Mountain Ledge coop 95% done - advice needed

[NHMountainMan]

I'm in central Florida, and yes the heat and humidity are hard to combat. We didn't put a roof on our coop. It's located under huge oak trees, we used hardware cloth for the roof, and we have a tarp over that so we can air it out when needed, and cover them in the evening rains.

Very nice Thank you. Gotta ask... White bird in the center of the screen door with the long legs? What is that?

 

[Hobbits Mommie]

Very nice Thank you. Gotta ask... White bird in the center of the screen door with the long legs? What is that?

I raised a couple of turkey's for my neighbor. The deal was, he'd give me chicks if I'd raise his turkey's because he didn't have any other turkey's to hatch out. He gave me 25 chickens. Of the 25 chickens 20 turned out to be roo's that I had to raise only to give away. I grew completely attached to the turkey's which I had to return. I learned soooo many lessons.

 

[aart]

Thanks for the link!
My nest box is external about 8" off the floor.
The coop is 8x6.
If I run a board opposite the door out 3.5', and run 20" boards down each side, I can run an 8' roost bar down each side (6' long with a foot clearance on each wall.) Then on the far wall, I can have 2 additional roosting bars the are 3' long. That'll give me 16' of roosting bar with poop boards beneath.
I'll build ramps to the bars. There will be approx 32-34" between side poop boards.
Is that enough room for them to get down?
To get to the nest box the hens will need to go underneath the 3.5' poop board. Is that an issue?
Thanks again

Basic poop board dimensions are 24" deep with roost centered about 8" above the board, this configuration has caught 99% of all 'overshoots' for me.
I'd draw your layout out on graph paper, remember you need room to move around in there too....and the birds need room to get up and down from boards.

 

[Hobbits Mommie]

I did learn that I prefer Turkey's to chickens for a few reasons. They are incredibly social and affectionate. They lay huge eggs, so you don't have to crack 6 eggs. When my girls fly over the rainbow bridge, I will switch to turkey's.

 

[NHMountainMan]

I did learn that I prefer Turkey's to chickens for a few reasons. They are incredibly social and affectionate. They lay huge eggs, so you don't have to crack 6 eggs. When my girls fly over the rainbow bridge, I will switch to turkey's.

Raising turkeys in with the chickens? Didn't know that worked. I'm such a rookie. I'm thinking of raising a few heritage turkeys next year for Thanksgiving meal. Hadn't started researching mixing them yet. I'm sure there plenty of info on this site!

 

[jthornton]

JT
Looks great. Got to admit that I'm a bit jealous of your carpentry skills!
In a similar design, could you poop a brooder underneath the poop boards?
... Already thinking about next year and expansion.

The biggest thing I learned about brooders is to have them on your level and enter from the side on their level. Chicks come out of the egg hard wired to run from anything above... so if you engage them on their level they are more comfortable with you. My first brooder I opened the top to clean and service and the chicks were very frightened of me, the second batch I made a make shift door on the side and sat on a stool to clean, service and play with the chicks.

JT

 

[Hobbits Mommie]

Raising turkeys in with the chickens? Didn't know that worked. I'm such a rookie. I'm thinking of raising a few heritage turkeys next year for Thanksgiving meal. Hadn't started researching mixing them yet. I'm sure there plenty of info on this site!

I don't know about mixing baby turkey's with chickens either. These turkey's just happened to hatch out at the same time as the chick's, so they started out relatively equal. The turkey's did tend to stick together, but there were no issues between the turkey's and chickens (up to 4 months old) which is when I returned them to my neighbor.

 

[jthornton]

My neighbor had some turkeys once... the Toms kept killing the hens by stepping on them.

JT

 

[Folly's place]

Besides any behavioral issues, especially with very large turkey types, there's blackhead. It's a disease that kills turkeys, and barely affects chickens, and can be a real problem some places.
For this reason, most people will do better having chickens and turkeys separate. You find out if there's a problem the hard way...
Mary

 

[NHMountainMan]

Six to ten big birds will be happier if they are in the coop only during bad weather. Crowding is BAD!
It's easy to underestimate the need for ventilation, and more is better all year. Openings especially on the south and east sides are necessary. Having electricity out there to keep water from freezing, and if you want winter eggs, a light on a timer from 3am to 8am makes a difference.

Roofing the entire run, and having the run walls partially covered in rolled plastic, will be good for winter, and give the birds more room, and you a lot less shoveling!
Mary

been meaning to ask - why a light from 3-8 a.m. Is that to get them an additional 5 hours of light during shorter winter days?