Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[suwahsen]

I'm not sure that would qualify as a predator lol.

 

[Stacykins]

Iamfivewire (Brett) and his dad finished building the Hoop House that can house up to 20 layers, 50 meaties, or even a few turkeys. It is designed to be moved frequently to fresh grass. (It does not have the tarp over the top yet). Very neat plans that we modified just a bit...we made two doors on each side to custom fit and used 1/2 " hardware cloth 48 " tall instead of the 1 x 2 cage wire on the plans.

We plan on using it also as a cold frame to start our plants and extend the growing season as well as winter run for chickens. Very versatile!

If you are interested the plans are located here: http://www2.ca.uky.edu/agc/pubs/ASC/ASC189/ASC189.pdf




Now I did request it be very predator proof....but it seems they need to go back to the drawing board

Unless you want to severely overcrowd your birds, it cannot hold 20 layers or 50 meaties...

 

[lbrykowski2011]

My Spazzie is dead

She has been indoors since December ....

I don't know what happened. She was acting lethargic yesterday...had her cuddled with me...

Don't think I'll have a necropsy or anything done since she hasn't been with the flock. She never did lay an egg..& was fourteen months old...

I am SOOOOOOO upset....she was my baby (my avatar).

So sorry

 

[1muttsfan]

If you go by the 4 sqf per bird in the coop recommendation, that looks like about 8 feet per side, giving you enough room for 16 standard sized birds. As a run, for which you would want 10 sqf per bird, that would be large enough for 6 birds. I know meaties are only around for a short time and maybe you do not need as much room, but they get very large and make a very big mess so more might actually be better.

Probably would hold about as many pomeranians.

 

[Candy442]

If you go by the 4 sqf per bird in the coop recommendation, that looks like about 8 feet per side, giving you enough room for 16 standard sized birds. As a run, for which you would want 10 sqf per bird, that would be large enough for 6 birds. I know meaties are only around for a short time and maybe you do not need as much room, but they get very large and make a very big mess so more might actually be better.

Probably would hold about as many pomeranians.

the Pomeranian is definitely on "chicken" specs as far as weight 7.5 pounds It is 8.5" per side and 6 ft tall. The poultry amount recommendations were from the expert at the U of KY, not mine. I just repeated what they said. Everyone has their own number preference per square feet.

All of my laying birds are free ranged all day and will use it for a cool summer coop for sleeping only. I have not gotten meaties before, but I do not see a problem with holding up to 50 in that tractor that can be constantly moved to fresh grass for 8 or 9 weeks. They recommended up to 10 turkeys could be in there too.

As Opa quoted in a previous post:

"To make things easier for winter I place all of my large fowl in one coop that has 64 sq ft of floor space and 24' of roost boards. It is attached to a covered run of 256 sq ft. I typically winter 25 birds in this arrangement and have never had an issue that could be attributable to overcrowding. Also I have found that the birds never use more than 1/2 of the available roosts."


Right now, we have 13 year round in the same amount of space and they have minimum of 2 acres of open land to free range year round.

 

[Candy442]

I'm not sure that would qualify as a predator lol.

Did you get your hoop house tractor built yet?

 

[gladahmae]

.  I have not gotten meaties before, but I do not see a problem with holding up to 50 in that tractor that can be constantly moved to fresh grass for 8 or 9 weeks.  They recommended up to 10 turkeys could be in there too.  

I can tell your from experience with meaties in a tractor that it's a lot more work than you think to move it without taking all of the birds out first. You could easily put 50 in there for 5-6 weeks but after that you'll more than likely want to give them more space. I won't put more than 30 in an 8x8 past 6 weeks. Too much poop and too crowded. YMMV.

 

[Candy442]

YMMV.

What does YMMV mean? I haven't seen that acronym yet

 

[aart]

Quote: Your Mileage May Vary

 

[Brennigan]

Our 13 week lady snatched my earring stud out of my ear and ATE IT!

Anyone have a similar experience? Did it "come out the other end" okay? I'd hate for her to get some internal injury...