Northern-MI-Neighborhood
In the Brooder
- Sep 2, 2024
- 14
- 32
- 41
HELLO EVERYBODY! First, I want to say thank you everybody for teaching me so much up until this point! But now, I have a bunch of questions I haven't been able to find answers to.
I've been wanting chickens for years. Finally, after making a brooder out of a big tote, I picked up two bantams (straight run) and two "Americaunas" (Easter Eggers - which I later found out). So we also got a deal on a $200 prefab coop ($140 + $60 shipping on Amazon for $95. It is made of fur wood and is about 8 feet long and is "supposed to hold 4-6 chickens" (maybe 3 full size or 6 bantams). They have a similar one at Family Farm and Home for $325! I couldn't believe what these stores charge for prefab coops! I even had to build the thing - so it wasn't really "pre-fab" completely. Lol.
I was letting the chickens out of the coop for a while a few days ago (since the run in the coop is pretty small). I went inside to grab a bucket of these chicken treats my wife buys for them since the squirrels tear open the bags unless I keep them inside. I was inside for less than 3 minutes and I came back outside to hear EVERY BIRD IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD FLIPPING OUT, IN EVERY TREE, EVERYWHERE! I looked over by my shed and I didn't see the chickens in the dirt pile they're usually playing in. I looked past where they would ever go and saw a bald eagle on the ground (about 3 feet high). I threw a tennis ball off the porch and threw it in its direction, and it flew off. I noticed it killed one of the E.Eggers.
So now we're down to two bantams and one E.Egger. Yesterday I started building the run to put the coop in - to keep out the cats, dogs, and other critters. I was trying to determine what netting material would be good to put over the run area. It will be between 30 - 50 square feet and the coop will be next to the house (my wife thinks they'll freeze to death in the winter unless the coop gets the warmth from the house - even though I know they'll be fine).
So...here are my questions:
1. I have a big roll of 48"in high chicken fencing (1-inch holes). I also got some t-bars (I won't need many, since it will run from another fence to the shed, then the other side of the shed to our porch). I'm making a temporary gate while I build one cementing two 4x4's (6ft high) into the ground.
QUESTION 1: Will 48" in high chicken fence be high enough to keep them in?
2. Since the bald eagle incident, my wife is obsessed with watching them until we get a netting, Even with 48" high chicken wire fence, there is a tree in the middle of the run area ( a 3.5ft thick maple).
QUESTION 2: Could I kind of "Teepee" some sort of netting up to the tree so they have enough room to fly around? I was planning on getting a couple more birds and possibly 2-3 ducks! (I know about the water and the poop - I have a plan). Would this work, or would a tarp be better, or should I just put in 10ft high 2x2 wooden poles (cemented 2 feet down - so 8ft high), then getting another roll of 48" chicken wire and making an 8ft high enclosure?
A full enclosure would be about 10x more work - and about 5x more expensive. But is there a cheap netting solution that would work in the meantime while I work on building a large enclosure?
3. Ducks - I want to get 2 ducks and another E.Egger.
QUESTION 3: Would a couple of Pekins get along with the chickens if I made a duck house? I was considering converting the old shed the enclosure is connecting to into a coop of sorts. Can they share a coop?
4. The coop - I've posted photos of the coop. I want to expand the size of the ACTUAL coop, making it taller.
QUESTION: Looking at the photos, what would be the best way to expand onto this - so in the winter when it gets 0 degrees outside, I can put plywood around the hardware cloth so they can have a larger area and have room for their water and food since the coop is too small for their food AND water if I get another chicken. I'm not sure if making it taller, making the box higher off the ground and the run taller, or making the run part longer and/or taller - keeping the box at the same height?
I just want to be able to put plywood around it in the winter and have them have a large enough area to have a living space when it's really cold - since they aren't going to want to run around in the snow for their food and water setup like I plan to have to hang during the summer. Any ideas?
5. The chickens are about 8 weeks old or so at this point. I got rid of the heat lamp when I took them out of the brooder and put in a heat plate in their coop. They still are not using the roosting bars and are all huddling together under the heat plate - which I have it in one of the two nesting boxes (I have their chick feeder in the second nesting box - which I'll be making a PVC feeder bucket system this week.
LAST QUESTION: Are they too old to still be using the brooder plate? They're getting BIG. The E.Egger is looking nearly full size and the bantams are about 8x the size they were as baby chicks. It's only getting down to about 55 degrees F at night - sometimes it gets up to 60 - 70 degrees. Can I get rid of the brooder plate so they start to roost? I want them to learn to roost and not be dependant upon the heat plate which is next to their chick feeder. I want to get rid of BOTH the brooder plate AND the chick feeder, get rid of the Pine Shavings (messy and don't compost well - straw you can litter and even put it in the run area), and use the fine-cut straw mix I bought in the coop, and thicker stray in the nesting boxes. Composting was part of the reason I got the critters in the first place - so we can have some compost to put over this area of sand on our property where grass won't grow.
Will this force them to start roosting, huddling together to stay warm on nights it gets down to 55 degrees? It doesn't get that cold in the coop. I took some insulation liner and lined the inside of the coop (it's that stuff you wrap around pipes they USED to make out of asbestos - I don't know what it is now, but it's like a paper tape insulation). Are they still too young to take away their heat plate?
I ALSO ADDED A PHOTO OF MY PROPERTY, HOUSE, AND LOT, AND MY PLANS ON WHERE TO PUT EVERYTHING. You can't see the shed due tot he HUGE maple tree over the house and shed, but it's there. I'll have more photos later today if anybody can provide some guidance!
THANK YOU BACKYARD CHICKEN COMMUNITY! I've been learning a ton thanks to EVERYBODY on this site being so friendly and helpful and welcoming to new members! Thank you everybody for your questions, contributions, and guidance to other new bird owners - as it's how I've learned so much this far along!
