Need Help. Your Coops "Must Haves"

[Blooie]

A small hook, like a cup hook, to hang a 6" paint scraper or putty knife inside your coop right by the people door. Invaluable when the inevitable "poop hits the wall!" I use it to scrape the roost (which my goofy chickens have decided is only good for daytime naps and not for sleeping on at night) and after tonight it looks like I'm going to have to scrape the 2x4 framing side pieces. They won't sleep on the roost, which is the same doggone 2x4 as the wall framing, but they will sleep ON the framing cross pieces tucked up against the wall. Well, I hope that only lasts until their butts get too big to fit!

 

[Sterkfarm]

One word of caution here: I think that an isolation cage within the coop would serve the purposes of isolating a convalescent injured bird, where you can treat it while it is still benefiting from the company of the rest of the flock. The cage could also be used to break a hen from broodiness or to place a broody hen in with her eggs so you can have a nesting box vacant for the other non broodies to lay their eggs. Maybe you will want to integrate a new chicken into the flock without running the risk of it being pecked too much, after you have quarantined that bird of course.
However, I would never use an isolation cage within the coop to isolate sick birds. Many diseases are contagious and respiratory diseases can infect your other birds by them breathing the same air particles. So, if you ever have a sick bird, isolate it far from your coop for treatment.

Very valid point! At the time of writing I was going through a rough patch with a beloved hen who suffered a nasty skin tear at the hands (claws) of our roosters and wasnt thinking much beyond that. Any birds with new respiratory symptoms would/should always get isolated elsewhere, agreed, prob in the quarantine area. Thanks for pointing that out. There are a few more good reasons that just sprang to mind...egg isolation after meds if a withdrawal period is necessary, and in a similar vein, drying off a hen before breeding to a new Roo...

 

[poodlechicks]

Thanks, Sterkfarm! Sorry it took so long to answer. I was away and now that I'm back I'm struggling a bit to find the threads where I posted. The site is great, but I'm a bit of a dinosaur with technology