New coop in progress

[divermike]

zabhoo,
I was told by my chicken guy, you can use cubic footage, because they will fly to move away from each other, and that gives me plenty, I'll add some more roosting poles in the pen this week. But likely it will only be 12 birds.

 

[divermike]

there is a creek just behind the coop, and I thought to my self, maybe I ought to give the chickens a way to cross, so out came the chainsaw, and some old recycled lumber, and presto, a log bridge, nothin fancy, but maybe the birds will like it, if not, surely my wife will, and no, her name is not shirley!! Happy easter, resurrection day in our household, to everyone on BYC!!

 

[grandmaof5]

Using cubic feet is a new one to me; I've always heard it is square ft; 4 sq ft per bird if they are standards. Anyone else have thoughts on this??

 

[kathyinmo]

Quote:
Yes, 4 square feet per bird. They are not gonna be flying around in there.

 

[divermike]

The bird man here says that if other birds are picking on them, you give them a roosting pole up in the air, they will go up to get away, but in any event, with the pen and coop, I have enough space for the birds, my problem is I will have some, then get more, so new birds will be added, and I know that can be a problem, I will introduce them at night, and let them out really early the next day to free range, hopefully that will help.

 

[divermike]

finally signed sealed and delivered!!

 

[pacetruckguy]

Quote:
It is a small world. The coop and run look good. It may be a little small for 12 birds, but if they will be let out during the day to free range it should work out fine. Everyone seems to be pretty hung up on square feet but my coop is only 3x5 and I have 8 birds in it. It's only where they sleep and go to get to their nest boxes, and seems to be working fine. I'm getting 6 to 8 eggs a day so they must not be too stressed out about their space. I leave them in their run if the weather is bad, but they have a pretty big fenced in area they roam in when the weather is good. I only have one escape artist that gets out of the fenced in area, but she stays close to the run when she escapes and goes back in when I come around with some scrath at the end of the day. If you leave the door open they will go in at dusk, then just close up your run to keep the predetors out at night, and I'm sure it will work out fine.

 

[divermike]

I have had the chicks for about 8 days now, 4 new hampshire reds, and 4 golden comets, all about 5 weeks old, they seem really happy in the coop and run. They are rather skittish around me, but when I show up with raisins, they now are not so afraid. The reds are so much bigger than the comets, but they all picked one nesting box and sleep together. Its been cold so I put a 60 wat lamp in with them, they sleep in the nesting box just above the lamp, who says chickens are stupid!! I have my dog stationed about 30 feet from the coop at night, so no nocturnal critters have acomma knockin. These guys sure drink or spill a lot of water!! But I have found that if I just sit and sing to them, they tend to be a might friendlier. Unfortuneatly, all the birds did not arrive all at once, so I have 4 black sexlinks comin next month, probably will have some problems there, but they have lots of room to run, maybe they will be ok. I plan on taking some pics if the rains hold off, these gals are really fun!!

 

[pacetruckguy]

Sounds like you are on your way. I think those girls may need that light a while especially if it's still cold at night. 5 weeks is pretty young to be out in the coop. If they make it they should be hearty. Watering chickens is a drag the next thing you need to do is set up a nipple watering system. It's cleaner and much easier. If you go to the feed and watering link and look around at nipple systems you will probably come across mine. If not I'll shoot you some pictures. Get some shots of the girls on here. See ya later.

 

[Xodrana]

:What an image, Diver Mike singing to your chickens. How neat. The coop setup looks good. You're chickens will be happy with that neat coop.