- Jan 23, 2015
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Hi! We're back! After a summer of traveling, we will be collecting our birds from our dear friends who have been taking care of them. I have 120 eggs ordered from Robby at James Marie Farms. (Great guy, btw, full of helpful information and always going above and beyond to help!).
So here's where we are: we have a small chicken coop converted with wire bottom to make a 6 square foot coop(not including the hen house above or the ramp), and two triangular rabbit hutches converted to hang with wire bottom that each have about 41/2 square ft not including the protected area. Wire bottoms are essential for us. All coops are under our tree house without much movable space and we sometimes leave for two days at a time so being able to clean up droppings under the cage have made this set up the easiest to keep clean. The tree house creates some cover but they still get wet in the rain if they don't go in the protected area.
I'm hoping to get 40-60 hens out if this next batch. We have 8 now. (Many have died over the summer so we have lots if space right now.)
That being said, I love the simple space the rabbit hutches are providing and they seem happy in there. But because of the triangular shape, the door is not a vertical opening. It's slanted upwards so that when we open the door to add food and water or gather eggs (which are layed everywhere) I'm worried, the birds will fly out, especially if they are at full capacity. I love the idea of cages with the tilted floor that allow the eggs to roll out but I'm worried about attracting predators like raccoons to accessible eggs, which is also why we have never set up our food trays outside the cage with head holes for the birds. Also, we are only gathering eggs and not worries about selling fertilized eggs so breeding pairs is not important. Stackable cages don't allow droppings to fall directly on the floor.
Any good ideas for our next coop? If you have pics, that helps a ton too!
We're so excited to expand our little adventure!!
So here's where we are: we have a small chicken coop converted with wire bottom to make a 6 square foot coop(not including the hen house above or the ramp), and two triangular rabbit hutches converted to hang with wire bottom that each have about 41/2 square ft not including the protected area. Wire bottoms are essential for us. All coops are under our tree house without much movable space and we sometimes leave for two days at a time so being able to clean up droppings under the cage have made this set up the easiest to keep clean. The tree house creates some cover but they still get wet in the rain if they don't go in the protected area.
I'm hoping to get 40-60 hens out if this next batch. We have 8 now. (Many have died over the summer so we have lots if space right now.)
That being said, I love the simple space the rabbit hutches are providing and they seem happy in there. But because of the triangular shape, the door is not a vertical opening. It's slanted upwards so that when we open the door to add food and water or gather eggs (which are layed everywhere) I'm worried, the birds will fly out, especially if they are at full capacity. I love the idea of cages with the tilted floor that allow the eggs to roll out but I'm worried about attracting predators like raccoons to accessible eggs, which is also why we have never set up our food trays outside the cage with head holes for the birds. Also, we are only gathering eggs and not worries about selling fertilized eggs so breeding pairs is not important. Stackable cages don't allow droppings to fall directly on the floor.
Any good ideas for our next coop? If you have pics, that helps a ton too!
We're so excited to expand our little adventure!!
