My first try at a coop? ? ? ?

[Erin~TheChickenLover]

Picture #9 here are all of them.




So any help with identifying these chickens would be great . . . . As Schults would say, "I know Nothing! NOTHING!"

Thanks
GB
Crazy Mitch

You have easter eggers (the larger ones with pea combs and puffy cheeks), the two white ones and the smaller black rooster appear to be mixes, and the fuzzy one is a silkie mix. The chicken in picture #4 is an easter egger rooster. I can tell for sure that he's a he because of the splashes of red on the wings, only roosters have that. I agree with you that one of the white ones, the small black one, and the big black one in pic #4 are roosters. Your coop is coming together very nicely! It looks very well built,

.

 

[Crazy Mitch]

You have easter eggers (the larger ones with pea combs and puffy cheeks), the two white ones and the smaller black rooster appear to be mixes, and the fuzzy one is a silkie mix. The chicken in picture #4 is an easter egger rooster. I can tell for sure that he's a he because of the splashes of red on the wings, only roosters have that. I agree with you that one of the white ones, the small black one, and the big black one in pic #4 are roosters. Your coop is coming together very nicely! It looks very well built,

.

Erin. . .thank you so much for the info on the chickens. . . I put up an add to sell the two smaller roosters.

So I got my nest boxes built? ? ? I think they are ok. . . and started the poop tray. . . .I will take pictures and post later.

Thanks again for the help and encouragement! It keeps me going.

GB
Mitch!

 

[Crazy Mitch]

So after Opa' nesting box design. . . I made my own version. Three boxes, about 12' X 13" each. We will see how it works. There is a slant and an inner wall to keep them from the eggs. I will have to pad the nest boxes. I will look into the nesting box pads. Or try to make my own. I have padding that goes under hard wood floors. . . that might work. We will see. What do you think about that? ? ? ? Will that work? ANYONE? ? ? ?

This shows the slant of the bottom for the eggs to roll. My chicks are at about 12 weeks.





Here is the frame for the poop tray. . and I will build the perch above this. Still have to seal around the windows and then trim them out. I got trim from a friends demo project.



Here is the door that will lead to the run. I still have to rework the run to make it all work.




A ton of painting to do! before I build any more.

I fell good on the progress.

GB
Crazy Mitch

 

[mickey328]

Ya know what works great for the nesting boxes? A "welcome" mat...the kind that has the plastic bristly things for wiping feet on. We had an old one...the plastic bristles are about 3/4 of an inch high. We cut pieces to fit and put them in the bottom with a handful of bedding on top. The girls add or remove the bedding as they choose (they're always re-arranging the furniture! When they get icky, we pull 'em out, hose 'em off and stick 'em back in. Works like a charm! It also provides support for the egg if we get one that prefers not to have any straw in there, and they can't harm it by scratching.

 

[cluckcluckluke]

Well, from another newb, I think you're on the way. Sounds like your square footage is sufficient. I used some old linoleum I have for the floor, then plan to toss pine shavings on it once the chicks go in. Mine are about the same age as yours.

im getting some 2 month old hens aswell

and i was just wondering whats the best flooring for them, im going to have them in a large cage its got wire on top of 6 wooden planks asa floor at the moment but i thought that may be to rough for their feet, what flooring is easy to clean lasts the longest and is soft ?? ,,,, CluckCluckLuke

 

[mickey328]

Linoleum is about the easiest for both installation and ease of cleaning. We used an old plywood sign as the floor for ours. It's really sturdy and had already been painted and sealed for outdoor use. We put about 4 inches of straw over it for bedding so it's both firm and soft So far, it's working great, but I'm sure most folks don't happen to have that sort of material just laying around, LOL

 

[Crazy Mitch]

Ya know what works great for the nesting boxes? A "welcome" mat...the kind that has the plastic bristly things for wiping feet on. We had an old one...the plastic bristles are about 3/4 of an inch high. We cut pieces to fit and put them in the bottom with a handful of bedding on top. The girls add or remove the bedding as they choose (they're always re-arranging the furniture! When they get icky, we pull 'em out, hose 'em off and stick 'em back in. Works like a charm! It also provides support for the egg if we get one that prefers not to have any straw in there, and they can't harm it by scratching.

