INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[kabhyper1]

Do any of you have housing that has cement floors (as in a barn or other cement floored building)?

I may end up putting the birds in the pole barn for the winter if I can work out a containment plan. The floors are cement and, of course, I'd have a deep litter over that.

But I'm curious...it seems like the cement floor would be really cold and even make the litter cold and uncomfortable under it. I could probably get a remnant of vinyl flooring to throw on there under the litter.... I'm also wondering about condensation.

Ours is cement. We just put a deep layer of straw down for the winter in the animals areas. I use poultry dust on the floor under it for mites and treat the birds before winter. I dust them here and there if needed. In the summer they are on concrete, but there is so much sand tracked in that the poop sweeps right out without sticking for the most part. Think throwing sugar cookie dough in a bowl of sugar. lol

 

[Leahs Mom]

Any issues with condensation in the winter making the floors damp?

How is the "cold factor"?

I know that the chickens will scratch around in the litter and get them down to the floor from time to time no matter what is on the floor.

I also know that concrete can hold heat as well as cold so it may help warm things some for awhile. I just know that the concrete slabs I've been on have a tendency to be very cold in the winter compared to other flooring. Also that dogs are reported to have joint issues when they are sleeping on concrete due to the cold/condensation type issues so I wondered if it would be smart to put down something on top of the concrete for them.

 

[kabhyper1]

Any issues with condensation in the winter making the floors damp?

How is the "cold factor"?

I know that the chickens will scratch around in the litter and get them down to the floor from time to time no matter what is on the floor.

I also know that concrete can hold heat as well as cold so it may help warm things some for awhile. I just know that the concrete slabs I've been on have a tendency to be very cold in the winter compared to other flooring. Also that dogs are reported to have joint issues when they are sleeping on concrete due to the cold/condensation type issues so I wondered if it would be smart to put down something on top of the concrete for them.

I haven't noticed any condensation issues, other than the walls will occasionally sweat with all the beasties in there. They are in a 33 x 25 area. We separate the barn with a BIG tarp to hold the heat in. With 6 alpacas, and around 20 chickens in there last year it stayed about 15 degrees warmer in there than outside. So when it was -15 outside it was holding at zero to 5 degrees in the barn, but with no wind and all the straw it felt much warmer. Our barn isn't insulated. They do scratch around and love having corn thrown into the bedding to keep them busy and warm. The concrete is very easy to clean. The alpacas haven't had any issues being on the hard floor. We keep about a foot of straw down all winter. We actually moved them inside last winter because in our green 4x8 coop even with ventilation, they were getting frost bite. No frost bite in the barn at all.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Quote: I never had a hint of aggression with any of mine. Pretty sure most of mine were hens, but one did get much larger so may have been a cock. If i didn't spend time with them, they did get very flighty and mistrusting.

Quote: They are very sweet, calm roos. I will probably get with you in the spring to get some eggs.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

I THINK THAT EE'S ALL LOOK GRIM. GRIM, I TELL YOU. You can always tell you're looking at an EE by the grim look.

@kabhyper1 This is the girl what was completely bare backed last summer and fall. This photo shows her after the molt and re-growth. She's completely bald-backed again all this summer and I just noticed she's getting her pins now. All my girls are molting so she must be too.

Charlie's Sister (I call my ee's "Charlie-Birds"...and yes, there is a story behind that.)




Charlie

Awesome pic's, and she is a beautiful hen!

My Pekin is an egg laying machine. This morning she laid a huge egg.

This is her egg next to my mallard's egg

Here is a pic of Sunkist

They sure are egg machines! I keep tossing back and forth keeping our pekin. Think the eggs are the biggest reason! They will lay all year around.

Quote: Fantastic amount of info! Thanks very much for sharing this

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Off to bed, keep falling asleep.

 

[CCCCCCCCHICKENS]

Do any of you have housing that has cement floors (as in a barn or other cement floored building)? 

I may end up putting the birds in the pole barn for the winter if I can work out a containment plan.  The floors are cement and, of course, I'd have a deep litter over that. 

