Grain bin coop

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Hi!

We are purchasing a farm with many grain bins on it and I was thinking of converting one into the goat/mini donkey and chicken coop. What were your big AH ha moments after going through one full weather cycle?

Thanks

Robin
 
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rhabeger said:
Hi!

We are purchasing a farm with many grain bins on it and I was thinking of converting one into the goat/mini donkey and chicken coop. What were your big AH ha moments after going through one full weather cycle?

Thanks

Robin
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I would love the answer to that too. No posts in a while though from @firefly76
DH came up with that idea this past weekend. Now the research begins.
 
Hey There Robin and TNTChix, sorry for my absence. So nearly a year in and I have learned so much!!
Lesson 1. Make sure your grain bin is sealed (especially if you live near a mink farm! Found out the hard way and lost my first batch of chickens 10 in one night all murdered)
Lesson 2.When introducing new birds keep original and new separated for some time. (I didn't and brought in lice and some sort of sickness that brought on a sneezey cough)
Lesson 3. Winter is tough! Between sickness brought in and the cold I lost 4 birds over the winter (I'm to blame as a didn't catch the sickness and had trouble figuring out the heating.)

I used my own version of deep litter method... Had bales of straw stacked around the exterior walls and would just throw more straw/shaving mixture down every few days. This did seem to keep the heat along with a good heat lamp suspended above the main roosting area. I also had a spot light set on a timer so they were getting lighting for 16 hours a day... This seemed to help as all my youngins were just coming into laying in mid December. I always thought of adding an extra heat lamp but never did. The big thing was there were no drafts which I understand to be detrimental to a chickens health.

The last few weeks have already been warm enough that the door is open all day for them to roam in and out at their leisure.

We still have many projects to work on in the coop. We want to build a half roof/loft of sorts over the wall we placed in the middle of the coop as this would help with storage of straw and shavings. Especially right now as I recently picked up 7 new birds at auction so they're taking up a corner of the inner area, and then one of my Silkies (Gladys) is currently house in a water trough/nursery laying on 7 eggs set to hatch this Saturday. So if all goes well i will be at 28 birds soon!!! This chicken thing is crazy!

I will try to check in more regularly! I also fixed this so I receive the post emails better. SO question away. I will try to get some updated photos posted this weekend, maybe even some lil chick ones FingersCROSSED they all hatch!

Well as I say to my birds every morning,
Be good to each other!
-Steph-
 
firefly76 said:
Hello BYC world... I'm a new member and new in general to chickens. Don't even have mine yet. But they are on order lol.
My husband and I are in the process of converting a grain bin that we have no use for into a chicken coop. We moved to our property 4 years ago have just under 5 acres an old bank barn and a couple other out buildings... We originally planned to convert the old milk house that is attached to the barn into the coop but it was just too far gone... So after I did more poking around online I came up with the grain bin idea as it has just sat unused since we moved in. So far we have built the wall in the bin dividing it so there is an area for the chickens and then a storage area for supplies.
I have 10 day olds on order to be picked up in 2-3 weeks. And like everything I do they are unique (I like to think so at least) I ordered 2 americaunas, 2 australorps, 2 polish, 2 silkies & 2 cantelopers (sorry I don't have my lil order list so spelling may be way off) really excited to continue work on the coop an meet my lil ones in the weeks to come. I also have two kids who I look forward to watching interact with the chickens (boys 3 years and 5 months)
Hope that our existing animals interact well with the chicks/chickens 2 cats & 2 dogs (one golden retriever and one labX)
What else do I need to know or do? Any advice welcome!! Hope to add photos of the coop in time...
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Grain harbors lots of mold and fungas spores. You want to clean super well with something shown to be effective for destroying them.
Baking soda in solution is used as spray onto grains to inhibit growth, so you can also do that on walls, ceiling, and floors, paying close attention to joint areas.
 
Like I said I only used 1 heat lamp and found it to do the job even with our cold winter ( I live in Southern Ontario Canada)
 
My heat lamp is hung about 2 feet from the perches. I had it lower but my male Appenzeller (who has no bright days) decided to stick his head through the metal grate in the lamp and burn off his head feathers. Thankfully he had no burns to his head!
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this photo shows the lil section I had to make with my husband when we came home from the Easter livestock auction last weekend with 7 new chicks and chickens.
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here is my silkie Gladys laying on 7 eggs that are hatching today!!! (First hatch for me and her. I know I'm more excited then she is lol)
 

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