North Dakota

[I Love Layers]

Its a buy, sell, or trade no admission fees no commission fees. in the building you set up a table and your cages and sell. clean up your mess when your done.

Do birds have to be tested. And do you have to swap. Can you just buy

 

[aldk]

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1026853610728972&set=gm.990354661055677&type=3
no you can just buy. They don't have to be tested but I will be there doing testing for the 4-h kids

 

[I Love Layers]

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1026853610728972&set=gm.990354661055677&type=3
no you can just buy. They don't have to be tested but I will be there doing testing for the 4-h kids

Yay!! I need my birds tested for 4H this year.
Do you have an idea of what kinds of birds will be there

 

[aldk]

whatever people bring, this is the first one so I am not sure what will be there. I am planning on bringing 4 goats, around 100 bantams of different kinds, rabbits, and some fancy pigeons. Trying to get a friend of mine to bring some ducks. Everything is welcome

 

[schmidty13]

Hi fellow North Dakotan's!

I just joined and am looking forwarding to meeting some folks from our fine state. Especially in the NE corner. I live in the Grafton area. I didn't read this entire thread, but in the last few pages, it seems like most folks are central or west? Regardless, I'm happy to meet you all.

I don't have chickens yet, but I am busy planning. We just bought our farmstead in November, so we still have work to do. I'm busy planning the coop and have a few questions. I know there's a huge coop forum, but I am hoping to get some advice from folks who know what cold really is. I laugh when I see someone from down south brag how their coop design protected their chickens from one night at 20 above zero.

Anyway, as some background, here's the decisions I have made so far about my future chickens and their coop:

1. I am raising Buckeyes. I've read they are one of the most cold hardy breeds. There are many other attributes about Buckeyes I like, but this is the #1 criteria I was looking for.
2. I am going to use the deep litter method. Mainly for the extra "insulation" as well as the heating effect the composting litter provides.
3. I will not be heating my coop. In my opinion, the cons outweigh the pros. Not looking to start an argument here...just sayin'

#3 is why I made choices #1 and #2. And it's why I am asking for help/advice. I want to be sure I can find the balance between "good circulation" and "not drafty". While I am sure I will have many more questions to follow, right now this is my #1 concern; designing the coop to stay "warm" while keeping the air clean. I'd love to hear from others who have unheated coops and know what it's like to not get above -10 for a week...or two.

Oh, and if there are any other Buckeye folks here, I'd love to get to know you and get your opinions of the best place to get chicks. I'm leaning heavily towards Duane Urch, but I need to be sure my coop is all ready to go before I get serious about buying chicks.


Thanks,
Mike

 

[I Love Layers]

Hi fellow North Dakotan's!

I just joined and am looking forwarding to meeting some folks from our fine state.  Especially in the NE corner.  I live in the Grafton area.  I didn't read this entire thread, but in the last few pages, it seems like most folks are central or west?  Regardless, I'm happy to meet you all.

I don't have chickens yet, but I am busy planning.  We just bought our farmstead in November, so we still have work to do.  I'm busy planning the coop and have a few questions.  I know there's a huge coop forum, but I am hoping to get some advice from folks who know what cold really is.  I laugh when I see someone from down south brag how their coop design protected their chickens from one night at 20 above zero.

Anyway, as some background, here's the decisions I have made so far about my future chickens and their coop:

1. I am raising Buckeyes.  I've read they are one of the most cold hardy breeds.  There are many other attributes about Buckeyes I like, but this is the #1 criteria I was looking for.
2. I am going to use the deep litter method.  Mainly for the extra "insulation" as well as the heating effect the composting litter provides.
3. I will not be heating my coop.  In my opinion, the cons outweigh the pros.  Not looking to start an argument here...just sayin'

#3 is why I made choices #1 and #2.  And it's why I am asking for help/advice.  I want to be sure I can find the balance between "good circulation" and "not drafty".  While I am sure I will have many more questions to follow, right now this is my #1 concern; designing the coop to stay "warm" while keeping the air clean.  I'd love to hear from others who have unheated coops and know what it's like to not get above -10 for a week...or two.

Oh, and if there are any other Buckeye folks here, I'd love to get to know you and get your opinions of the best place to get chicks.  I'm leaning heavily towards Duane Urch, but I need to be sure my coop is all ready to go before I get serious about buying chicks.


Thanks,
Mike

So first off everyone is going to say something different, but i would look into getting various breeds, Plymouth Rocks, Ameracaunas, and Wyandottes are coldy hardy breeds, and I adore mine.

If you are not going to have at least a heat lamp turned on at night, With a timer, i recommend either building slats and stuffing that with straw, or putting insulation in between the studs. If you want ventilation, I've heard of people putting a PVC pipe in the middle of their coop, they have a few inches sticking out the roof, and then they drill holes in the PVC pipe, this helps to circulate the air, and of it is goikg to rain or snow they put a cover on.

My chicken coop is an old grainery, i will get pictures of it tomorrow, it doesn't have any insulation what so ever, one electrical outlet, and a lightbulb, that we installed this year. I also have 2 windows.
When i get the pictures i will explain everything in full depth, to show you that you don't need a fancy coop to keep your birds warm at subzero temperatures

 

[schmidty13]

Quote: I was planning on insulating and finishing off the inside with poly and OSB so the chickens can't get at it, and to seal up drafts as well. And it'll just give it a nice finished look. That reminds me, I was also considering painting the inside white, just to brighten it up some. Are there any issues with birds pecking at it and eating the paint?

