HELP, please. Concrete floor with topsoil as litter? No roof on end of coop ok??

[rosemarythyme]

Thanks for everyone's advice and support lol I will do a lot more research on building a draft free house inside.

Is it horrible if they sleep aahs lay eggs in the same areas?

For your climate I wouldn't worry about building an actual coop - this open concept is much better for hot, humid climates. Only reason to actually build a coop is for additional security, or protection from driving rain/winds, but a coop/run combo can be made pretty secure, and if needed you can do partial walls just to block wind and rain from the section they'll sleep in.

You don't want them sleeping in nests - no one wants to clean poop off eggs. Put their roosts up higher than nests, and if you find them sleeping in nests, block them off for the time being until they get used to sleeping on roosts.

 

[Corn Pone Princess]

For your climate I wouldn't worry about building an actual coop - this open concept is much better for hot, humid climates. Only reason to actually build a coop is for additional security, or protection from driving rain/winds, but a coop/run combo can be made pretty secure, and if needed you can do partial walls just to block wind and rain from the section they'll sleep in.

You don't want them sleeping in nests - no one wants to clean poop off eggs. Put their roosts up higher than nests, and if you find them sleeping in nests, block them off for the time being until they get used to sleeping on roosts.

Thanks a bunch.
Coop is finished. Just need to figure out bedding and their "furniture" lol.
This has been fun. We bagged up four large things of dried leaves from our yard....so I was thinking about putting those down 1st as a base on top of the concrete and then tomorrow morning, buying some large pine shavings from tractor supply. They are 6 weeks old yesterday. So, they'll get introduced to the coop tomorrow. They free range all day in our yard, so I'll put them in their brooder box inside the coop tonight. I have a large window screen I put on top of it and lay too heavy pieces of wood on top of that so they can't get out of their Box and they have plenty of Room inside their Burger Box even be in at 6 weeks old so I think that's a good idea. What do you guys think?

 

[wyoDreamer]

looks great!
I think the leaves and pine shavings will be a great combination. If there is any chance of the leaves being damp, put them on top so they can dry instead of taking the chance that they will mold if buried. Keep the chicks locked in the coop/run area for a week or so, long enough that they learn that is home and that they need to return there at night. If you have wire on top of the non-roofed area, I would put some roosts there for them to play on.

 

[Corn Pone Princess]

Don't worry about your chickens being too cold once they are fully feathered. Mine are fine at -20 or less if they can get out of the wind. You should be fine for cold.

I would worry more about the heat, and I think you have that taken care of with the openness of your space.

The chickens will poop every morning when they wake up, the area under the roosts will be the dirtiest. If you put poop boards under your roosts, you can just scrape their morning and night poos into a pail and take it to your compost site.

You will need to have bedding down on the concrete - even if it is just around the area of the roosts. Chickens will need the padding for when they jump down from the roost. One of the problems with my current coop is that there isn't enough room for the chickens to land when they flap down from the roost. If you sprinkle BOSS (Black Oil Sunflower Seed) on their bedding, they will keep it fluffed up so it will stay dry and not stink so much.

Thank you for your information!

 

[Corn Pone Princess]

looks great!
I think the leaves and pine shavings will be a great combination. If there is any chance of the leaves being damp, put them on top so they can dry instead of taking the chance that they will mold if buried. Keep the chicks locked in the coop/run area for a week or so, long enough that they learn that is home and that they need to return there at night. If you have wire on top of the non-roofed area, I would put some roosts there for them to play on.

Thanks. The leaves are definitely dry right now and I won't let the free room for about a week once in the new coop/run? Ok.

 

[Corn Pone Princess]

I put in a bunch of leaves and pine straw from my yard for the bottom layer and we bought 10 bags of large pine shavings and we only fluffed out 3 and it was enough to cover everything but the open end ...because I'm not sure if I wanna put Shavings down on the open end where the wind and rain can get to it... what are your suggestions for the open end?

Now we just need to add some roosts and a well ventilated hen house or nesting area inside.

Thoughts? More advice or tips?
Thank you everyone for your help in this awesome journey and learning experience tinat I'm going through. ♡

(For the last 2 nights I had them sleep in their brooder Box inside the coop/run and of course they cried out a lot more than normal that 1st night for the 1st 10 or 15 minutes... but I sat in there with them, because I spoil all of my animals lol. As soon as I get some roosts up today and
their water n feeders placed inside, I will allow them to roam inside the coop/run all day and leave their brooder Box and if they choose to sleep in and at night. Leaving the brooder Box inside the coop/run at night was something I was not going to think of and only got the idea from someone's advice on this post. And keeping them in the coop all day for a little while until they get used to it as their home, was also someone's advice on here. so, I thank you guys and so many other people that have helped me, on here and other places, with the bedding choices and so many other things!!!! I thank you so very much because people like me, with really bad anxiety, just really need sites and people like you guys to turn to when in doubt.
Thanks again.

 

[aart]

For the last 2 nights I had them sleep in their brooder Box inside the coop/run and of course they cried out a lot more than normal that 1st night for the 1st 10 or 15 minutes... but I sat in there with them

Just leave them and walk away
They are totally off any heat, correct?
Can they get in and out of the brooder box on their own?
Better pics of the brooder, please?

Having chicken is a good reason to learn to control your anxiety,
if you are anxious they can get nervous.
Breath deep.

