New Coop! Upping My Game!

[Lucky13Farm]

Nice coop. I'm jealous. We have one smaller that is mobile with the hardware floor. When it gets really cold, like below freezing, I put a few inches of hay to slow down the air flow. The chicks love it when I do that. It would work fine for your baby chicks till they grow up. When I rake out the hay it usually pulls out all the poo and it is already mixed for the compost bin.

 

[Folly's place]

It's a great find, and modifying it will be good.
Hardware cloth flooring won't have chicken poo falling through it, and will have raccoons pulling chicken toes off . Not good, either way.
Are you going to have an 'all-in, all-out' operation, or add and subtract some every year? I think that getting no more than fifty (easily raised!) this year will give you time, experience, and room for more next spring, which will help keeping egg production more even, especially in winter. Commercial operations have replacement pullets raised in a separate building, so when the 'older' one or two year old birds are all eliminated, the new ones are already producing. I think planning on a rotation of about 1/3 each year might work out well, if you really want constant egg numbers.
How long ago were chickens in this building? Marek's disease lasts at least one year! Mycoplasma is gone in three weeks, but I'd be very concerned if birds were there within the last year. Then, very serious cleaning and disinfecting are necessary!
Mary

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

Nice coop. I'm jealous. We have one smaller that is mobile with the hardware floor. When it gets really cold, like below freezing, I put a few inches of hay to slow down the air flow. The chicks love it when I do that. It would work fine for your baby chicks till they grow up. When I rake out the hay it usually pulls out all the poo and it is already mixed for the compost bin.

That's a really good suggestion. I'll make sure to have some straw or hay around for cold weather. I could see that make the coop warmer and winter cleanup a lot easier.

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

Thanks for the thoughts, @Folly's place!

Still trying to figure out exactly the plan for replacements, but I think that the 1/3 is probably not a place to start. I may wait until the end of year 2 to start that, depending on how they're laying and what losses I've suffered.

I don't know EXACTLY when chickens were last in the coop, but I bought it earlier this month and I'd guess early fall at the most recent, maybe longer. I'm not planning on putting birds in until late August or early Sept, so hopefully I'll be right at that one-year point you mention.

 

[Folly's place]

I want one too!!!
Mary

 

[Folly's place]

This would work well as a movable coop, with electric fencing that's either really over a large area, or movable as the coop rolls along over the summer, at least.
Mary

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

This would work well as a movable coop, with electric fencing that's either really over a large area, or movable as the coop rolls along over the summer, at least.
Mary

Oh yeah, absolutely. That's how the guy I bought it was using it. He hasa 250 acre farm, and moved the coop around his hay fields to let the chickens eat bugs.

I don't have the space to really leverage the "portable" nature of the coop, but for the price I couldn't pass it up. I'm pretty sure if I could find a way to get it OFF the wheels, I could sell the wheels and frame for what I paid for the whole setup.

 

[rosemarythyme]

I don't have the space to really leverage the "portable" nature of the coop, but for the price I couldn't pass it up. I'm pretty sure if I could find a way to get it OFF the wheels, I could sell the wheels and frame for what I paid for the whole setup.

Even if you just park it, it still looks like a good buy and saves you a lot of construction work. And if you do ever need to move it, well, it already has wheels - like if I ever move and want to take my coop with me I'd need to pay a shed mover to come and get it.

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

Even if you just park it, it still looks like a good buy and saves you a lot of construction work. And if you do ever need to move it, well, it already has wheels - like if I ever move and want to take my coop with me I'd need to pay a shed mover to come and get it.

Yes, the ability to move it if needed will be nice. I also think having it up off the ground may have some advantages when it comes to things like cleaning and predator protection.

Plus, the wheels make it look COOL! I wonder if I can get chrome rims in that size...

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

I plan to build stairs up to the “people door” as my legs don’t bend that far anymore...but would love folks thoughts on the chicken entrances.

The setup is pretty nice...the side panels all around flip up for chicken entry/exit.

My question is...should I build a few ramps? Or roost-like ladders? Or expect the birds to just hop up and down on their own?

I’m thinking a mix of the first two, but figured I’d “crowdsource” some opinions!

I can measure exact height if that helps.