Mama Heating Pad in the Brooder (Picture Heavy) - UPDATE

[bruceha2000]

Quote:
That means you are N O R M A L !

I'm really glad you didnt take that as a personal attack. This entire concept is 90% faith, for us. If theyre still growing it sounds like thyre fine. Have some wine

Hey everyone, eagrbeavr is buying!!

I'll have a merlot please.

Quote:
If this chick is similar, perhaps a good name would be "Dumb Dora".

 

[perchie.girl]

So on another note, what material for roosts is best? About to build the roosts and poop boards. Thanks!

I just use pine two by threes layed flat they will span six feet easily without middle support and support about eight LF .... The book says a foot per bird.... My chickens dont read...

Even though there were TWO perches at the same level.

If I were to build a poop bord I would not use anything but a plywood base, Painted with spar varnish. Spar varnish will allow you to take it out and hose it off periodically. It also will seal any cracks for mites to get in.

I have seen two ways to deal with poo that I like. Mind you my environment is very dry.

One is using a roll of brown paper pull it out to cover the poop board.... When its dirty roll up the paper and you have fresh in place already just trim off the old. Kind of like they do at the docs office for the exam table.

Two Is my personal favorite. Closet rod for support then a tarp made of shade cloth draped between. Pockets sewn into the shade cloth to slide the curtain rod in. Then hang it under the roosts .... Believe me they may walk in it but wont stay for long. The poo Dessicates in the hammock and it doesnt need to be tended every day.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/534564/poop-hammock-rocks

The first page shows an excellent example.... There are many ways to do this.

deb

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote:
My original design called for cage wire or hardware cloth on the floor of the brooder. Guinea Keets are messy little buggers. I dont know how many times they dumped all their water out because the kicked shavings high enough to touch their water Id come homw with ALL their bedding wet and very thirsty soggy looking keets.

In a later brooder I used a wire bottom with Plastic wire layed on top to protect little feet. But I felt guilty about not having bedding in there... so I added it with a short partition so that the food and water could still sit on wire. It wasnt a pretty solution still using the heat lamp but it worked.

deb

 

[ksguy]

Has it been that way all along? Could be why they can't find the heat source....just throwing around ideas here. I'd leave that front wide open....the heat from the HP, the chicks and also being inside of a coop should be warmth enough. A hen has a full circumference of openings for the chick to get under her warmth and I could see chicks having a real difficulty with that if she only had 5 inches of opening in which to find warmth. Chicks are pretty dumb that way.

Just a note again, that they aren't in any kind of enclosed coop. Their brooder cage is inside the outdoor run that's attached to the grownup coop. When they were in the house, I was using pine shavings instead of straw, and the opening to the heating pad was probably 50% covered - a little on each end, but an opening probably 6-8" wide in the middle. The opening is similar, if not a tiny bit smaller, outside (except I'm using straw now) - to help keep any breeze from blowing in. The opening does point south to keep any late season cold north winds from coming in (which we happen to have today/tonight). Excellent point on the hen "entrance". All they have to do is find mama and under they go. That's certainly what they did to me on Saturday night when they tried to huddle up underneath me as I was rearranging things for them.

 

[Beekissed]

Or....you could dispense with a poop board and let all that valuable poo fall into a deep litter bin where it can turn into delightfully rich compost and lessen your work load by about 99%.

Not to mention keep smells and flies to a minimum.

I use natural limbs for roosts and also have a spare roost in there of 2x4 on the flat. I've tried both and most birds seem to prefer a fat limb to the 2x4 but they will roost on both if there's no room to quibble about it. My roosts are 2-3.5 in. wide on average...there's always a skinnier end for the birds that prefer it and a fat end for those that prefer more space.

The important thing with roosts is room....room to mount up, room to sleep comfortably without an older hen pecking yer head off(that means different levels and some good distance between roost bars), room enough their tails or beaks are not against a wall, room to coax young ones up to sleep with mama, etc.

 

[circlehouse]

Or....you could dispense with a poop board and let all that valuable poo fall into a deep litter bin where it can turn into delightfully rich compost and lessen your work load by about 99%.      Not to mention keep smells and flies to a minimum. 

I use natural limbs for roosts and also have a spare roost in there of 2x4 on the flat.  I've tried both and most birds seem to prefer a fat limb to the 2x4 but they will roost on both if there's no room to quibble about it.  My roosts are 2-3.5 in. wide on average...there's always a skinnier end for the birds that prefer it and a fat end for those that prefer more space. 

The important thing with roosts is room....room to mount up, room to sleep comfortably without an older hen pecking yer head off(that means different levels and some good distance between roost bars), room enough their tails or beaks are not against a wall, room to coax young ones up to sleep with mama, etc.   

I was planning on white washing the plywood for underneath (whitewashed my whole coop yesterday!) and having them be removeable so I can scrape down into the compost. Was thinking of adding shavings onto the boards to clump poo up... What kind of bin underneath? I am going to have 3 roosts 2 4 foot long and one 3 feet long. Should that be enough for 8 birds?

