Newbie. Again.

[kwjones001]

Thanks everybody. The poultry netting is temporary until I can get the hardware cloth. I have close to 100' of it leftover from my garden. I'm probably going to get 1/4" cloth because I need to build a new compost screen for the wheelbarrow. I have some 1/2" cloth, but not enough for the stall. Ventilation isn't an issue. It's a 30 x 90' pole barn with a hayloft above the midway and sliding doors on each end.

I'll try to document the conversion of the horse stall with pictures. I have a vision of how I want to set it up until the first screw and nail go in, then all bets are off. I still have a few things to plan like where to put the roosts, nesting boxes, waterer, fermented feed or PVC pipe with feed...the list goes on.

 

[Brahmachicken240]

Welcome to Backyard Chickens!

Feel free to drop in and share your flock

Updates for 2020 with us here in my 2020 flock life thread



https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/2020-flock-life.1351080/

It’s nice to meet you!

 

[sourland]

Hello, Kevin, welcome to BYC and back to poultry keeping.

 

[007Sean]

Howdy Kevin and Welcome to Backyard Chickens.

Thanks for joining our community!

 

[rjohns39]

Hi Kevin and welcome to BYC We're so happy you've decided to join us

 

[Chick-N-Fun]

Welcome to our FUNomenal community!
I hope you enjoy BYC as much as we do!

 

[casportpony]

Welcome to BYC!

 

[kwjones001]

So we have chicks...and ducks.

Their breed availability changed, so we had to rework some numbers. The popular breeds went fast. We were able to get the following:
4 Buff Orpington
4 Speckled Sussex
2 Barnevelders
2 Cayuga Ducks - My wife had to have them when she saw them.

We told them we were still interested if they could get some Australorps in. 1 of the Speckled Sussex didn't make it past day one. She was eating and drinking, but she was really small and I think the stress of being shipped and possibly underdeveloped was a losing combo.

My wife went back to the feed store on the 24th to pick up a few more things and mentioned the Speckled didn't make it, so they gave us a Buckeye chick as a replacement. A few days later we got a message from the feed store that they had received Australorps and Lavender Orpingtons. So now we have 3 Australorps and 3 Lavender Orpingtons.

I started 2nd guessing my plans on how I wanted to convert the horse stall, and think I may have been over-engineering it, which runs in my family. I decided to go a different route which saved us about $130 and should make the conversion much faster. Instead of using the roofing panel bent into a flange, I'm just going to use 16" wire shelving cut to fit along the edges of the floor. So that will extend 16" into the stall, which "should" deter most tunneling predators. The horse stall matting is still going on the walls to keep the wood chips off the stall boards. I'm also going to put a small opening in the stall door so we can let the chickens out in the morning and keep the horses and goats out of that stall. I can go back and drive rebar spikes into the ground along the wall as an additional dig barrier if I need to.

We also ditched the heat lamp and went with a brooder instead. I always worried about heat lamps as a fire hazard, so $40 for peace of mind is worth it. The chicks are in a 100 gallon stock tank, the ducks are in a 50 gallon Rubbermaid tub. Most of the Buff Orpingtons and a few of the Speckled Sussex are already turning into lap chickens.

I've already cut the stall mats to size, I'm just waiting on Lowe's to process my order for materials and deliver it so I can finish.

 

[kwjones001]

Hopefully this works. I'm trying to link to the pictures I uploaded to my FB page.

Busy weekend. Saturday Lowe's delivered the materials I ordered to convert the stall into a hen house.

I'm using 16" wire shelving as a dig barrier. It's coated, so it shouldn't rust out too fast.

We're doing deep litter method. The base layer is wood chips from a tree trimmer with a layer of stall bedding on top of that. Wood chips drain well, but also hold moisture, so to keep the expensive stall boards from rotting out, I cut 1/2" stall mat in half and screwed it to the walls as a moisture barrier.

The stall doors slide shut, so I had to cut some boards to go across the opening and hold them in place with some rebar, and then started filling with woodchips about 12" deep.

About half a pile of woodchips later:

Next steps include filling in the gaps between the boards with 2x4s. I need more 2x8s or 2x10s to raise the wall height so I can screen the top in and still stand up inside. Mount the roosting rails and wait for the chicks to fully feather out so they can move out.