New Flock in Nova Scotia

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DobieLover said:
Those tiny coops ALWAYS state they can house more than they should. Yes, the birds can physically fit in there but they need personal space just as much as people do.
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I have four hens and one rooster which is about half what they say will fit. My birds don’t squabble when they go in and tend to cuddle up together. It’s possible you’re right… its also possible you’re just not used to seeing this design and are expecting something human sized.
 
SinnahSaint said:
I have four hens and one rooster which is about half what they say will fit. My birds don’t squabble when they go in and tend to cuddle up together. It’s possible you’re right… its also possible you’re just not used to seeing this design and are expecting something human sized.
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I've seen that design dozens of times and the cheap little wood pre-fabs hundreds of times. I've owned chickens for 5 years and I know what they like and how flock dynamics change. I've had predator attacks and weather conditions that prevent the birds from going outside. You are in Nova Scotia. You WILL have weather conditions that will prevent the birds from going outside for extended periods of time. They can't go out in this.
Winter bury 1.jpg
 
DobieLover said:
They can't go out in this.
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I don’t get weather like that. Our deepest snow this winter was 2” and it lasted a week. Other than that it mostly snowed a few mm which turned into rain washing it away same day.

https://imgur.com/a/DyYpHbM

Nova Scotia is a large area with varieties of climate. I live at the very southern tip of Nova Scotia on an island. Our biggest problems weather wise is strong winds in November. I already plan to move them into our 20’x40’ shed/garage for November and back outside when the weather is nice again in December.

Also the coop isn’t a “cheap little wood prefab”. It’s heavy duty, double walled plastic that can be easily cleaned and even disassembled if it needs a thorough cleaning because of mites or something.

I understand you’re trying to save the newbie from trouble. I need you to understand I’ve been researching for years and I haven’t just grabbed any old thing from the hardware store last minute. I started building my chicken first aid kit in January knowing full well the birds wouldn’t be here until April. They’re in good hands.
 
Welcome. @SinnahSaint, we are just trying to save you time, money and most of all, heartache if you lose a chicken. I agree with @sourland, @janiedoe and @DobieLover. I made the mistake of buying a pre-manufactured coop as you did -not once, but twice before I did it right and converted a shed. All pre-manufactured coops double the amount of chickens that can really be in the coop - and that is only while sleeping. There is nowhere in the world you will not have to deal with rain and high winds that force you to house your chickens. When I had my pre-manufactured coops, and dealt with my first inclement weather - the only thing that saved me was that I had a cabin to take them to. Also, the fence around your coop will not protect them from anything. I have hardware cloth around everything, and now - after a hawk tried to fight with my rooster because the area he was in was not covered - I net covered my entire back yard. So, I have hardware cloth aprons around coops and runs and netting for predators in the sky. Please see another Nova Scotia members post about chicken predators: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/nova-scotia-newbie.1557162/
 
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Okay, let me see if I can sum everything up in one reply because the same things keep coming up.

For those worried about inflated coop estimates: I am housing half the birds allowed by that estimate. This leaves them plenty of personal space.

For those worried about predators:
You can’t look at general information for nova scotia and expect to know what it’s like here. I live on an island. This changes many things.

For one, there are NO predators here. If you leave your garbage out, it’s seaguls that will tear it open. There are no skunks, weasels, racoons, or any big carnivores like coyotes. They just aren’t here. None have decided to swim over in many many years and that might change over the course of another 20 years but it’s not going to change tomorrow.

The locals who have lived here all their life do not fence their chickens and have not seen any signs of predation let alone any actual chicken death from it. In fact 5 people told me to my face the fence was a waste of time and money until I explained, it’s not for predators.

If I was in mainland nova scotia I would need a lot more protection than that lil fence but its not for protection because they don’t need it. It’s literally just to keep them in one spot so I don’t have to go searching for my chickens because they decided to wander. That’s it. Just to make my life easier.

I move the coop and fencing every 4-7 days so they get fresh grass and don’t make a huge mess of any one area.

For those worried about weather:
I know they still need room to stretch their legs when the worst of the weather hits, that’s why they’re going to spend November in our shed/garage/minibarn thing. November winds are very strong so I planned ahead for that.
https://imgur.com/a/zT7pD0c

The rest of the year is not a problem. remember the whole island thing? That also
means we have super mild weather. It doesn’t really get hot in summer and doesn’t really get cold in winter. We also hardly get any snow, and what we do get is usually melted by rain or +3C and sunshine within 24 hours.
https://imgur.com/a/DyYpHbM

As for staying out of the regular wind and rain, thats why there’s weather guards on the lil cage run. The big tarp keeps the rain off the main area and I angle the back end to the prevailing wind so the clear covers on the bottom can block it providing a nice little sunroom effect.

They basically have two floors of 3 wall protection and a covered porch before exiting to their ever changing yard.

https://imgur.com/a/qs7Fu0o

This is right now and the usual sight. Some out in their yard pecking at the grass, some sitting or standing in the “sunroom” or “covered porch” areas, and they also occasionally go in and out of the actual coop.

So, TL;DR:
  1. There are no land predators here. None.
  2. The weather here is nice, except for November
  3. The chickens will be indoors for November
I hope this clears things up. Now can we please talk about something else?
 

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