New to Chickens (This Year) but confused

[chookchick]

Anthony James--this book, and the principle of open air coops, gets brought up at least once a month at BYC. And evertime, there is a new discussion about it. Most everyone agrees that direct drafts on the roosting area (in winter) are not a good idea. I also don't like the idea of predators being able to see the chickens on their roosts (mainly coons).
But we could be wrong! If you are feeling so inclined--try one of the coop plans and let us know how it works out.

 

[anthonyjames]

Chickedee,

If and when you get a chance I would love to see what you have. Right now I am a backyard chicken raiser. I only have 11 birds. But I am currently looking for more property to raise chickens for eggs, meat birds, turkeys and quail. So I am trying to figure out the best coops to build for the chickens and turkeys.

Here is what my coop is: http://gallery.me.com/anthonyjames420#gallery Click on any of the albums and you can see more. I have the back window closed, the front windows half way open and I leave there pop door open all night. I had a live trap all summer and got 1 coon and 3 possum. Relocated them all to new homes over an hour away.

Missed on fox that picked off 2 of my girls in broad daylight. Have not seen it since.

Chookchick,

I don't mean to beat a dead horse. I have not seen this brought up at all in all of the times I have been lurking. I happen to come across that site and info while searching for chicken trailers for meat chickens and had me thinking and wondering a lot about what is or should be the best plan. I am a true believer animals were here long before we were and sometimes we over compensate because of someone's bad history. I don't want to coddle them but I also want them to be animals as I do with my cats, dogs and other pets.

Thanks for all advice and I will and always do keep my options open.

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
On the contrary, since this book gets rediscovered and posted about every month or so, I think most of us replying on the thread *have* seen the webpage, although I doubt many have read the entire book. (I would like to, but have other things to do with my money at the moment, alas). The free-sample chapter was not "a study", though, and describes houses in Massachusetts, not cold parts of Canada or the US.

Since you have evidently read the book, could you summarize the other chapters for us perhaps? That would be really great, and very helpful for everyone.

Perhaps you will understand the "modified rapture" tone of the replies you've gotten if you know more of the context here -- the thing is, there is a tendency for people to blast onto this forum saying "whoa, I read this amazing book, everyone should do this, I am going to go right out now and build a 4x4' fresh-air house for my three hens here in Frostbite Falls, Minnesota." Which quite rightly gives many of us the heebie-jeebies, cuz that DOESN'T WORK that way.

The stuff being described there works on a LARGE SCALE -- with big deep buildings, and lots of chickens. (The lots of chickens part is probably somewhat negotiable if you have enough chickens, but who out there is going to build a 10x20 coop for a dozen hens?). The depth of building -- the distance of the 'bag end' from the open side -- prevents much weather or breeze from getting into the back of the house, so the chickens have relatively still air back there. This is NOT the case in a scaled-down small version. Hence the problem.

Furthermore, while I (along with most BYCers, I suspect) agree iwth the general premise that ample ventilation is important, I have to point out that the book's tone of radical boosterism is mainly because it was written in 1924, coming on the heels of a couple decades in which the fad was to keep poultry in very tightly-shut coops. Which, of course, did not work as well as when you have ventilation, hence the "ventilation is our saviour! fresh air is a must!" business. You will note that at least based on that sample chapter, the author seems to think that a major part of the reason that fresh air is important is oxygen availability... which is not lacking in ANYBODY's coop today (and I doubt it often was back in 1910 either, frankly). So you have to remember that this book represents historical peculiarities of one point in time, as well as having some general good sense in it.

Just sayin',

Pat

 

[LynneP]

Ahem.
Did check the website.
That sprinkle called snow in the pic- well t'aint nuttin. I wouldn't be able to FIND that coop.







and here's a Quebec pic from winter of 2009