I've seen closable vents running along the tops of the walls. I've been planning on doing that, but that is what is getting me concerned about finding the balance between drafty and well-ventilated. I like the PVC thru the roof idea. Along those lines; I have been wondering about using a "whirlybird"..those spinning roof vents you often see on quonsets.

I look forward to seeing pictures of your coop. I'm always looking for new ideas!

 

[holm25]

I was planning on insulating and finishing off the inside with poly and OSB so the chickens can't get at it, and to seal up drafts as well.  And it'll just give it a nice finished look.  That reminds me, I was also considering painting the inside white, just to brighten it up some.  Are there any issues with birds pecking at it and eating the paint?

I've seen closable vents running along the tops of the walls.  I've been planning on doing that, but that is what is getting me concerned about finding the balance between drafty and well-ventilated.  I like the PVC thru the roof idea.  Along those lines; I have been wondering about using a "whirlybird"..those spinning roof vents you often see on quonsets. 

I look forward to seeing pictures of your coop.  I'm always looking for new ideas!

Hello and Welcome!!! I am not a North Dakotan but like to offer a few things for sale every once in awhile simce you guys are Minnesotas neighboring state!!


First off... Great choice in breed! I am picking up 4 Buckeye pullets and 2 Buckeye cockerels from a breeder down by Duane Urch! I personally wish I started with one breed of chickens. It would have made breeding so much easier!

On ventilation we just have a window that stays open all winter. We have two doors 1 foot apart. 1 is just a plywood door with a pop door on the bottom that is always open and the second door is a heavy wood door with a window towards the top of it. That way dirty air and moisture filter out the window and down out the pop door. Its not ideal but it works. No frostbite on my roosters with big combs.

We painted our coop and that was a good decision. It seals up cracks so mites and licea cant hide and the wood wont rot. I wood honestly paint everything inside the coop. Roosts, nest boxes, floor, walls and any place where mites could slip into.


Anyways welcome to BYC!!

 

[Zone3Dakota]

Shmidty,

We are in NW North Dakota, also on a newly built 'farmstead'.(on a windy hill, no shelterbelt) We just got Dominique chicks and they have moved out to the 'new coop'. We spent 80 dollars for a hardly used shed. We are still in the process of getting it 'coopized'. We plan to insulate the ceiling. Hubby just finished wrapping the lower outside part with metal leftover from building the shop, leaving some room for when the 'pop' door goes in, which will probably be more of a slider. We are still working on the run. I'm a fan of deep litter, for the winter, anyway. The shed still has some leaks(air) that need to be filled in. The doors are my main concern. They are attached with those 'piano' hinges, which are not so tight. The little gaps may end up BEING my ventilation, along with the 'pop' door.

We have had two winters experience with our pigeon loft. Some things that we've learned:insulation on top is good. Water inside the loft just was too much moisture, they did better the second year, where i toted warm water out to them. They were happier with deep litter, it was 'warmer' and gave them something to do, scratching around in it. Another change, was that i 'painted' the inside of the loft with a product called Loft White, which smells great and helps a lot with preventing condensation. The loft white can be ordered from some pigeon product places. The loft white does not stick well on smoothly finished surfaces, my pigeon boxes are re-purposed kitchen cabinets which should have been sanded, first. TSC carries a product called Sweet PDZ, that is also very good to put on the floors to help with keeping things dry.

The pigeon loft does have insulated walls. It was a family debate, to do it or not. (i lost, lol) Cannot tell you if it works 'better'. But, i will say that the mice love it, and if you do get mites, they have lots more place to hide. We'll see how the chicken coop does without insulation, this winter. Our first year on the place was bad for mice, was better last year. We keep traps all over, just made sure that the farm critters couldn't get to them.

Okay, we will be fine tuning the chicken coop, as problems show themselves. Chickens supposedly create a lot of moisture, probably more than the pigeons, and as i mentioned we had too much moisture with heated waterers in the pigeon loft. I am not even sure that chickens will do well with one or two hand waterings a day, so we are in 'experimental mode', at this point.

Also, we have more than ample predators, so our run will be electrified and covered...hoping that the netting for fruit trees will do a good job.

We decided on Dominiques partly because they are supposed to be great in either cold OR hot weather, hens are economically small, cockerels big enough for good meal, and have the reputation of being darn good eggers, with some broodies. I looked at the Buckeyes(and Chantecler) pretty hard, though, so if you get them, let us know how they work! Probably the closest breeds for what we want, other than Doms, is Ameraucana, mostly because of size and egg production.

Hope that helps!

 

[schmidty13]

Thanks to everyone for the warm welcome and great advice!

For now I am going to stick with one breed; Buckeye. There are other breeds out there that certainly catch my eye, but at least until I get some experience I would like to focus on one. I think it will be easier if/when I try to get a breeding program going. That said, I am considering Muscovy ducks and Guinnea's as well. We'll see what happens there. That will be a thread topic for later, I am sure!

Thanks for the advice on painting the inside. I was looking at it purely from aesthetics, but sealing cracks and reducing places for bad bugs to hide is a great benefit. I will look into the Loft White; thanks for the heads-up on that Zone3!

And thanks for mentioning the water; that was another concern I had. I am thinking I will keep the water out in a covered run. What I'd really like to do is run a line of those drip style nipple waterers. Of course...then I need to make sure I can keep it all thawed out. Been working on that idea as well.

Lot's to do! Not sure if I will get it all done in time for chickens this year or not. If not, at least I'll be all ready to go next spring. I'd rather wait a year than rush into it and have some catastrophe befall my birds!