Old Fashioned, Common Sense Chicken Keeping.

[BantyChooks]

Many don't have the space to rotate mobile enclosures, and mobility limits size.
Bee has some good sense and logic,
but it's not always a 'wide view' or universally applicable.
Manure and bedding management helps if you don't live in Chicken Utopia,
we all do the best we can.

I would do many things differently if I had the resources for it, but I don't, so tough.

 

[centrarchid]

I have acreage to spare. Movable coops represent the majority of my containment, but another approach coupled with free-ranging keeping is being used for juvenile chickens to keep them off ground where waste is concentrated. People in extreme northern Europe used to do similar to contend with deep snow. If we want to stick with the Old Fashioned concept that is still relative. A big difference is types of materials used in construction.

Tops down overnight to keep owls off birds. Each cohort of birds goes through both configurations. I had weight and strength issues making for differing designs.

Small bird configuration where about 45 birds roosted in it.

Large bird configuration that occurs after first reduction in numbers. Thirty birds roosted in it in the beginning.

Little yellow boxes in front of barn in distance represent where the elevated pens are located. With feeding regimen and cover provided, even when the number of so held birds exceeded 100, they seldom wandered in any direction more than about 50 yards which is the tightest free-ranging I have ever realized. Normally they would go out at least 200 yards, but cover really made a difference this year.

Next year night time feces with be collected for dispersal where needed for garden and pasture.

 

[Shadrach]

I free range; they can choose where they go. Range areas aren't bare except right in front of the coop where snows melt first and chickens scratch up the entire root system in spring, before the rest of the ground is bare. Also, it's built right on the edge of an area with deep leaf cover and a more brushy foliage spread, so any grass that gets destroyed by anything very quickly is swallowed by the forest. For me, building a moveable coop would be limited good at best because there is very little land cleared enough to move pens and stuff onto, and the bit I do have cleared (except for where the coop currently is) is unsafe due to proximity to known bear haunts. Yes, a hundred feet is a small safeguard, but it's probably saved my flock before: there's a rather bark-y dog and and two electric fences between my chickens and the woods this way.

Even, say, that all didn't apply, and I split my flock up into pens small enough to move around via tractor, which in itself would be five times the work, I would have a wicked hard time dealing with winter. I'd have to basically turn each one into a permanent structure to get it to bear up under snow and wind load. I'd have to make it way larger than I'd otherwise need for that few birds and I'd need to do that over multiple pens, which in the end, results in a huge amount of space lost to allow appropriate space for bickering birds to get out of each other's way. One 12 x 12 I can dump all my birds into turns out to be the most space efficient, least costly, and snuggest way I've found yet. I've kept birds in tight housing over winter, and trust me, it's seventeen buckets of no fun. Heavy on cleaning, heavy on health issues, heavy on work. The fewer buckets I have to break ice on in winter, the happier I am. I'm already going to be carrying out 8 gallons of water per day, easy. I don't want to have to do any more. I'm not familiar with the climate of Spain, but I'd bet you my next paycheck that it isn't anything like what I have.

I can understand your position and you bet your bottom dollar the climate here is nothing like yours...thankfully
I'm curios in most cases. I should have my coop article posted in the next couple of days and you'll be able to see what I build....nope, they're not pretty
I picked on you BantyChooks because you posted the spoiler but yes I do understand your position. We get a few very cold days here in the winter, -6 to -9 Centigrade, but it's what one would call a cold snap,not the persistent snow and below freezing you have to deal with.
Thanks for the detailed reply by the way....you're a gent.

 

[Shadrach]

I have acreage to spare. Movable coops represent the majority of my containment, but another approach coupled with free-ranging keeping is being used for juvenile chickens to keep them off ground where waste is concentrated. People in extreme northern Europe used to do similar to contend with deep snow. If we want to stick with the Old Fashioned concept that is still relative. A big difference is types of materials used in construction.

Tops down overnight to keep owls off birds. Each cohort of birds goes through both configurations. I had weight and strength issues making for differing designs.

Small bird configuration where about 45 birds roosted in it.

Large bird configuration that occurs after first reduction in numbers. Thirty birds roosted in it in the beginning.

Little yellow boxes in front of barn in distance represent where the elevated pens are located. With feeding regimen and cover provided, even when the number of so held birds exceeded 100, they seldom wandered in any direction more than about 50 yards which is the tightest free-ranging I have ever realized. Normally they would go out at least 200 yards, but cover really made a difference this year.

Next year night time feces with be collected for dispersal where needed for garden and pasture.

I know you use mobile coops from the article about wing clipping you posted. It's not something I see here often. What I do see are elaborate mansions that I would be happy living in

 

[centrarchid]

I know you use mobile coops from the article about wing clipping you posted. It's not something I see here often. What I do see are elaborate mansions that I would be happy living in

Elevated coops are not the mobile version.

 

[Aunt Angus]

I don't build static coops for the above reasons and a few more not mentionned. Why do most people build static coops if they think this advice is good, BantyChooks included?

I do the best I can. Can't use mobile coops due to restrictions (city, county, and spousal), but I do let them free range for part of every day - year round (yay, California).

Different chicken folks, different chicken strokes.

Wait... That sounds weird....

 

[Molpet]

So, I've been busy, but I wanted to ask a question to many of the readers who have read BantyChooks Information spoiler.
Here's one extract that I agree completely with.


I don't build static coops for the above reasons and a few more not mentionned. Why do most people build static coops if they think this advice is good, BantyChooks included?

my land is hilly. Except where the chickens and gardens are.. and the flood plain.
Also snow in the winter is fun enough now LOL

 

[21hens-incharge]

I think a lot of it comes from space.....not enough space.

Cattle end up standing in filth at dairies and feed lots alike. Is it "right"? Probably not.

I have a city lot. It's a big city lot at 1/4 acre but still much to small to have mobile coops. Even if I had just 4 birds it would be to small.

Yes I have static coops. I don't particularly like it.
My birds are kept as clean as possible and have much more room than commercial chickens are allowed.
If I opted not to have my confined birds where would my eggs come from? Would it be better?

Space is very costly. It wouldn't be nearly as profitable if cattle or chickens raised commercially were allotted enough space to be fully out of a poop zone.

I get it. I don't have to like it but I get it.

 

[Chullicken]

Guess this entire article has something to do with a minimum 'have a badge' posting quota? Was not aware any of the things you listed was or is known as old-fashioned chicken keepin'.

 

[Molpet]

Guess this entire article has something to do with a minimum 'have a badge' posting quota? Was not aware any of the things you listed was or is known as old-fashioned chicken keepin'.

ummm never heard of a minimum 'have a badge' posting quota, except for new people to start a thread..
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/byc-membership-year-anniversary-badges-banners.1261798/
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/byc-recognition-medals.1214207/

so what would you suggest old fashion, common sense chicken keeping is?