Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[Outdoorlover]

It's totally beautiful! WOW! Are you going into business building cabin coops?!? Mine is an old shed, modified, definitely not beautiful.
Many of my birds would be roosting eight feet up in the rafters, like they do here. I'd add another roost, higher up, on the other side, if there's space. Also, if you spend more, and roof your run, you can have the door to the run opened all the time. Shoveling snow out of the run in winter is a pain!
Again, it's wonderful! Mary

Thank you!
We didn't cover the roof of the run to give the chickens some sun, since they already have under the coop that's covered, we were thinking of putting a tar cover on the roof of the run to keep it dry during the cold weather

How many birds do you have, do they all fit on the roost over the nests??

All 4 fit and they seem to like it, but they still sleep on the floor, in the corner

 

[bigmrg74]

In the winter, I park my tractor coop next to the garage to use that as a wind break, and I run a electric cord into the coop for the waterer. I also turned an old pallet into a table and I keep the waterer and food up on that so that the girls can't kick the straw bedding into the water. Plus I feel like it helps to increase the amound of space that the girls can hang out on inside.

 

[aart]

They are open and only covered with 1/2" hard cloth, and we have vents on front and back wall and on top of the roof...I hope it's enough

Like I said before, with only 4 birds in that large space, it should be fine.

Having a closed waterer is a good way to reduce added moisture in coop,
and it pretty much eliminates spills.

Your run roof looks pretty darn sturdy, putting a tarp up there may work ok, depends on your snow load. Even without a tarp the HC may collect enough snow to warrant removing the snow somehow. Best have a plan to do that...speaking from experience here.

Your roost looks close to the wall, and familiar, is it at least a foot from wall?
If it's the window that's making them nervous or uncomfortable, it looks like the whole nest/roost deal can be moved easily?

 

[aart]

Gratuitous catharsis...just got done culling(slaughtering) 4 of my older birds, including Woody the (now previous) Flock Cock. Much harder to do them than those pesky young cockerels a couple weeks ago, both emotionally and.... man, that boy was tough to gut, fascia of steel. SMH. Glad the girls were easier. Population down to winter numbers now and only one male in the bunch, who seems to be behaving - so far....it all spells Relief.

Never a fun part of flock management, both making the decisions and doing the deeds.
But feels good to have taken care of my excess birds in a responsible way and put some meat in the freezer. Gonna be a lot of good stock, soups, and stews over the winter...and a good amount of space in the coop for those nasty 'days on end' storms we are bound to have.

 

[Folly's place]

I struggle with this too, and am almost down to winter numbers here. Sadly, while we were away, my bantam broody and three of her babies were killed one day; feathers left, no bodies. I suspect fox, but so far no repeats. Of course the three missing chicks were possible keepers, as was mom. The very cute EE-Belgian d'Uccle mixed cockerel in the center of the picture is still with us, and needs a home! He's beautiful and so far sweet, as are his parents. Too small to want to eat, and would make a nice flock rooster for someone. Mary

 

[Outdoorlover]

Your roost looks close to the wall, and familiar, is it at least a foot from wall?
If it's the window that's making them nervous or uncomfortable, it looks like the whole nest/roost deal can be moved easily?

It looks familiar because you've seen it on another thread where I was asking for suggestions on how to get my birds to roost.
I've tried moving it a bit more off the wall, I've tried turning it on an angle, I even moved it to the middle of the floor , nothing worked! As suggested I even tried to set them on the roost one by one, after dark, that didn't work either so I just gave up!

 

[aart]

It looks familiar because you've seen it on another thread where I was asking for suggestions on how to get my birds to roost.
I've tried moving it a bit more off the wall, I've tried turning it on an angle, I even moved it to the middle of the floor , nothing worked! As suggested I even tried to set them on the roost one by one, after dark, that didn't work either so I just gave up!

Ahhh, that's it.....did you give each change a week.....including putting them on roost every night for a week .....or more? Ya gotta be more tenacious then they are.
But may it doesn't matter if they sleep on the floor<shrugs>unless they get poop stuck to their undercarriages. It's odd tho.

 

[Folly's place]

Your chicks are very young, and have no adults to watch and learn behaviors. Broody raised chicks go up on roosts with mama very early; yours will take longer. Try a 3" diameter sapling too; they normally would roost in trees! I don't see the benefit of using a flat board, although it will work. Mine have tree, 2" to 4" diameter, and many roost in the rafters 8' up, which are either 4" fence posts, or 2x6" lumber skinny side up. It's more about location than what's underfoot, I guess. Mary

 

[ToniTalley]

I would think that the flock would prefer a higher roost. Mine always go up to the highest place they can get.

 

[aart]

Your chicks are very young, and have no adults to watch and learn behaviors. Broody raised chicks go up on roosts with mama very early; yours will take longer.

Adults to watch, yes, tho not necessary to have a broody show them.
This years chicks, brooded in coop under heating pad, integrated with flock by 6 weeks, were on the main roost by about 8 weeks, ignoring the other roosts available, only tried sleeping in nests once I blocked them after that and they went to main roost. I was flabbergasted! Year before I had to block nests for 2 months before they used the junior roost. Ya just never know!