New Design and Alternative techniques

[Klorinth]

So. I finally got the new coop built enough to put the birds in.

It is not done! But I had to put them in. Temp dropped to -3 last night and is only going up to 4 during the day. Time to get out of the summer tractors.

Plans changed a bit from the original hopes. Municipality forced a decrease in size. So the whole thing is only 8'x12', coop and sunporch. I made the coop with an 8' ceiling, 11' peak height.

Sunporch is not sealed yet, so warmth does leak out. No big deal until the temps get down low. I'm working on that. The solar powered ventilation system still needs to go in, but I have all the parts. Solar panel, fans, venting, etc. Should be able to circulate the air from the sunporch into the floor of the coop where it can rise up to the ceiling and out of several vents under the eves.

Ok here we gooo.... :woohoo: ic: :cheer:

So we have an 8'x6' coop. On the front is the 8'x6' sunporch. Obviously not finished at this stage. More work to happen on the weekend. I will be adding the last two peices of plywood near the roof. Once the is done the vents will be hidden under the eaves, about 1.5sqft of vent.

The "flock" inside the sunporch. Black waterer is acting like a heat sink at the moment which is kind of fun. It is warm at the end of the day from being in the sun, and not frozen in the morning like it was outside. Still some cleanup to happen and finishing of the dust bath and grit/calcium areas.

Here are the two types of feeders I am working with. The hanging one is temporary and will be replaced with the 5" ABS pipe feeder. I have one ABS feeder for regular feed and one for scratch/supplemental feed. If you look close I have also put in a suet cage on the post.

Here is the 2"x4" perch and one nest. I added a small platform onto the perch because they seem to like it.

Above the perch is the insulated "hood". It has 4.5" of styrofoam insulation built into it and will have a reflective insulation skirt along the front. This will hopefully help to hold in a nice bubble of warmer air around the birds on the perch and in the nests. I'm thinking of this like what spruce grouse do when they perch in an evergreen during the winter. You can see the storage space I have created above the perch area. Six bags of bedding plas feed and building supplies are on there right now.

Here is the "Big Guy" and "Jersey". He is very proud of his girls right now and very quickly tries to defend them from the dogs. He has been trying to attack the dogs through the panels when they get too close. Very amusing to see. He isn't bothered by me too much though.

One of the Cuckoo Marans. She has the largest comb of all the birds. I'm hoping she and one of the other Marans don't have any problems. The other two Marans have tiny combs more like the Jersey in this pic.

So what does everyone think? Am I missing anything?

Oh ya. The ventilation system still needs to be put in. I will post pics of that once I have it running. I can't wait to try it out. I have a couple of different sizes of fans to try. I need to see which size runs better with the little solar panels.

Compressed Straw Bedding. Looks like BBQ brickets.

 

[mamaKate]

Quote:
Excellent idea. I'm thinking about a coop/greenhouse on the south side of my house. I had assumed I'd have to relocate the birds in summer.

 

[Klorinth]

Here is the end result of this weekends work.

Over 8' of stucco wire. 24'x24' of run space. Hopefully this will be enough for now. I don't think I feel up to building more than that. Too many scratches on my hands already. The dogs were very interested in what I was doing, until I put the wire on and I think they realized that they couldn't go up to the sunporch anymore. Although they did get excited when I let the chickens out.

As soon as I walked away from the chickens in the run a great big Hawk came cruising over the run. Good thing is that the dogs saw it and quite happily went chasing after it. Now if only they would do that every single time...

Oh ya! In the centre of the fence is a gate. The entire 8' section opens to give access to the run and coop. I can drive a tractor and trailer right in.

 

[LynneP]

This is a great thread, we're experimenting too. Our run is 18' x 8' x 8' and we use snow boards on the bottom half in winter, but like pat we installed some 6 ml vinyl sheeting on the windy end last year and lest it up to see how it would last. I think it is possible to use that on frames in our case, and I like the idea of polycarbonate panels attached with screws that can be taken down and stored in summer. As the seasons change one can re-install panels as required.

