Hi from AZ with 7 new baby hens (hopefully!)

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Heidi65

Heidi65

In the Brooder
Joined
Mar 15, 2015
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Location
Prescott Valley, AZ
My Coop
My Coop
***Warning may become long :P ******

My name is Heidi and I live in Prescott, AZ with my Hubby of 25 yrs (as of the 3-10 :D ) and our 18+ yr old daughter, Kari, along with 5 dogs and a Moluccan Cockatoo.

I've been reading this board like crazy since we brought our girls home, atleast we are sure hoping they are girls! We have 2 Ameracanas, Forest & Niagara, 3 Rhode Island Reds, Lucy, Meg and Anna, 1 White Leghorn Elsa (Elsa & Anna are for our Great Niece who is 4;) ) and 1 Rock Barred named Night Wing (Kari named her). They are all very spoiled and come when we put our hand in the tote or run.

We had our parrot in 1/3 of our dog house which is 10' x 14' x 8' so we just we did it and moved her into the house and have moved our new babies out there. It has two windows and two separate doors, recessed lighting, insulated, heated and has electric. Right now the chicks are young, will be 3 weeks old on Wed. so we don't have nesting boxes or anything yet but will soon. We will also make them a run attached to the house that is 5' x 10' x 4'. We have an 1/2 acre and the dogs have a dog run that a a good portion of the property. When we are outside the dogs can be locked out of the run and have play, or we can lock the dogs in the house/run and let the babies have free run of the yard.

Now for the questions;
how high should we make the nesting boxes?
how deep should we make them (since you know our breeds?
poop trays and from what I've read, they should be 24" deep?
roosts should be above the boxes, no matter square or round about 8" about poop board?
 
Welcome to the flock, the Learning Center above, can answer many of your questions, and is a great place to start. Then you may want to progress to "Raising Backyard chicks."
 
Good morning and welcome to BYC!
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Hello there and welcome to BYC!
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I like how you started out with a warning on how this could get long.....Ha!

Most of your questions can be answered in the learning center.

As for the height of nesting boxes....as long as they are lower than the roosting bar, than you are good. And speaking of which, with heavy breed birds, it is best to keep the roost bar fairly close to the ground. This way if they jump or fall off, they are less likely to sprain or pull a tendon in the hips or legs.

14x14 or 15x15 is a good size for nesting boxes.

I have never used poop trays so I can't answer this one. :-)

2x4's with the 4 side up work great for roost bars. The 2 side is too think for heavy birds. I use a 4x4 fence post that has rounded edges.

Being that you are in AZ, you might consider using sand in your coop and run. I do and I love it! I dig mine out of dry arroyo's and washes. Make sure you are collecting sand and not dirt. Wet it and squeeze. If it clumps, it is dirt. Sand will fall apart. Sand is wonderful in the heat of summer. You can hose it down and put a fan in your run, and instantly you have cooler birds!! Wet sand keeps the feet cool and cool feet mean cool birds! It absorbs poop and smells, repels flies and the birds love to scratch and dust bathe in it. Here is what my sand looks like...



Here is a nice thread on using sand if you want more info.....https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/444759/got-sand-you-should

Enjoy this new journey and welcome to our flock!
 
Welcome to BYC, Heidi!
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I'm glad you joined our community.

You've received some excellent advice from TwoCrows! Good luck with your chicks.
 

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