Large, Open-Air Coop in Central NC

[3KillerBs]

Chicken moving accomplished.

It took a relay of our 2 sons with 2 cat carriers and me tucking one bird at a time under my arm to make the move, but it was accomplished with minimal difficulty.

I ended up hand-carrying Ludwig. He's solid and weighty but it's all bones. Long legs, long wings, long neck, and prominent keel but to judge by feel he outweighs Popcorn, the SLW (who is undersized for her breed), though he wasn't so heavy as Dumpling, the Brahma, who is quite solid even though she is also a little small for her breed.

I was surprised how calmly Ludwig took the move once I got him footballed with his head under my arm. I was able to set him on the juvenile roost and he stayed put with his girls.

A couple birds didn't want to stay on the perches but it's a bright moon tonight so I hope they'll find their way back up.

I don't know how well the photos taken by flash came out. I didn't want to upset them too much with extensive photography.

 

[aart]

Chicken moving accomplished.

 

[Sally PB]

Good job!

 

[3KillerBs]

Chickens appear happy. I've had multiple eggs in the boxes and none on the floor.

I even have what I think is a new layer's first egg:

Chipotle's white egg is a standard large.

 

[3KillerBs]

So, I went and sat in the coop with them shortly before dusk.

The roosting process in the unfamiliar circumstances was amusing. Some of the young ones went straight for the highest part of the roost. Others went for their juvenile roost. The adults milled around in confusion -- less willing to accept that their accustomed coop wasn't coming back, I presume.

I put my phone's flashlight on to give them some light and some went up. Then jumped down. Then went up again. Finally, most of them managed to get onto some kind of roost.

But Dumpling and Teriyaki tried to sleep on the floor in a corner and one little cochin wandered around peeping unhappily -- perhaps having waited until it was too dark to see how to get up.

I picked up Dumpling and "walked" her up the ramp -- touching her feet down at every cleat -- then sat her on the perch. Then I did the same for Teriyaki.

The cochin still hadn't settled so I picked her up and inserted her into a gap on the juvenile roost.

I sat there reading on the phone for another 5-10 minutes and left after they seemed to be well settled.

I expect that they'll get themselves into a routine in a few days.

 

[3KillerBs]

We have had unprecedented levels of downpour in the last couple days after a dry period that left the ground hard.

The roof has performed well, with very little blown rain entering the open end and the clerestory.

Unfortunately, two new runoff channels formed in the hillside upslope and water has run under the wall into the roost and nestbox quarter of the coop. A diversion ditch will be dug Friday when my 15yo is off school and available to do the work and some of the pile of aged woodchips will be moved into the coop to eliminate the mud.

When we sited the coop I stood out there in a downpour looking for runoff channels and areas of pooling, finding nothing. But I wasn't entirely surprised to discover that a ditch at the bottom of the hill would be necessary. I think it's likely that the water problem is the roof and that we need to put on a gutter.

Despite this issue, the chickens actually have more dry area to hang out in than they had in the collection of small coops and the open run.

I don't have photos because I didn't want to stand out there in the downpour getting my phone wet.

 

[aart]

Bummer...you'll get it sorted tho.

 

[3KillerBs]

Bummer...you'll get it sorted tho.

Only about a quarter of the coop is wet so it shouldn't be too big a deal. Rains will end by midnight and I'll haul some woodchips tomorrow.

 

[3KillerBs]

I have found a flaw in my design.

I didn't think of putting a cleanout hatch on the uphill side -- thinking about how the bedding would surely migrate downhill.

Of course that means that I have to dump the cart in the side door and fork the new bedding into position uphill.

 

[aart]

I didn't think of putting a cleanout hatch on the uphill side

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