High Desert, California!!

[debryman]

Do you have Facebook? I have a whole picture album dedicated to my chickens. If you are, I can be found by searching for "Debbie Hammer Haslip" and the profile pic will be a black and white photo of a woman (that's me ))

 

[perchie.girl]

Hi all, I'm new here and to chickens! I'm in Yucca Valley and I have a starter flock of 8 so far with four more arriving in Aug.
I hate to introduce myself and then ask a question but we will be building our coop in the next two weeks and I'm wondering what type of ventilation methods you use for our oddball weather and wind patterns we deal with in the high deserts?

Hi and welcome

from the San Diego High desert. No worries jump right in.

First and foremost I use good strong wire that a critter cant reach in and pull the chicken right through. Where I am I have Bobcat Mountain lion coyote as well as raccoon and feral dogs. I use primarily dog kennel panels and reinforce them where necessary with Aviary wire. The Aviary wire I had already its ten gauge (heavier than chainlink) and the spacings on it are so small the only think that can get through is edible....

. Then I use Silver heavy duty tarps to cover the coop for shade. I have wood on two sides on the outside of the kennel wire for wind breaks. And during the winter I can roll tarps down on the open ends for further wind breaks.

The great part about Dog kennel panels is you can fit a 2 x 3 board right through the links and it will lock in place so you can put your roosts any height and remove them if you need to get behind. I have guineas so my roosts are as high as I can get them.

How ever you want to build it make sure it is anchored to the ground either with a foundation or Posts set in concrete or even t Posts anchored deep. ( T posts are only a couple of bucks and once in it takes machinery to remove them.) Provide Shade and wind breaks. As long as they can get out of the wind they can keep warm in the winter. Fresh air is more important.

deb

 

[perchie.girl]

Thank you for the kind offer, but I'd worry as my flock is very young and I'm unsure whether they were ever vaccinated - four I got from a guy in Johnson Valley I would bet money on that they were not- I wouldn't want to risk exposing your flock to anything I might carry from them to you. Just too risky! I would love to see pics if you have any!

I don't vaccinate either.

but if you go over with clean clothes and shoes and when you come back pop them into the wash you should be fine . Its smart to practice Biosecurity even if your birds are vaccinated. Because the ones you visit may not be. Mericks is the one that is masked by vaccine but not protected against. It keeps the birds from showing symptoms and reduces the shedding of contaminated cells but it does not keep a bird from getting the disease and it still can spread it to others.

deb

 

[ccar2000]

We are in the High Desert @ 3,000' Our coop is 10 x 12 and built with windows on all four sides covered with chicken wire. The wind prevails from the East to West in the winter in my area. The North and South windows (3'x6') tilt inward to deter the chickens from trying to jump up onto them the other two (2'x2') just have plywood inserts that I remove in the warm season. The chickens have both indoor and outdoor automatic waterers and there are three 150W ceramic heaters above the roosts on a thermostat that is set for 40*. The droppings pit has chicken wire top and a hinged front for east mucking out. I keep +/- 30 hens and eight nest boxes works well. I also have about 30ft of roosting space.

 

[perchie.girl]

Nice.... I wish I could build like this....

even though mine is good for about 100 Chickens and Guineas .... I cant climb a ladder to actually do a roof. Mobility issues..... Sigh.

deb

We are in the High Desert @ 3,000' Our coop is 10 x 12 and built with windows on all four sides covered with chicken wire. The wind prevails from the East to West in the winter in my area. The North and South windows (3'x6') tilt inward to deter the chickens from trying to jump up onto them the other two (2'x2') just have plywood inserts that I remove in the warm season. The chickens have both indoor and outdoor automatic waterers and there are three 150W ceramic heaters above the roosts on a thermostat that is set for 40*. The droppings pit has chicken wire top and a hinged front for east mucking out. I keep +/- 30 hens and eight nest boxes works well. I also have about 30ft of roosting space.

 

[chick-george]

Hello, anyone here from Lake Los Angeles? I'm fairly new to chickens and would love to hear or see some of your ideas for keeping chickens out here.

 

[ccar2000]

I am in Littlerock. Can I help?

 

[Indigosands]

Debbie I sent you a friend request. My name is Elizabeth and the profile pic is my baby.

Ccar2000 that is one awesome coop! Dh and I don't have those kind of building skills lol! Well, I'm late updating here as we came back from a camping trip to indian cove and dh had it in his head that he was building that coop (darn it all) THIS weekend! So I now have a really nice (I think) coop that will more than comfortably house 12 chickens and a 1/2way completed run. We plan on getting the rest done next weekend just in time for the weather and our youngest chicks to be ready to be outdoors full time. I'll get pics up soon! Thanks for the help peeps.

 

[Indigosands]

OK Debbie, that coop is beautiful!! I love your little finishing touches like the lamps and the stars on back. Mine probably won't be nearly as pretty finished but like I said, we're no professionals. LOL! Gosh I miss living in JT.. so much more open and peaceful out there. Hopefully we will be back there in a few years. Oh, and we have a "Rudy" too, but ours is a sexlink girl.

 

[FrenchToast]

I just happened check this thread and noticed I won 12 heritage turkey eggs in the raffle. I remember in earilier posts that if for some reason we could not accept them for various reasons that we may be able to trade?

Are their any winners out there that would like to swap their eggs for my heritage turkey eggs?

Pm me with what you have. Thanks