Hello everyone. New here w/ a few questions.

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Tyro

Tyro

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I've been lurking here for a while learning what I can to help my wife and I in our new venture. There is a lot of great info and people here. For that I say thank you. We bought 6 chicks from rural king about a week ago. 2 Rhode Island reds, 2 austrolarps, 1 Wyandotte, and one barred rock. So far they all are doing well. I'm planning their coop now but have a few questions on details.

What kind of floor to put in the coop if I plan to use their waste for fertilizer?

I was planning to use something round for a perch. I saw 2" poplar dowel rods at lowes. Will that work?

And would 2 nesting boxes be okay?
 
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Alright
welcome-byc.gif
great to have you joining the BYC flock
frow.gif




BYC has a very useful learning center
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Do you see what I have my little family sitting on a 2 x 4 with the
4 inch side up to sit on that is what I learned many moon's ago
works best and the feet stay warm in the winter ....
 
Hello :frow and Welcome To BYC! Sounds like you are going to have a nice little flock! Depending on how big your coop is, linoleum is popular to use in the bottom of smaller coops, easy to clean. X2 2x4s the wide way up seem to be the most popular roost. Two boxes for six hens is around the 1/2 to 1/4 what is usually recommended. X2 You might like to check out the BYC Learning Center, lots of good articles on all aspects of chicken keeping. https://www.backyardchickens.com/atype/1/Learning_Center
 
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Welcome to BYC!

I use dirt on my floor. But it depends on your climate and how you do things. The standard recommendation for nest boxes is 1 box for 4 birds. However in my coop, this was creating long waiting lines and broodies hogging up boxes. So I went with 1 box for every 2 hens. And this works well in my coop. But again, this is entirely up to you.

Stop by our coops pages for some great ideas on building your coop...

https://www.backyardchickens.com/atype/2/Coops

Good luck with the coop build and welcome to our flock!
 
Thanks for all the posts and welcomes. I was originally thinking of doing a hardware mesh with some sliding trays. I just can't imagine that is comfortable for hens. I live in the northern panhandle in WV. Way at the top. Nice summers but some cold snowy winters. Being cooped up in there for a long time in the winter months I'm starting to think dirt might be the way to go.

On a side note. As I left for work I went to check on my chicks. One of my girls was standing on the top of my rubbermaid brooder. I was surprised to say the least.
 
I've luckily got a small cage to use when they do. Hoping to have their coop ready in about 2 weeks.
 
Tyro said:
I've been lurking here for a while learning what I can to help my wife and I in our new venture. There is a lot of great info and people here. For that I say thank you. We bought 6 chicks from rural king about a week ago. 2 Rhode Island reds, 2 austrolarps, 1 Wyandotte, and one barred rock. So far they all are doing well. I'm planning their coop now but have a few questions on details.

What kind of floor to put in the coop if I plan to use their waste for fertilizer?

I was planning to use something round for a perch. I saw 2" poplar dowel rods at lowes. Will that work?

And would 2 nesting boxes be okay?
Click to expand...
The best roosts are 2x4s turned so that the largest area is up and they put their feet on the 4 inch surface (the 3.5 inch LOL surface). This helps them tremendously to stay warm and comfortable.

The general rule is one nest box per 5 hens, although once you have a broody hen she often keeps others out of the box and you end up wishing for more boxes. I would say two is perfect for 6 chickens.

Make sure your roosts are higher than your nest boxes!!

I prefer a simple wood floor or plastic floor, with sand on it, in a thin layer. I rake it daily and use a kitty litter scoop to get the poo out. The benefit to this is that when you want to apply the poo to your soil there aren't tons of shavings with it.

Wear a mask when sifting sand! It is very bad to get in the lungs, I try to buy the washed construction sand - I was using play sand but I needed a truck to come dump some in order to be less expensive.

Enjoy your chickens!
 

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