Micro Farm Coop Worklog [UPDATE: SHINGLES ON - PAGE 27]

[Cheep a'lil Talk a'lil]

Quote:
You're plotting a hostile takeover of my presidency, aren't you.....

No way! That would take to much effort!

 

[gsim]

Looking good for sure, and you can expand your flock too. Really nice looking neighborhood so can see why you want it to look extra nice. I did same, but mainly because we can see it from our house and driveway. Neighbors cannot see ours.

If you used some of that stone to build 4 corner piers you could raise it up to 16" or so and gain some valuable storage area for pull-out boxes for various things. Easier to go after rodents if they decide to settle there too. You mentioned placing it directly on the ground and staking into place via aluminum landscape nails. I would not do that as it will rot, no matter the guarantees. Consider mobile-home tie-downs due to the high winds you mention. 4 should do it. Linoleum a plus for cleaning and will not retain odor either. I glued mine onto 3/4" OSB and no problems from it ever. I use poop planks under roosts for quick removal and recycling into garden or compost.

Your ventilation is good idea as poor ventilation is big cause of lung disorders in chooks. I did a turbine vent in center of my roof in addition to gable vents and continuous soffit vents too. I wired for a ceiling fan above ceiling joists directly under the turbine vent for exhausting heat and fumes in summertime. Have not yet installed it. Run sounds good and well-planned. Allow for drainage. Hdw cloth a must at bottom due to coons. I allowed 80 sq ft/bird for mine. Wanted to try to always have live grass in it. Jury still out on that one. Overhead covering a plus. My run too big for that to be practical. I depend on resident crow population for prevention of airborne assaults. Did have a chicken hawk land on corner post just this week and no crows in sight.

I installed a fence-charger to discourage preds, 5-mile, 4KV, 4 courses of hot wire on a 6 ft 2x4 welded wire fence. Set bottom of my fence in cement to discourage tunneling by preds. Lined inside of it with 24" tall chicken wire to keep chooks from sticking their heads out. If badgers around, needs to be really extra deep protection no matter what type protection to prevent digging. Ditto if loose soil present too.

If possible make roosts higher than nests. Provide roosts for chicks as soon as you get them to get them used to it. I did and do not even need walkboards/ladders inside of my coop. Bump-out nice for egg gathering, but detracts from looks too unless done right. Cupola in center of roof would disguise turbine vent or could be in lieu of turbine vent. Rooster weathervane could top it for nice effect. Roos may be unpopular with neighbors.

I use grass clippings for litter, free and smell good. Straw for late winter. Poop planks a big help in this regard, by reducing need for changing/adding to cover poop. Your cleanout idea good one and most poop will be there. I lined my space between each wall stud with a 24" tall strip of linoleum that is stapled into place and caulked along top and sides. It angles out to cover the bottom plate of wall so poop cannot ever collect there . Also great for quick hosing of coop when litter changeout done, semiannually.

If you can get free wood chips from line-clearing crews, do so. It would be my favorite if could get it free.

 

[DarkWolf]

gsim, is that RE: directed at me? Just wondering since my coop is 95% done and all that is already in place..

Good information though for those coming in and reading bits of this thread.

Thanks!

 

[DarkWolf]

Well, it's the start of the season again and time to turn my attention to outside. With that my attention went to the garden plot to get it ready to till. With the addition of chickens, I had MUCH poop laden shavings to move out to the garden plot and distribute. It was time to build the cleanout door.

Lets recap, shall we?

During framing I decided that it would be a GREAT idea to build a pit under the roosts that was 2" deeper than normal... I'd also decided that a 32" by 24" cleanout access door LEVEL with the floor would be a nice thing to have... It indeed was!

Here is the framing picture of it:

Now... Fast forward about 10 months... Several bales of pine shavings and a whole lot of chicken poop... Ewwww... Time to clean!

Yup.. Time to break out the rotozip, cut the sheeting off the hole and build myself an access door!

But, I don't have pictures of the building... It's a simple butt joint though with a 1/2" dado cut down the 2x2 material to allow the sheeting to be secured inside the frame, screwed together at the sides. Worked well.

A view of the cleanout door from the inside with new shavings down... Was the first time I saw the floor in almost a year.. Which reminds me, the oil based porch paint shows no wear what so ever. Sweep it off with the broom and it's still got a shine to it.

Almost like new!

And the end result... Lots of nice chicken poo laden shavings for the garden.. Though.. Not enough... Would have liked more coverage.