Our hobby farm is on a windy hill and we get heavy snow load, and behind the snow boards the snow forms a great insulating layer.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=7693-seasonal-concerns

 

[Klorinth]

I'm going to be rolling a round bale of straw into the run. I can then use it to create sheltered areas and nicer walking for the little girls. The dogs love this in their runs so I figured the same would be true for the girls. That is the reason for such a large gate on the run. Makes getting the tractor in and out easier, even if it is a small one. Besides, I know they will not let any grass grow in there anyway.

One of my farmer neighbors has a pile of OSB sheets stacked in his yard... I wonder if he would let me buy a few for wind breaks? The ladies are most definitely going to need the protection. As yo can see in the pics there is nothing around the coop.

 

[patandchickens]

Nice to see the coop coming together!

Quote:
I'd be real careful with that. With Prairie winds, you'd serious purpose-built run fence framing if you were going to put something solid on it and not have it either keel over or blow away. Even just a 4-board fence or a wire fence with some weeds growing in it will catch a surprising amount of wind, and tend to tip fenceposts over as time passes; a solid surface is much worse. I do not know how large your run is going to be, but if it were larger than 10x10 or so (and I assume it will be) you would want braces against the wind on every post or two, and the posts sunk a *genuine* 4' down. A long straight run of fence, with no corners or braces against the wind, will tend to blow down.

Honestly I think you'd be better with something somewhat wind-permeable, like one or multiple layers of snow fence. This places considerably less strain on your fenceposts (although cautions about bracing longer runs of fence still apply to some degree) and also avoids to a large extent the swirling lee winds and huge snowdrifts that tend to accompany a solid wall. You could still put solid boards down *low*, like from the ground to 2' high, for chickens to shelter directly behind, that would not strain your fenceposts too badly. I kind of have the feeling that in that site, your chickens are going to be spending most of the winter indoors, though, at least for a few years til you can get some vegetation going

GOod luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[Klorinth]

Hi Pat!

Thanks. I totally agree with you about being careful with the wind. I had a small little run blow away last year. It flew throughthe air about 100' with a gust of wind.

At the moment I am leaving the fence at only 24' to a side. If you look closely in the last pic I have started to place braces on the posts just to be safe.

I need to add a couple more still. The wind problem was part of the reason for planning to use a round bale inside the run. I figured that would be more secure, while still creating shelter and some fun scratching.

This fence is only meant to stay as it is for one or two years. I will be expanding this run into the "chicken moat" next year. At present the first garden is just to the side of the run. Next year I will expand the fencing to include the garden plus more space. The wife still wants a big garden area. I intend to keep that area below a 1/4 acre.

I have already planted +800 trees and shrubs for wind breaks. Another 500 shrubs have been ordered for next year as well. Some of those will be used specifically to shelter the chickens without creating an ambush zone for the Hawks and Owls.

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
Actually, you know what makes a good STABLE windbreak - a few large square bales of hay or straw. The 700-800lb ones that you need a tractor to move. If you had access to some crummy ones for cheap (the ones made of hay that's gotten heavily rained on, or leftover from last year), and can arrange for them to be moved into position, a wall two bales high, or even just one bale high, and a couple few bales long, makes a really effective windbreak just outside the run fence. It will not last forever, but you'll get at *least* a year out of it and if you can find some crappy hay then the price may be right

Have fun,

Pat

 

[Klorinth]

That is a great idea. I've seen that done at some of the feedlots.

My tractor just can't move those bales though. I can get a round baling on the trailer and roll it into place. Just not the square ones. It's a good idea for next year though.

 

[patandchickens]

Clearly you need a Bigger Tractor! <vbeg>


Pat, who does not have any tractor at all, and has to get the hay guy to deliver big squares individually to the barn doorway, where we use a dolly and then "rolling" (square wheel style) to get them into place on pallets at the far end of the barn, which is not actually as obnoxious as it sounds but would not work well on an unpaved surface I suspect.