Indoor Coop?

[Drk_Wlf]

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Chickens are in the backyard the dogs and cats are in the house (upstairs) the livestock animals are on my family's property behind my dad's house about 5 minutes away, they have little run in sheds right now. We were planning on building a barn and putting the older birds over there, BUT we are have some issues (MASSIVE UNDERSTATMENT) which is why we are having to raise the chicks in the basement. I refuse to put my plans on hold because some psyco lady doesn't want us to have a barn, thats all I am going to say here you can look for my other post about that particular situation.

As I said I probably wont end up with that many chickens, at max it would be 29 and thats only if all my eggs hatch.

I figure I am just going to have to make sure to keep up on the cleaning, and air the basement out allot. If possible I would probably move some of the chickens to the outside coop when they feather out. I can TRY out and see how they do in the basment and if it doesn't work oh well, I have a mess to pick up.

 

[Drk_Wlf]

We have the wood to build another coop, if this doesn't work out we can put up a quicky coop, but they are staying in the basment at least until they get feathers.

 

[Drk_Wlf]

Quote:
My basement has no value, it is technically a crawl space. My cats use to go down there and use it as a litter box (now they are perminently banned from the basement) and I managed to get that smell out of there, and there is nothing worse then cat pee. Lots and Lots of natures miracle left to set for a day and then the power washer took care of the rest.

My family is only me and my hubby so I don't have any kids to worry about, as I said I am just looking for info right now. I don't have 30 chickens in my basement yet. I will be raising the chicks in there though at least until they are big enough to go outside. I have weeks to contstruct something if need be.

 

[Turner]

I raised 30+ chicks in my basement ONCE - they were hatched in mid Feb and I kept some of them there until May - quite a few went to homes way before that. I have an old century farmhouse - basement is rustic to say the least. I was able to corner off a section that was 6x15...babies were kept in a small brooder area and as they grew I was able to expand etc until I only had the 9 left in May.

I put a tarp down before shavings ..one for keeping floor clean and the warmth issue. I kept the area very clean and that was a real pain walking bags of dirty shavings up the stairs etc ( would not do that ever again! ) and then there was the dust - OMG what a mess. I never had an ammonia smell because I stripped out all bedding once every week or two depending on how many birds I had at that time but...

I would probably put a few bantams down there if I had to...but no big birds. This was my experience.

Good Luck

 

[Drk_Wlf]

Quote:
Thanks! I clean my birds once a week so ammonia wouldn't be an issue. How our oudoor coop in configured right now we can extend the inside with very little problem if need be.

We started out with a shed and put a porch with an overhaging roof on it and then one side of the porch area is closed in for the chickens and there run extends off of that. The other side of the porch if fenced in and is a run for one of my dogs and she has a "stall" inside, which we put a heat lamp in for her in the winter. So we have the other side behind the coop that is inside the shed that is completly open which was a "stall" for our other dogs that used to live out there and is how we enter the coop currently. This "stall" could be converted into part of the coop or left seperate as a brooder area if need be. If needed we can close this area off, only one wall is completely open, then there is a half wall, which is the "stall" wall for the dog on the otherside, the door to the coop, and then the side to the shed. So as I said if this gets to much we could extend our current coop within less then a day if we need to get them out of the house.

 

[tedabug]

So I've read through all the threads. Is it the shavings that create all the dust or the birds themselves? Is there any reason you couldn't put down a little sand instead of shavings? Do they eat the sand? I have sand in my coop and it makes clean-up so easy. You can scoop everything out like a cat litter box. I wonder if sand is dusty too...

 

[BWKatz]

I think it would be ok to keep them there til they feather out..then I would put them out in the coop with a heat lampand slowly acclimate them to the weather.

 

[Birdbrain99114]

Please do not think of me as being too critical but from what I have read, you are determined to put those birds in the basement regardless of any advice you get. We had 13 barred rock and buff orpington roosters that we raised for fryers in our shop. We opened the 8 X 8 garage door by their pen and either an 8 X 8 or 8 X 10 door on the opposite wall during the day. One can not imagine how much dust we had from the birds EVERYWHERE! The smell is easy to control by removing dirty litter but the respiratory issues stemming from all of the airborne dust and associated contaminats will definately be a significant health hazard. I beg you to ask a vet or someone else in the medical field prior to making your decision for both you and your hubby's physical well being. It is a well known fat that having one pet bird in the house significantly raises the risk of respiratory damage and you are planning 30. Not wise, my friend.

 

[patandchickens]

Tedabug -- it is the birds *themselves* that create most of the dust. Feather dander, from them repeatedly molting out new suits of feathers as they grow. Really really.

Drk_Wlf -- extending your existing shed sounds like a MUCH better idea. (Also will undoubtedly be useful to you in the future). You won't be messing up your house, ranching up rodents inside the house walls, etcetera.

Go to www.plamondon.com and hunt around for his chicken pages til you find the one on what I think he calls a "insulated plywood hover brooder" or something like that. I have built one, from his instructions, and it works GREAT for brooding chicks in a cold outbuilding. Does not necessarily require you be running high wattage.

Pat

 

[Chic-n-farmer]

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I have used wood chips and I have raised chicks in a quality brooder. This one:

With wood chips ( and I use the premium, low dust, large chip shavings) there is always dust. Even with frequent changes there is dust. I mean how often have you seen dust on your windows? The chicks are going to be scratching in the dust and their droppings every waking second. That's what they do.

With the brooder there is an incredible reduction of the dust. I line the droppings tray with newspaper and change it often.

My advice to the OP would be to make an elevated wire floor, in a confined area, for brooding the chicks on, if determined to use the basement. I'm sure the cost of the wire could be made up by not needing to purchase wood shavings.