 

[Beekissed]

I was planning on white washing the plywood for underneath (whitewashed my whole coop yesterday!) and having them be removeable so I can scrape down into the compost. Was thinking of adding shavings onto the boards to clump poo up... What kind of bin underneath? I am going to have 3 roosts 2 4 foot long and one 3 feet long. Should that be enough for 8 birds?

Should be! You'll be doing double work if you put up a poop board and THEN scrape it right down into the floor bedding. My "bin" is no more than a 2x4 across the floor in my roosting section of the coop that sort of helps retain the bedding there more so than the bedding in the rest of the coop. It could be higher, I guess, but then I'd be tripping over it constantly....I'm kind of clumsy.

My birds free range, so most of the poop I ever get from them is hoarded under the roosts in this manner, falling right into a depth of materials that are of different particle size and type that will be conducive for good composting. Each day or even every other day, I'll flip bedding over these droppings but do not stir them in or stir up this bedding. I want the moisture of those droppings to be trapped under a dry layer of bedding so that the mass can compost well.

As that composts downward, I just add new, dry~and sometimes moist, depending on the need there~materials there to build it up deeply enough to maintain enough depth to protect the moisture underneath. Each year I can remove that richly composted materials and place them on garden beds, around fruit trees, etc. In the winter months that composting generates some level of heat and keeps my roosting section warmer than the other parts of the coop.

Along with that, is a coop that has a LOT of ventilation, as composting produces moisture as well, so a good ventilation system that errs on the side of too much rather than not enough, is adjustable according to the seasonal needs and keeps a passive air flow moving up and out at all times.

Here's a vid on what mine looks like in the winter months....pardon the amateur video capabilities, I'm no public speaker or videographer. But it should give you an idea as to what deep litter looks like as opposed to just deep bedding.

 

[Ridgerunner]

How will those two 4’ and one 3’ be arranged? The idea of space for chickens whether in the coop, run, nests, brooder, or on the roosts is more about quality than some hard number. Chickens can be pretty brutal on the roosts. Usually after the pecking order is established it’s not too bad but especially when you are integrating chicks or chickens some can be real brutes. If yours are all the same age and the pecking order is established, then that should be plenty of roost space for eight birds without worrying too much on how it is laid out.

If you have different aged birds or will be integrating, then the important thing is that the weaker have enough room to roost away from the stronger, not forced to be within pecking distance. Otherwise the weaker may look for a safer place to roost, which might be your nests or even outside the coop.

I put a juvenile roost a foot lower than my main roosts and separated horizontally about three feet to give my juveniles a safe place to roost where the adults won’t bother them.

 

[circlehouse]

That video was SO HELPFUL! Thanks! That is definitely what I am trying to go for. quote name="Beekissed" url="/t/956958/mama-heating-pad-in-the-brooder-picture-heavy-update/5340#post_16844349"] Should be! You'll be doing double work if you put up a poop board and THEN scrape it right down into the floor bedding. My "bin" is no more than a 2x4 across the floor in my roosting section of the coop that sort of helps retain the bedding there more so than the bedding in the rest of the coop. It could be higher, I guess, but then I'd be tripping over it constantly....I'm kind of clumsy. My birds free range, so most of the poop I ever get from them is hoarded under the roosts in this manner, falling right into a depth of materials that are of different particle size and type that will be conducive for good composting. Each day or even every other day, I'll flip bedding over these droppings but do not stir them in or stir up this bedding. I want the moisture of those droppings to be trapped under a dry layer of bedding so that the mass can compost well. As that composts downward, I just add new, dry~and sometimes moist, depending on the need there~materials there to build it up deeply enough to maintain enough depth to protect the moisture underneath. Each year I can remove that richly composted materials and place them on garden beds, around fruit trees, etc. In the winter months that composting generates some level of heat and keeps my roosting section warmer than the other parts of the coop. Along with that, is a coop that has a LOT of ventilation, as composting produces moisture as well, so a good ventilation system that errs on the side of too much rather than not enough, is adjustable according to the seasonal needs and keeps a passive air flow moving up and out at all times. Here's a vid on what mine looks like in the winter months....pardon the amateur video capabilities, I'm no public speaker or videographer. But it should give you an idea as to what deep litter looks like as opposed to just deep bedding. [/quote]

 

[circlehouse]

How will those two 4’ and one 3’ be arranged? The idea of space for chickens whether in the coop, run, nests, brooder, or on the roosts is more about quality than some hard number. Chickens can be pretty brutal on the roosts. Usually after the pecking order is established it’s not too bad but especially when you are integrating chicks or chickens some can be real brutes. If yours are all the same age and the pecking order is established, then that should be plenty of roost space for eight birds without worrying too much on how it is laid out.

If you have different aged birds or will be integrating, then the important thing is that the weaker have enough room to roost away from the stronger, not forced to be within pecking distance. Otherwise the weaker may look for a safer place to roost, which might be your nests or even outside the coop.

I put a juvenile roost a foot lower than my main roosts and separated horizontally about three feet to give my juveniles a safe place to roost where the adults won’t bother them.

.
I was planning on putting the two on one side of the coop and the shorter one on the opposite side. The short one was going to be higher up. But do you think that could cause bickering over the highest roost? We are getting our 8 chicks this week! So I know they won't use those roosts for a while, just planning.