This is perfect. . . . I get the dollar store has one! ! ! I will start looking for that. . . GREAT IDEA! ! ! ! !

THANKS!
Mitch

 

[Crazy Mitch]

Linoleum is about the easiest for both installation and ease of cleaning. We used an old plywood sign as the floor for ours. It's really sturdy and had already been painted and sealed for outdoor use. We put about 4 inches of straw over it for bedding so it's both firm and soft So far, it's working great, but I'm sure most folks don't happen to have that sort of material just laying around, LOL

Does the bedding work on a roll our box? or does the nesting material just roll down the ramp too? I will look into that too. . . I'm open at this point. I bet you can get some scraps from a flooring guy. YOu don't need much!

Thanks for the input.

Also I hear in Opa's thread I have to adjust my openings to 2.1/4 inches. . . I will have to remeasure and adjust. I think I have some rubber I can slit to add along the opening too.

But painting id the next step for me. . . I hope to get that done today. . . .so I can finish tomorrow. We will see.

Thanks again for all the input! (to everyone)

Crazy Mitch

 

[mickey328]

We put 4 x 1's on their side around the opening of the ramp...that keeps "most" of the bedding inside. What does fall out gets cleaned up when we move the coop/run to the new spot. If you put the lino in in pieces you have to be extremely careful about the seams...if an edge sticks up at all, it'll defeat the purpose of easy clean...and you can be sure you'll have at least one nosy bird digging and pecking at it, LOL. Check Craig's List and your local Freecycle...there's bound to be someone around who has a piece leftover who'd like to get it out of their shed or garage You could also just put several layers of paint on the floor...making sure the top couple were a glossy finish and I'm thinking it would still be pretty easy to clean. That's essentially what ours is. We mix Sweet PDZ into their bedding and it really works great...keeps the poo dry and pretty much odor free. Because it's dry, it doesn't stick to the floor and comes right out with the bedding when it's cleaning time.

We got the last coat of paint on the roof yesterday, so ours is finally done. We didn't paint the inside at all; the outside is the same color/trim as our house and shed and we put rubberized white paint on the roof for waterproofing and reflection of our hot, hot sun here. DH had to re-work the ramp...he'd originally cut it from the floor and hinged it. But that floor is 3/4 ply and it was really heavy to lift and lower. Plus, with the configuration he wasn't able to put the cleats on to the bottom and the girls were having some difficulty getting up and down. He replaced it with a piece of 1/4 inch and made it so the cleats go all the way to the bottom and it works perfectly now!

I'll try to upload some pix later this morning

 

[Crazy Mitch]

We put 4 x 1's on their side around the opening of the ramp...that keeps "most" of the bedding inside. What does fall out gets cleaned up when we move the coop/run to the new spot. If you put the lino in in pieces you have to be extremely careful about the seams...if an edge sticks up at all, it'll defeat the purpose of easy clean...and you can be sure you'll have at least one nosy bird digging and pecking at it, LOL. Check Craig's List and your local Freecycle...there's bound to be someone around who has a piece leftover who'd like to get it out of their shed or garage You could also just put several layers of paint on the floor...making sure the top couple were a glossy finish and I'm thinking it would still be pretty easy to clean. That's essentially what ours is. We mix Sweet PDZ into their bedding and it really works great...keeps the poo dry and pretty much odor free. Because it's dry, it doesn't stick to the floor and comes right out with the bedding when it's cleaning time.

We got the last coat of paint on the roof yesterday, so ours is finally done. We didn't paint the inside at all; the outside is the same color/trim as our house and shed and we put rubberized white paint on the roof for waterproofing and reflection of our hot, hot sun here. DH had to re-work the ramp...he'd originally cut it from the floor and hinged it. But that floor is 3/4 ply and it was really heavy to lift and lower. Plus, with the configuration he wasn't able to put the cleats on to the bottom and the girls were having some difficulty getting up and down. He replaced it with a piece of 1/4 inch and made it so the cleats go all the way to the bottom and it works perfectly now!

I'll try to upload some pix later this morning

Can't wait to see the pictures. . . trying to take it all in!

Thanks again!
Mitch!