New chickens/tomato plants

[Diggidy]

I finally got my 1st chickens. 2 Young Buff Orpingtons and 1 RIR. The RIR is named gumbo and my wife was able to hold all 3 while we were picking them out. Before we could get them in the truck I was informed that there is no way we can eat them, which I already had a pretty good idea it would work out that way.

I bought a coop kit (wish i would have made my own and will probably make one in the fall). You can see in the upper right hand corner of the pic that my tomato plant is having a hard time. Is it safe to put the trimmed plant into the coop?


Also, should i move the feeder/water into the house? I figure if i leave it out rain will get in the food and if its in the house there is a good chance they will poop all over it. They haven't been in the coop 24hours and haven't figured out that there is a house yet. Fortunately I live in Tucson and the evening weather is good for sleeping outside.


For the floor its dirt with some small gravel, a half inch of river sand then a mix of straw/pine shavings.

Any advice is appreciated. Thanks in advance!

 

[brairgirl]

Tomato plants are poisonous to chickens. But they loved the tomatos!

 

[bestponymilo]

My only recommendation would be to replace the shavings in the run. Once it rains, they'll turn into a smelly, sloppy, muddy mess

Gravel, sand, anything that will drain, would work fine.

Unless the inside of the house is well lit, I'd leave the feed and water outside, perhaps hanging them to keep things a little cleaner.

Have fun with your new additions!

 

[Diggidy]

Thanks for the feedback.

I have gravel and sand below the chips. I figure in Arizona they will dry out rather quick, so i will use them up then just do sand after.

Currently the are around 3-4 months old and have only been with us for 2 days. How long will it take for them to want to get out of their coop? Right now they are rather timid.

 

[Dylanjosselin]

I have the same coop, and the same breeds,except 2 rir and 1 buff orpy. they are just babies though, so no eggs to be had for months. I love the coop. it's so open and easy to clean. I got mine on amazon for about 280 shipped. my drawer though, is all metal, no wood handle.

 

[Diggidy]

Hi Dylan,

I have a couple months to go as well. I bought the coop off of amazon for $180, the price immediately went up $45 after my purchase. The drawer on mine is metal, but yea i have a wood handle.

Let me pick your brain about the coop. When i built it i felt like it was a piece of junk. The wood is so soft i could nearly push the screws into the wood. I am having a tough time cleaning the area under the coop, but that could just be my fault for putting the pine shavings in it. All in all an ok purchase, but i plan to build a real coop later.

 

[Dylanjosselin]

Diggidy,
looks like theres a few different brands selling the same product. mine was a pawshut, but the box said pingkay, and thats also one of the brands selling this coop online. the wood is soft, and light, but I'm thinking of going to home depot and getting some treated lumber 2x2s and building a base, and attaching some lawnmower type wheels to it, and making it a portable unit. it only weighs about 100 lbs. So using its worst feature (light wood) to make it a nice tractor might be cool. even if you only use 2 locations for it, cleanup will be much easier. amazon did also have this as a portable unit, for about 20 bucks more it had a bar handle on the run side, but the biggest complain was the wheels on the laying box side, suck. thats when I got this unit.
because of the light wood, a treated base is almost mandatory anyhow. and will provide a great way to put some hardware cloth on the bottom, to make it predator proof. adding wheels is just a few buck more. mine is on grass now, and I just shove it around, till I put wheels on it and they have not totally destroyed my lawn yet. I use pine shavings on the inside, with some DE thrown in it.

 

[Diggidy]

Mine came from the same exact source. Looks like your might be a bit taller than mine though? Mine is 52" at the ridge.

I like the idea of treated 2x2 as a base. Luckily i dont have to worry about predators. I will probably build the base this weekend and may extend the run with some extra 2x2.