I'm a newbie, please help!

[ncboman]

Off and on, over 20yrs of chickens, turkeys, and quail and I've never known of them on my place.

 

[HenHappy]

would it matter where you lived? Can these bugs survive harsh winters? Are they related to ear mites that cats and dogs get?
(sorry, I ask alot of questions. I just wnat to keep an eye out.)

 

[spencereb]

Hello SoCal-chick,
Nine big birds! Congratulations. You asked for the best feature for a coup. I hope you consider a convenient way to access the nest boxes, like maybe a backdoor to just reach into daily for the eggs. That was one of my big mistakes, I had to go into and then through the run daily to get to the hutch and nest boxes. That was ok, except for when it was rainy and muddy, yuk. Also, you asked about feeding and coup design. My hutch now is 4'x4'x4'. Along the back wall I created three compartments. On either side are two nice nest boxes 16"x16"x16" with convenient back doors. Between them, I constructed a "silo" type feeder 16"x16"x36" where I pour feed in at the top and they feed from a little door at the bottom. This keeps their food dry in the coup, fresh (first in first out), and it is large enough to pour in and forget that chore for a while! Another thing, as Sunnyroos mentioned, do it right the first time. You will need as much run space as possible with nine big birds, I would hope you can cull out all the roosters except for the one dominant male. Still, they will scratch the turf bare in your run in short order. You might consider throwing together a tractor at some later date to use in conjunction with your permanent run.
Good luck. Spence

 

[allen wranch]

There is some good information about mites in the Merck Vet Manual.
http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/index.jsp?cfile=htm/bc/204709.htm

The best thing I have found to prevent mites is Die-no-mite pest strips. I have not had any mites since I hung them in my coop. I have one at the entrance to each nest box, chicken door and beside the roosts. They contain low dose permethrin and the birds rub against it every time they go in and out. I get mine from Smith Poultry & Game Bird Supply. I think they are $14 for 20 strips. Their web page is down right now, but when it comes up, you can find the strips under "Medications".
http://www.poultrysupplies.com/

 

[SoCal-chick]

Spencereb, thanks for the info. We are starting to think 5 of the 9 are roosters and we can't keep roosters. We have 3/4 acres, but we live in the suburbs! My husband is designing the floor to work like a drawer we can roll out to remove the linoleun for cleaning. As far as the nest boxes, he is building an attached shed area to hold food and supplies and I will access the nest boxes from there. I like the feeder you made. How does the door mechanism at the bottom work? Now does everyone keep both food and water in the coup, even in good weather? And I bought some DE to put in the soil where they take their dust baths, but I haven't used it because I'm having second thoughts. We don't have any parasite problems, so maybe I should just hold off and only treat it the need arises. Thanks you all for the info.

 

[Kelly FG]

Hi So-cal
I'm in a suburban area too. I have 8 hens. My coop is built off the ground as well & my favorite feature is the poop pit.
Under the roost there is chicken wire & a drop down door. It opens to the ground to fit in a cement mixing pan. I just scoop all the bedding to that area & let it drop down. Then I throw it on the compost pile or bag it up & give it away.
Here's the poop pit with the junior roost-now the roost is bigger

here's a pic of the coop before it was painted, the area under the coop stays dry

my nest boxes stick out of the coop & have a hinged roof to get the eggs out.

We built this ourselves with used/scrap materials.

 

[SoCal-chick]

Kelly, nice setup!, I love the windows. Please give me more details about the "poop pit". Is the chicken wire covering it attached to the floor or just placed on top till you want to scoop stuff into the pit? I read somewhere that the roosts should be higher than the nesting boxes. Is that necessary? Thanks.

 

[HenHappy]

Wonderful! The windows in your coop are nicer that in my house!

 

[spencereb]

SoCal-chick,
You asked about the feeder I put together. It's really simple in that, at the bottom of the bin (or silo) , instead of it having a flat bottom, I installed a slanted floor which "funnels" the feed down to a slit, maybe one inch in height, that empties out onto a feeding shelf. The feed shelf has a 2"x2" ledge to keep the feed from pouring over onto the ground, and its only big enough for them to get their little heads into, maybe 4-5" front to back and 16" across. In this way, as they feed from the 4-5" shelf, the feed drops down out of the shute and onto their shelf... sorta the same principle as a waterer, where, when the water gets low enough in the dish, a bubble goes up in the reservoir and a corresponding amount of water lets down into the dish.
If you can keep your water inside, I think that's best because summertime sun/heat really enhances the growth of bacteria, and during the winter, it doesn't freeze as readily inside, although in your climate that probably isn't an issue. If you try to keep your water inside, your only problem would probably be keeping it out from under the roost, and keeping your flooring dry.
Good luck-Spence

 

[Kelly FG]

So-cal,
Here's a pic of the poop pit before it was done-DH put wood over the edges of the chicken wire. The chicken wire stays in place all the time. The underside of the coop/outside has a latch & the plywood bottom of the poop pit is a door that drops down.
Some times if there is a lot of poop it sticks to the chicken wire but I use an old wire leaf rake without a handle to loosen it.
Then I use a broom to sweep the rest of the bedding in the coop, which isn't as poopied over the pit & it all falls out.

My nests were not built yet in the pic above, but my girls were only about 11 weeks when we moved them outside & we made the first roosts lower for them. My roosts are higher than the nests now. The partition wall on the left has the roosts on the other side. 2 4' 2 X 3's the flat way, they are level with each other. Plus the top of the wall has a spot some of the girls can roost if they want.

Here they are on the roosts, you can see a row in the front & a row in the back & on the other side of the wall, lower are the nests. Oddly, my girls that are higher in the pecking order don't like the ledge on the wall which is the highest spot. Usually my lowest girls roost there.

Hope that helps.