Open front coop done, chicken yard in progress

[igorsMistress]

Hey IM, how's my favorite little bare chested NN guy doing?

He's getting beat up a little by the bigger boys so he chases the girls when the meanies are otherwise occupied. I'm thinking about keeping him around for a while.

My plan is to order staight run Turken chicks in September. I was going to process all the cockerels I have now and the smaller pullets and keep a roo from the newbies with the biggest girls but this guy...he's just too cute and that bare neck is really what I want to breed into my flock so he's getting a reprieve to grow some and see how he turns out.

 

[N F C]

He's getting beat up a little by the bigger boys so he chases the girls when the meanies are otherwise occupied. I'm thinking about keeping him around for a while.

My plan is to order staight run Turken chicks in September. I was going to process all the cockerels I have now and the smaller pullets and keep a roo from the newbies with the biggest girls but this guy...he's just too cute and that bare neck is really what I want to breed into my flock so he's getting a reprieve to grow some and see how he turns out.

 

[igorsMistress]

13 weeks today. All but the few smallest are at least as big as the former girls already, if not bigger.

One of the white/buff pullets and one of the black pullets are quite large, bigger than 4 of the 6 roos. They're keepers for sure, the others are still under evaluation.

 

[N F C]

View attachment 1848575
13 weeks today. All but the few smallest are at least as big as the former girls already, if not bigger.

One of the white/buff pullets and one of the black pullets are quite large, bigger than 4 of the 6 roos. They're keepers for sure, the others are still under evaluation.

Love all the colors IM!

 

[igorsMistress]

Cleaned the coop today. I threw in a 40# bag of pine pellets under the new shavings and I'm going to toss in some grass clippings tomorrow for them. I've also added a log to give a step up to the poop board for additional access to the roost without using the ramp...that's a bottleneck right now. All it takes is one chicken to stop the flow and cause an argument.

Added a very thin layer of pdz on the poop board. The newspaper wasn't great with 12 chickens in there and the smell was a bit thick by weeks end. I can keep the pdz layer thin and change it out easily since I have the shop vac...experimenting with that for now.

I put the pvc feeder back in and added feed to it, took down the ff feeder...good idea but it was too big and took up too much floor space.

Next step is figuring out nest space. I'm not using the plastic boxes with this flock so the northeast corner under the poop board needs conversion before long.

 

[aart]

Added a very thin layer of pdz on the poop board. The newspaper wasn't great with 12 chickens in there and the smell was a bit thick by weeks end.I can keep the pdz layer thin and change it out easily since I have the shop vac...experimenting with that for now.

Ewwww......wait, is the PDZ under the newspaper.
What do you do with the poop?

 

[igorsMistress]

Ewwww......wait, is the PDZ under the newspaper.
What do you do with the poop?

I'm going to use the cat litter scoop to clean the poop boards regularly I'm not just going to leave it and vac it! I meant when it's time to change out the pdz I can vac it out but it'll be poop free first!

No more newspaper, I have a bucket to put the poop in until I put it in the composter or the big compost pile in the yard.

 

[aart]

I'm going to use the cat litter scoop to clean the poop boards regularly I'm not just going to leave it and vac it! I meant when it's time to change out the pdz I can vac it out but it'll be poop free first!

OhGood!!
I never have to change out the PDZ, ~1/8" deep and I sift all of it daily.
Have to add some maybe once a week.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...s-poop-pictures.621363/page-178#post-18966048

I use this as a sifter, gets 99% of it.
https://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/1/...ch-x-9-inch-mesh-drawer-organizer-silver.html

 

[igorsMistress]

OhGood!!
I never have to change out the PDZ, ~1/8" deep and I sift all of it daily.
Have to add some maybe once a week.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...s-poop-pictures.621363/page-178#post-18966048

I use this as a sifter, gets 99% of it.
https://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/1/...ch-x-9-inch-mesh-drawer-organizer-silver.html

Thanks for the link, great idea! I was having an issue with some of the dry poop breaking apart and those cat litter sifters don't get the small stuff. I'm going to look for some when I pick up a bin for the mealies tomorrow.

 

[igorsMistress]

Then and now.