for the new barn..It' 8 feet long, I have 9 chickens with 4 more coming, we've tested this out, (had to bring the chicks inside during a winter storm:) and this length was quite sufficient for them


The roost wasn't up in the above pic..I lined it with sequentia board (water/mold resistant) as well as the backboard.
I also have a loft over the chicken area which probably saved that part of the shed from smashing in.
Good luck with your project
Diane
 

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