 

[Corn Pone Princess]

Just leave them and walk away
They are totally off any heat, correct?
Can they get in and out of the brooder box on their own?
Better pics of the brooder, please?

Having chicken is a good reason to learn to control your anxiety,
if you are anxious they can get nervous.
Breath deep.

The chickens, and all animals, help my anxiety ...I just am insecure and have doubts about every choice, especially with new things lol.

It's just a wooden box I think it use to be a toy box. And yes, they can get in and out of it just fine.
They're off heat, yes.

I only have a picture of the outside the first night I put it in, without the flooring. I put wood roosts, pine shavings, and their water in over night.

We put the screen and stuff on top so they wouldn't jump out that first night lol

Thanks

 

[aart]

You might even tip that on it's side.

 

[paintedChix]

What a neat start to your "chickening"!!

In response to one of your 1st ?s & statements - if your run/coop combo (coop NOT closed in) is 7x40 that = 280sf. 280sf divided by 10 sq/chicken = 28 chickens in that spot total. That is bare minimum space allowed per chicken. I would not have that many chickens in that area - because during a bad weather spell (hurricane??), they would be completely enclosed there and you may see behavior changes that include feather picking, pecking, chasing and even killing/cannibalizing.

If you make part of the cement area into an enclosed coop - your dimensions change. If you ultimately close off the part by the walk in door for storage, again, your dimensions for the chickens themselves, change. In the coop section, it is recommend (bare minimum) that you have 4sf/bird and the 10sf/bird remains in the run area. Just keep this in mind.

In your area, you need to be concerned more with heat than cold - others have addressed that.

I wish I lived in an area with no predators that would allow me to free range our flock(s) more. I'm a little jealous that they will be able to do that. Might want to keep some sand handy for your walk ways, porch/patio - they will want to perch during the day on the railing. The sand will make it easier to clean up droppings. If your basic area is sand, then you can take sand from that area to use to dust droppings with.

You can do deep litter on the pavement if you have problems with the pine shavings. You can get a truckload of wood mulch. You can use any leaves you get and again yard clippings, garden leavings etc. I have not done a true DLM on pavement, but understand that it can/does work. If you have a compost pile already or a good garden that is not completely planted, take a few shovelfuls of that and add it to the cement area. Don't mix it in yourself or spread it out - in case you do get live worms/bugs (you want those, that's the point), just cover the pile with the shavings or leave it piled up. The birds will then go after the piles and spread/mix it around for you. Hopefully, they don't eat all the worms... LOL. What true DLM is - a living, breathing, biome & bug rich, composting "forest floor". It will "digest" your chickens' leavings, spilled feed and spilled water. It will totally prevent or seriously lower fly population. In a ground situation, it prevents mud, muddy standing puddles and moonscapes. On cement, it makes a forgiving area to land in from roosts and is cooler in summer and warmer in winter than bare concrete (some concrete in Florida summer is cooler, but I don't remember some of the friends' & families being that way - Gainesville - eastern middle/Ft Meyers- coastal). While you will get composting on the cement, you will have to probably pull some of it out sooner than you would from a ground situation as it may not break down as fast. I could be wrong, since I've never done it on cement. As the materials you choose to use do break down, you add more. It will keep going. Again if the the DLM bedding becomes too deep, you remove part of it (not all) by scraping the undigested top back & taking the most broken down part from the bottom and let the chickens spread what is left. Raw materials for DLM are generally laid in so that the spread is 8-12" deep before break down and you add more as it get lower than the 8-12" deep loose/fresh materials. Adding fresh materials gives them something to do, play area, scratching for any bugs that may be in/on the new material. I also add daily veggie/fruit & leftovers from the kitchen/meals and shredded paper/bills (take plastic out) & cardboard.

Since your ground area and coop are now done in deep bedding or DLM, you will want to provide an area for dust bathing when they can't free range and dig in the dirt outside. That is what you want to be a combo of sand, wood ash & dirt. Maybe DE (some say it doesn't work, some say it does - to kill external parasites). I personally would not mix DE directly into any of your coop bedding - especially if using DLM for your garden. I have personally found that it does affect the biome/bugs in my personal gardening attempts (I'm learning in that department myself).

What works in one area of the country, may not work in another.

And like others have stated - "Take a DEEP breath". Slow down, relax and enjoy your chickies. Understand and accept that you will make mistakes - that's how chickening works. Just go on from there. You will find that some things suggested to you will not work - either for you, your situation or your birds. When that happens, change what you are doing and move on. FIND what works for you and your birds.

My chicken journey is very different than many on this forum. While I don't sell birds or eggs or hatching eggs (yet), I have enough birds that many would say we are a farm or a commercial enterprise. I don't really consider myself a "farmer" with only 21 acres (8? maybe cleared), but... ?? who knows. I now have most of our chickens in smaller, tractors - so that they can graze/fertilize the ground but it prevents both the coyote and loose dogs from jumping the fences or aerial predators from dropping down to snag them. Partially a PITA, but it is working for us. We do currently have 7 stationary open air pen/coops (approx 8x8') that get DLM on the stinky NC sand. These coops are w/i reach of areas that we (get real - mostly me) are prepping for gardens - the DLM goes into the beds as we build them - all works in progress, not enough family members right now willing to do the work. Each year, I try some different things. Keep what is working, discard what doesn't.

BREATHE!! and SMILE!! Chicken TV is a great thing (listening to a roo crowing battle right now, myself). Eggs and meat are a good result, too!