INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[Chaneys Ranch]

The silkies are in their own coop in a pile in about 6 inches of straw. They have done pretty well so far. The big chickens in the 4x8 all roost, except Lavender and the kids are little stubborn butts, and no matter how many times I put them on the roost, the go right back under the curtains into the nesting box and ?under? her.... I say it that way because at 9 weeks they are not fitting under her very well anymore. One of RIR girls is sleeping on the side of the coop on a cross beam and my EE was sleeping in another nest box for some reason. They are weirdos. The humidity is doing okay. The roof is corrugated roofing and the humps in it are open to the outside, so it must be helping to vent the coop.

Oh I bet so, thats just perfect for ventilation too! I have to open more at the roof lines of my 2nd coop (grow-out shed, currently empty)
I drilled holes at the peaks but noticed late fall its not enough. will be cutting HOLES come spring, and covering with hardware cloth!

 

[kabhyper1]

Oh I bet so, thats just perfect for ventilation too! I have to open more at the roof lines of my 2nd coop (grow-out shed, currently empty)
I drilled holes at the peaks but noticed late fall its not enough. will be cutting HOLES come spring, and covering with hardware cloth!

I'm going to go out in a bit here and see how everyone is doing and check humidity again. I would love to be able to close the window to keep heat in, but I don't want anyone getting frost bite.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Quote: close it a few hours and check, that should tell you if it makes a difference. With the ridges in the roof, I bet you will be fine.

 

[Mother2Hens]

Well my girls are soo mad at me!! I hadn't let the LF out to free range since it snowed. They had their coup and the open area of the barn and an outside that did have snow. I had put some hay on the snowy area . Well I opened the gate and apparently it's all my fault that there is more of this white crap everywhere!! They all came running out then realized it was everywhere and started frieking out. They are all perched on anything they could find that is not in the snow. Buckets, wagon, extra cages!! It's pretty funny!! Buch of big babies!!!

danad ~ Hahaha! That sounds like my flock who've been chewing me out about the snow and ice--- even little Bonbon chimes in with her squeaky little voice and she looks just as mad as the others. I've been laying towels outside of the coop for them to walk on (then I have to expensively launder/sanitize the towels), but I used straw last year to cover snow and it turned into a big wet mess when the snow melted. Since we keep getting a little more snow and ice, and the temps are still cold-- 19 tonight, the girls have only taken a few steps out of the coop (on the towels)-- except for my RIR, SLW, and BR who make a daily trip a few feet around the corner to lay their eggs in the garage. Today, all three of them were trying to get in the same rubbermaid box. It's really weird that they've been laying so well during this bad weather. I don't use any extra lighting. The clear roof may help with natural light, but considering it gets dark at 4:30 pm(!) here, I don't know what to think.

goodb must have the secret to good layers

Farker Farms/ bradselig ~ I also bought a Flock Block today at RK -- lol -- $10.79 -- probably a bad price, but I decided to try it because they are bored being snowed in. That thing is so hard that they probably won't even be able to loosen a seed from it! It's like concrete. It reminds me of squirrel corn logs that I bought last year-- they were so hard that the squirrels couldn't even eat them and I had to throw the logs away.

 

[minmin1258]

HouseKat I'm so glad none of your babies were injured. I bet they were scared half t death though. I have a friend who built her run out if PVC pipe . The pipe for upright "posts" are 4" pipe filled with sand for additional support, they are 4 ft apart, the overhead supports are 2" pipes also filled with sand. The whole area is fenced off with 1/2" hardware cloth secured with plastic wire ties to the posts, and covered with chicken wire over top again secured with wire ties. She doesn't have a predator problem where she's at (thank goodness). I guess having a plumber for a boyfriend she has access t more PVC than she does wood. Lol but it's nice and clean and is holding up well too.

 

[Mother2Hens]

Leahs Mom ~ I love your big roo on the log! He looks like he takes his job seriously.
Before the snow hit, we had two beautiful grazing frames full of all kinds of wonderful grasses that the chickens were enjoying. I doubt there will be much left when the snow melts. I guess that's why fodder is a great winter time treat.
minmin ~ Good idea about the cat toys working for chickens! Makes sense because so many cat and bird toys are similar.
kabhyper posted: The roof is corrugated roofing and the humps in it are open to the outside, so it must be helping to vent the coop.
kabhyper ~ My clear coop roof is corrugated, and I like the ventilation aspect, too. I just loved your alpaca photo! Sweet! Looks like a Christmas card.

 

[SallyinIndiana]

Our enclosure collapsed late Friday night/early Saturday morning from snow and ice accumulation on the roof.



We had to throw together a quick & dirty temporary shelter using an old swingset frame and plastic tarps. All the chickens made it out unscathed. We had some plastic tote boxes in the enclosure for nesting boxes and they kept the roof from collapsing on the chickens.

wow that looks bad. I hope you were able to salvage some of the materials to rebuild it. Maybe a PVC arch support after you rebuild would allow more weight on the roof.

Quote: close it a few hours and check, that should tell you if it makes a difference. With the ridges in the roof, I bet you will be fine.
We also have the corrugated roofing on our new coop. it is not enough venting. We have 3/4 of our venting windows partially open and I'm considering opening them more but well it is a tough choice. There is still moisture in the coop that I need to get out but I have some smaller chicks that need to stay warm too. Almost the same as you except my youngest chick is about 6-8 weeks old.

Editing to add that we also have 2 ducks in the coop that are making a water mess. They might be the large part of the problem.

 

[kabhyper1]

Quote:
The water may be part of it. We have a heated cookie tin waterer in our coop, but I just went out and with all of them in there the humidity was still 16%. I closed the bottom of the window and put momma and the 9 week olds on the roost squeezed in with everyone else. I am going to go back out and check on them in a little while.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

We also have the corrugated roofing on our new coop. it is not enough venting. We have 3/4 of our venting windows partially open and I'm considering opening them more but well it is a tough choice. There is still moisture in the coop that I need to get out but I have some smaller chicks that need to stay warm too. Almost the same as you except my youngest chick is about 6-8 weeks old.

Editing to add that we also have 2 ducks in the coop that are making a water mess. They might be the large part of the problem.

Yes, ducks definitely don't help. All my ducks and geese are separate, except my muscovies.
They are still with my egg flock, they fly with no problem so I have to keep them in a covered run.
They will get their own coop come spring, but for now I deal with the additional mess they make.
I cannot keep water inside the coop, period with them in there, or the bedding would be soaked in a day!
When they preen, they will repeatedly dunk their head to clear their noses and clean their feathers.
I have tried to only use normal chicken waterers but it causes the scovies to get their nasal cavities plugged, not good.
So, the water is outside. The scovies get ice cream buckets for water and it works for me.
The birds can come and go day and night into the run, its electrified and secure.

 

[gunchief25]

Morning all Cockadoodledooooooo...brrrrrrrrrr!!!