Looking to raise chickens and build first coop

[Chick-N-Fun]

Welcome to our FUNomenal Community!

 

[Fishkeeper]

Before trying an E-collar on the dogs, try to get their attention away from the birds. There's lots of research here about how to do it- you train them to, basically, not be interested in chickens any more.

 

[Ebony Rose]

I converted a small 6x8' concrete block storage shed that has a good zinc roof and a metal & wire screen door into a coop. The only ventilation is the full sized, metal framed, screen door. Being able to walk into the coop is a blessing, I've had some you had to clean by bending over into the thing... NEVER AGAIN! The chickens only use it for sleeping and laying as I live in Panama and the weather is mid 70's on the coldest of nights and mid 90's on the hottest of days. They have full reign on my nearly quarter-acre, fully chain-link fenced yard to do 'chicken' things. I'm currently only keeping three hens in the coop, but have had as many as 15.

You may be pleasantly surprised by your dogs, my dogs have zero interest in molesting my birds, and I keep chickens AND quail... and you know that everything loves to eat chickens and quail! ROFL! If my chickens set off an alarm, my dogs investigate; If my dogs set off an alarm, my chickens observe and decide if they need to take cover. Gotta love teamwork!

I rent, so permanent conversion of the shed wasn't an option for me. It's amazing what you can do with a few bails of hay for creating heights for perching around the walls and a spacious cubby hole for nesting on the far wall, with a couple of stick ladders solidly propped up at an angle against the hay for those girls that insist on having something between their toes when they sleep (some are content to just lay on the hay). I clean it up every day or two. Very soiled hay gets tossed to compost, lightly soiled gets tossed to the floor into a deep litter hay pile... poop on the bottom, and turned as needed. Even in the height of summer, I do not have issues with odor or flies. I don't treat the litter with anything other than a pitchfork to turn it, no chemicals or PDZ or anything like that.

I found australorps to be more reserved yet sweeter than production reds. They're quite friendly. They make an excellent tri-purpose bird, (eggs, meat, pets) and have beautiful plumage and colorful eggs (I think mine were crossed with easter eggers as I got various shades of eggs from light brown, dark brown, blues and greens and cream, they were sold as australorps at the feed store, but we know how that goes... They had the australorp plumage and black skin, but their eggs weren't right for 'pure bred'. The bird stands up well to hot temperatures as well, even though they're black... they have good common sense and know to get into the shade during the heat of the day Mine liked to dip their toes into a wading pool during high summer. They're excellent foragers. They would love to turn a compost pile if you have one.

 

[robcam817]

Before trying an E-collar on the dogs, try to get their attention away from the birds. There's lots of research here about how to do it- you train them to, basically, not be interested in chickens any more.

Appreciate the feedback and while I'm a noobie to chickens I'm a veteran dog handler. I know some folks don't like e-collars but no one loves their dogs more than I do and I've been training with e-collars for decades. Done correctly, it's one of the best forms of training available.

 

[DobieLover]

Appreciate the feedback and while I'm a noobie to chickens I'm a veteran dog handler. I know some folks don't like e-collars but no one loves their dogs more than I do and I've been training with e-collars for decades. Done correctly, it's one of the best forms of training available.

I completely agree with you. I have trained 5 Dobermans to e-collars. Every one of them would go nuts with excitement when I took their collars off the charger to put on them as they associated it with getting to run off leash. All my collar models had either an audible or vibration warning and multiple levels of stimulation.

 

[robcam817]

I completely agree with you. I have trained 5 Dobermans to e-collars. Every one of them would go nuts with excitement when I took their collars off the charger to put on them as they associated it with getting to run off leash. All my collar models had either an audible or vibration warning and multiple levels of stimulation.

Yes, my collars are very similar to yours. Terrific training aids in the right hands. I've also seen them horribly abused which is why e-collars get such a bad rap.

To Fishkeeper: You can't train such a strong prey drive out of Rotts/Dobs etc.... It would be like trying to train me not to be interested in women...;-) So you train them to realize going after chickens, (as opposed to squirrels, chipmunks etc...) produces an undesired stimulus. Just like my wife trained me not to go after other women....(just kidding, I love my wife dearly and would never even consider it.)

Rotts are very smart and it doesn't take long at all for them to understand. And when they behave themselves, (I.E. control their impulse to kill/eat chickens) they get a very satisfying reward in the way of their favorite treats and lots of love.

 

[robcam817]

Wow....such great responses and so quickly too. What a great community! I'll deff have to look more into building my own. We just bought a property and there's ALOT of outbuildings....more than I think I'll ever use, (it was a custom home builder and he had horses so you can imagine...;-). I'll attach some pics and maybe someone will have an idea for an outbuilding coop conversion? Again, thanks to all!!!

Here's some vids/pics of potential coop site conversions. Suggestions are most welcomed and greatly appreciated.

 

[drumstick diva]

Welcome to the Pulse Beat of the chicken community -Backyard Chickens

 

[1245780trex]

My neighbors bought a relatively cheap shed and installed a couple of sturdy shelves to hold supplies and a couple of nesting boxes and roosts if that helps at all. Unfortunately the they moved away and the new neighbors have torn everything out, so I don’t have any pictures to add to this.

 

[crazy4ChickensNducks]

You have some great spots! I would go with one of those 2 overhangs, the green one is HUGE,but it comes down to which ever one is closer and more convenient for you.