I've been wanting chickens for years. Finally, after making a brooder out of a big tote, I picked up two bantams (straight run) and two "Americaunas" (Easter Eggers - which I later found out). So we also got a deal on a $200 prefab coop ($140 + $60 shipping on Amazon for $95. It is made of fur wood and is about 8 feet long and is "supposed to hold 4-6 chickens" (maybe 3 full size or 6 bantams). They have a similar one at Family Farm and Home for $325! I couldn't believe what these stores charge for prefab coops! I even had to build the thing - so it wasn't really "pre-fab" completely. Lol.
I was letting the chickens out of the coop for a while a few days ago (since the run in the coop is pretty small). I went inside to grab a bucket of these chicken treats my wife buys for them since the squirrels tear open the bags unless I keep them inside. I was inside for less than 3 minutes and I came back outside to hear EVERY BIRD IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD FLIPPING OUT, IN EVERY TREE, EVERYWHERE! I looked over by my shed and I didn't see the chickens in the dirt pile they're usually playing in. I looked past where they would ever go and saw a bald eagle on the ground (about 3 feet high). I threw a tennis ball off the porch and threw it in its direction, and it flew off. I noticed it killed one of the E.Eggers.
So now we're down to two bantams and one E.Egger. Yesterday I started building the run to put the coop in - to keep out the cats, dogs, and other critters. I was trying to determine what netting material would be good to put over the run area. It will be between 30 - 50 square feet and the coop will be next to the house (my wife thinks they'll freeze to death in the winter unless the coop gets the warmth from the house - even though I know they'll be fine).
So...here are my questions:
1. I have a big roll of 48"in high chicken fencing (1-inch holes). I also got some t-bars (I won't need many, since it will run from another fence to the shed, then the other side of the shed to our porch). I'm making a temporary gate while I build one cementing two 4x4's (6ft high) into the ground.
QUESTION 1: Will 48" in high chicken fence be high enough to keep them in?
2. Since the bald eagle incident, my wife is obsessed with watching them until we get a netting, Even with 48" high chicken wire fence, there is a tree in the middle of the run area ( a 3.5ft thick maple).
QUESTION 2: Could I kind of "Teepee" some sort of netting up to the tree so they have enough room to fly around? I was planning on getting a couple more birds and possibly 2-3 ducks! (I know about the water and the poop - I have a plan). Would this work, or would a tarp be better, or should I just put in 10ft high 2x2 wooden poles (cemented 2 feet down - so 8ft high), then getting another roll of 48" chicken wire and making an 8ft high enclosure?
A full enclosure would be about 10x more work - and about 5x more expensive. But is there a cheap netting solution that would work in the meantime while I work on building a large enclosure?
3. Ducks - I want to get 2 ducks and another E.Egger.
QUESTION 3: Would a couple of Pekins get along with the chickens if I made a duck house? I was considering converting the old shed the enclosure is connecting to into a coop of sorts. Can they share a coop?
4. The coop - I've posted photos of the coop. I want to expand the size of the ACTUAL coop, making it taller.
QUESTION: Looking at the photos, what would be the best way to expand onto this - so in the winter when it gets 0 degrees outside, I can put plywood around the hardware cloth so they can have a larger area and have room for their water and food since the coop is too small for their food AND water if I get another chicken. I'm not sure if making it taller, making the box higher off the ground and the run taller, or making the run part longer and/or taller - keeping the box at the same height?
I just want to be able to put plywood around it in the winter and have them have a large enough area to have a living space when it's really cold - since they aren't going to want to run around in the snow for their food and water setup like I plan to have to hang during the summer. Any ideas?
5. The chickens are about 8 weeks old or so at this point. I got rid of the heat lamp when I took them out of the brooder and put in a heat plate in their coop. They still are not using the roosting bars and are all huddling together under the heat plate - which I have it in one of the two nesting boxes (I have their chick feeder in the second nesting box - which I'll be making a PVC feeder bucket system this week.
LAST QUESTION: Are they too old to still be using the brooder plate? They're getting BIG. The E.Egger is looking nearly full size and the bantams are about 8x the size they were as baby chicks. It's only getting down to about 55 degrees F at night - sometimes it gets up to 60 - 70 degrees. Can I get rid of the brooder plate so they start to roost? I want them to learn to roost and not be dependant upon the heat plate which is next to their chick feeder. I want to get rid of BOTH the brooder plate AND the chick feeder, get rid of the Pine Shavings (messy and don't compost well - straw you can litter and even put it in the run area), and use the fine-cut straw mix I bought in the coop, and thicker stray in the nesting boxes. Composting was part of the reason I got the critters in the first place - so we can have some compost to put over this area of sand on our property where grass won't grow.
Will this force them to start roosting, huddling together to stay warm on nights it gets down to 55 degrees? It doesn't get that cold in the coop. I took some insulation liner and lined the inside of the coop (it's that stuff you wrap around pipes they USED to make out of asbestos - I don't know what it is now, but it's like a paper tape insulation). Are they still too young to take away their heat plate?
I ALSO ADDED A PHOTO OF MY PROPERTY, HOUSE, AND LOT, AND MY PLANS ON WHERE TO PUT EVERYTHING. You can't see the shed due tot he HUGE maple tree over the house and shed, but it's there. I'll have more photos later today if anybody can provide some guidance!
THANK YOU BACKYARD CHICKEN COMMUNITY! I've been learning a ton thanks to EVERYBODY on this site being so friendly and helpful and welcoming to new members! Thank you everybody for your questions, contributions, and guidance to other new bird owners - as it's how I've learned so much this far along!
to have you here with us. Enjoy your time here at BYC!