 

[Cheep a'lil Talk a'lil]

Good spring to you DarkWolf. It looks as though folks are coming out of hibernation and getting to work.
We had two weeks of fantastic weather, what a tease! Now they're talking snow! Some of the trees have started to bloom. I pray we don't get a freeze. Well crud! We are getting sleet as I type. Aaaaand now its hailing. Oh boy!
Now that you have gone through a winter with your coop and chickens would you do anything differently?
How did the chickens fair over the winter? Do you get snow in your area? Your doing the deep liter method right? How often do you have to change the whole thing?
What are you going to plant this year?

 

[DarkWolf]

Cheep a'lil Talk a'lil :

Good spring to you DarkWolf. It looks as though folks are coming out of hibernation and getting to work.
We had two weeks of fantastic weather, what a tease! Now they're talking snow! Some of the trees have started to bloom. I pray we don't get a freeze. Well crud! We are getting sleet as I type. Aaaaand now its hailing. Oh boy!

Ewww... I'm hoping we get a good crop of apples this year.. Last year we got almost none. BUT we did get quite a few pears.

Cheep a'lil Talk a'lil :

Now that you have gone through a winter with your coop and chickens would you do anything differently?

Actually getting the windows built and installed before winter was my only gripe and thorn in my side. Else everything worked flawlessly. Though my pop door still sticks.. When I undo the line it doesn't lower, so I have to go into the coop area and push it down.. Gives me a chance to pay the chickens and pester them.

Cheep a'lil Talk a'lil :

How did the chickens fair over the winter?

Really well, though my rooster got frostbite.. Not real bad.. No matter though as he's going to be someones supper. He ended up kicking my son in the head through the run fencing and drawing blood. Unacceptable.

Cheep a'lil Talk a'lil :

Do you get snow in your area?

We actually got quite a bit this year.. A whopping 5" that lasted for 2 weeks or so? I was impressed... At least it wasn't an ice storm like last year.. Ewww.

Cheep a'lil Talk a'lil :

Your doing the deep liter method right?

Yup.. Was something like 15" deep when I changed it.

Cheep a'lil Talk a'lil :

How often do you have to change the whole thing?

Well... It was 10 months or so of adding shavings and letting it pile up. I think once a year is fine, though I may do twice a year, just to get stuff to the garden plot more often. Figure I'll have the plot tilled under at the end of season so I can seed a cover crop to till under next season and build the soil up.

Cheep a'lil Talk a'lil :

What are you going to plant this year?

Usual stuff.. 150-200 tomato plants, some corn, sweet potatoes, cushaw, squash, peas, etc etc.. Plot is 50'x30' or so, so it's a nice size.. Though I'd always like larger.​

 

[DarkWolf]

Well... After more procrastinating I've finally got off my rear and put shingles on the roof. Was one of the hardest parts of the job, but only because I made the roof pitch so steep.

Shingles are Owens Corning Driftwood Classic. Took 6 bricks in total.

I still have to trim the end shingles, but it won't take much time to do that.

Just for fun, I did a heart on the back side.. It's very discreet, but can be seen while driving down the road if you pay attention. Had I to do it over again I'd have planned on 1) making sure it was centered.. I flubbed... 2) making it bigger.. and 3) using shingles of more contrast.

Closer shot of the heart..

 

[Cheep a'lil Talk a'lil]

Oooo-so cute! Nice touch with the heart

Well, I got my chicks. I knew that I would never get the coop done if I didn't have the pressure of having to get it done. But I did it! its doned. Just a few touch ups and thats it.

So what do you have left? How is the changeable fence going? Have you been able to get all your tomatoes in? I didn't get a garden done this year. The chicken run took up most of my chain link fencing. I did a ton of seed starts with a semi huge garden in mind but chickens came first. I gave most of them away and kept a few tomatoes, peas and peppers. We'll see how these do.

One more thing, I forget, how do you have your food and water set up for the crew? I'm still trying to figure out what will work best. These my 5 sure do drink a lot of water! I'm going to have to pick up one of those 30 gal. hanging water systems.

 

[DarkWolf]

Hehe... Having a crowing rooster in a rubbermaid bin in your living room does indeed expedite work.. That's what I was faced with when I finally poured on the juice.. Though.. After the band thing was built "enough", I stalled.

Lets see... What's left...

* Trimming the shingle overhang.
* Building windows
* Trimming it out
* Final paint and seal.

For food I've got a hanging feeder inside the coop. Water is outside via a 5 gallon galvanized waterer, which is used until freezing temps start to kick in.

 

[Cattitude]

Super nice!