I need THE perfect coop

[gsim]

No engineer. I am a retired telecommunications tech. However I did get a bit of practice BC (before coop

) I remodeled our 2nd home some 25-30 yrsa ago, built a detached garage for it, and then around 20 yrs ago, moved to the countryside where we built our present home, doing 90% of it ourselves. Then, three years ago, I built my shop building (on 'My BYC Page'); so the coop was more of an exercise than a project.

Gerry

 

[toddles1961]

Hi, I hear ya. I went through the same things and I finally came up with the fact that this is not a fad. In saying that i decided to go ahead and do this right. I designed my own coop on paper as well as in my mind and the features i came up were for the safety and comfort of our flock and the ease of cleaning as well as access for us. I have some pic's that show the finished coop but none that show the progress, sorry. You can see them at tecorenovations.com. Click custom coops. You will see 2 different ones. The one with the egg door glass in mine. If you look carefully, you will see the henbox access is hinged. When I clean out, I simply lower the back wall and push it out. I do pressure wash my coop every 3 or 4 weeks. The run walls are buried 10 to 12" underground and I poured concrete to secure it. There is a threshold under the door that is 10" deep as well. NOTHING can get in but us. Their roosts are sitting on pegs and dowels and i simply remove when cleaning. I have learned that if you plan on using their droppings, don't use wheat straw in the nest boxes. That straw almost always has alfalfa and alfalfa carries a germ called mosaic that kills tomato's as well as other veggie's. I hope this little blurb help's you in your quest and happy ckickening!!!

 

[NHchicks]

toddles, I did not know that about the alfalfa - thx for passing that along. I will be using my chicken compost, hopefully the hay I've bought occasionally does not have straw/alfalfa in it. Mostly I use shavings, but I do buy a bale of hay now and then, esp. for nesting boxes.

 

[NHchicks]

Just putting a note here to keep this thread somewhat accessible. I still want to look at some of the coop photos linked to here, esp. gsim's. Wow.

 

[gsim]

Quote:
Thank you, NH Chicks.

Just did annual cobweb/dusting and window washing and poop-boards washing in coop yesterday. Was going to replace litter, but the wood chips I have piled up from last month have already started to mildew a bit just below the surface. So instead of switching to chips this year, I will do grass clippings for the 3rd summer. I like them, but have to wait until I have growth to be able to cut them. I just cut and let lie for a day or two then rake up. That way they are fairly dry. Takes around 8 garbage drums to get a good start for replacement litter in springtime. After that, I just add periodically all year long, with an especially large top dressing around the end of grass cutting season. When adding only a drum or two, I just dump them in there freshly cut. Smell good and I do not have to spread them either. The chooks do it fore me if I just dump it in there in a couple of piles.

Grass clippings are free of charge, and only need one or two square bales of hay to top dress all winter long to keep coop fresh smelling.

If I luck out and get another load of chips tho before late March, I will switch to chips for the year. That way they can go on the garden the following year. (I never put the old grass clippings litter on the garden or shrubs for fear of having a billion weeds sprout. With chips tho, no fear of that.

Gerry

 

[Newbie in Screamer Al]

you may want to look on craigslist for a used shed to convert. I saved a bunch that way. Got a used 8x10 barn style shed that lists for 1600 and got it for 500. There are some good buys on it. Good luck...

 

[NHchicks]

Quote:
Wow, I never heard of using grass clippings for your coop. I pretty much use shavings, but I'd say it costs around $5/mo. to use shavings. And mine free range all day. I use hay occasionally just because they love to nest in it and it smells good. But cleanup is harder and I hate throwing all that expensive hay out.

Gonna think about the grass clippings tho.