But I'm curious...it seems like the cement floor would be really cold and even make the litter cold and uncomfortable under it.  I could probably get a remnant of vinyl flooring to throw on there under the litter....  I'm also wondering about condensation.

My barn has cement floors. It was much warmer in my barn than outside was late inter as it even has holes in it and stuff. It is a very old barn

 

[chick rookie]

can any one tell me what this is, Hawk or falcon? I found its pic on line but not a name. I beat it with a broom this morning after it got tangled in the deer netting above my Silkie pen. Thank God I got the netting up before this darn thing showed up, and it didn't care that I was standing 10 or 15 feet away either. First time one of these ever got close let alone actually try to strike. I've had chicken hawks a time or 2 but nothing as bold as this, and it would not have been able to fly away with Romeo or the ISA's in with him, they are way to big for this bird. It would have had to dine-in and did it really think I was going to allow that??? I was standing right there!!! I'm sorry I'm kinda shook up right now. I need to go check on the kids again broom in hand!!

 

[sunflour]

can any one tell me what this is, Hawk or falcon? I found its pic on line but not a name. I beat it with a broom this morning after it got tangled in the deer netting above my Silkie pen. Thank God I got the netting up before this darn thing showed up, and it didn't care that I was standing 10 or 15 feet away either. First time one of these ever got close let alone actually try to strike. I've had chicken hawks a time or 2 but nothing as bold as this, and it would not have been able to fly away with Romeo or the ISA's in with him, they are way to big for this bird. It would have had to dine-in and did it really think I was going to allow that??? I was standing right there!!! I'm sorry I'm kinda shook up right now. I need to go check on the kids again broom in hand!!

Looks like a Merlin - pigeon sized falcon.
Thank goodness you had the netting! And you were only 10-15 feet away, answers a question I have posted before on would our close proximity would prevent air attacks.
Descriptions state they are aggressive hunters, and bet it will return. Keep your flock safe.

 

[pginsber]

Do any of you have housing that has cement floors (as in a barn or other cement floored building)?

I may end up putting the birds in the pole barn for the winter if I can work out a containment plan. The floors are cement and, of course, I'd have a deep litter over that.

But I'm curious...it seems like the cement floor would be really cold and even make the litter cold and uncomfortable under it. I could probably get a remnant of vinyl flooring to throw on there under the litter.... I'm also wondering about condensation.

Our floor is cement. We use pine shavings directly on top of it. The wood shavings are not excessively cold in the winter time, and the birds haven't had any trouble. There is no condensation.
We painted ours using epoxy paint. The cement floor stands up well to shovelling the old shavings out and putting new ones in. If there's a water spill or food spill, the bedding soaks it up, and I can remove the soiled bedding very easily.

can any one tell me what this is, Hawk or falcon? I found its pic on line but not a name. I beat it with a broom this morning after it got tangled in the deer netting above my Silkie pen. Thank God I got the netting up before this darn thing showed up, and it didn't care that I was standing 10 or 15 feet away either. First time one of these ever got close let alone actually try to strike. I've had chicken hawks a time or 2 but nothing as bold as this, and it would not have been able to fly away with Romeo or the ISA's in with him, they are way to big for this bird. It would have had to dine-in and did it really think I was going to allow that??? I was standing right there!!! I'm sorry I'm kinda shook up right now. I need to go check on the kids again broom in hand!!

That's very a traumatic situation you're describing. We live 3 blocks from White River. In my part of Indianapolis, we have multiple kinds of hawks. Red Shoulder hawks, Coopers Hawks, Sharp-shinned hawks, Kestrels, etc. The only one I'm familiar with that has a stripe on it's face is a Kestrel. Kestrels are very small hawks. How big was the hawk you ran into today?

Red Shouldered

Cooper's juvenile coloring

Cooper's

Sharp-shinned

Female Kestrel picture for scale.

Another picture of the female Kestrel.

The Male Kestrel has brilliant colors.