Pennsylvania!! Unite!!

[Sally Sunshine]

for instance, I just pinned this, now all can go repin this so that they can make me some

ya! and I need one as well, but I will need pockets, plenty on front for eggs please LOL!!!

 

[LittleMissPurdy]

LMP, where did you get your coop? Looks nice.

thank you...got it online..the company had a ton of these advertised, well..someone made a mistake, on one of the advertisements they had posted their price for like 1/3 off the regular price, we saw this..called and the woman on the line was like.."well , I see it there..it is wrong, but we have to honor it"! ..wow,haha ..someone actually honoring something..anyway, so we snagged it up. You do have to be somewhat easy on it, but it has survived ME this long and that IS saying something..really..bull in a china shop is the best analogy for this girl!

....I think if you are going with this kind of coop that your best bet is to cover it, like the lean to there in the pic...it saves the wood. You can also brush more water-proffer on it or even paint it. The "clean-out tray" is shallow, so if you are going to use it, your litter has to be 'thin'..not deep, so no wood chips, straw ..that kind of stuff..unless you don't intend on changing it too often.(we use the sand) We also added two more vents on the other side/top of the coop for extra ventilation..it did need it. Over-all I think it is a good one to at least start with and go from there. We will be enclosing the 'coop' area this spring so that little coop i coming out...maybe used as a brooder, hospital, meat bird pen...turkey pen...rabbit pen...tiny goat pen...

...always a good idea to have an extra area for whatever animal(s) you are tending to.

I haven't read through the last three pages of the thread so if this is outdated info I apologize XD Don't have time to finish reading but wanted to just make this note on your question about straw before I am off to chores and work this afternoon,

When we first finished the coop this past summer I was determined to stay away from straw. (I remembered the horrible soup it would turn into with the horses and other livestock we had growing up and did NOT want it anywhere near my chickens in my own yard) So I had been using aspen chips and pine shavings which were working wonderfully. No mess, no smell whatsoever even in the humid heat of the hottest summer weather. Then we went with sand because I got a load for free and was curious about how it would work in the run. I'd heard people sift it with a cat litter scoop and it's really easy to clean. It was great to clean up and I really liked it. Then winter came and it got cold. Someone gave us two bales of straw to use on the run floor of the raised quail pen. Works great for them. So one day I decided to throw a couple of flakes in the chicken coop and down in the run.

BIGGEST MISTAKE I've made since starting to keep my own chickens. D: Oh my God! You would not believe the horrible smell and mess they made out of it in their run. Problem is they dig in the sand which is under the straw. This mixes the straw down into the sand which then leeches the moisture up out of the ground well below the level where the chickens would be affected by it. The straw actually caused my otherwise always bone dry run to become wet and swampy. Which was NOT a good thing in below freezing temps. Took me two days last week to dig the nasty stuff and unfortunately most of my sand which was stuck to it out of the run.

What I'm getting at here is, I'd never EVER again throw straw over the sand in my run. horrible horrible mistake I will not repeat.

All I'm doing for my guys is close the coop door at night (which I don't usually do now that they're grown) and probably take the waters in the house so they don't break with the super cold and expanding ice inside them. The chickens sit up on their roosts all night anyway so stuffing the coop with straw or something else would be pointless IME. They're not going to be snuggled down into it anyway. Unlike the quail who do snuggle into the straw. For them I'll put another couple of flakes in there and fluff it all up.

Thank you for the tip!!! ..yeah, when the sand gets wet, with the cold/feeze, you aren't moving it easily..if at all!..I really don't want to mix things in it to make that worse...the litter tray in the coop some times becomes a mini "poo-burg"...need a scraper to get that stuff out of there!..if I get the coop early enough it isn't so bad, but if I wait till mid-afternoon...i am out there for awhile

......**I had put leaves in the coop/run area once earlier in the winter...not doing that again...i was sifting for a good hour to get all that out and the sand clean again, dust and whatever all over me

, I am not in the shape to do it again...I figure they are good cold-hardy birds, and the strong survive..might sound harsh, but..that is the way here. they have food, water, and can get out of the wind...everyone should be good to go.

 

[LittleMissPurdy]

**LadyBehir- also wanted to add, when it(coop) first arrived..it comes in a 'kit' form- (2 very large, heavy boxes..beware!!)....the 'clean-out' tray was broken. We called the company they where easy enough to work with , but we had to wait quite some time before the other tray was sent to us..they make these things as the orders come in and apparently don't have 'extra' parts just laying around..whatever...we still have the broken tray, didn't have to send it back, that is a good thing..going to 'fix it' so we have a back up..never know!!

Good mid-morning everyone!

....

 

[wingstone]

Quote: just to add that pinterest has a large page of feed bag aprons, if any one should decide to make these, I need a price because I want a few

 

[SilkieSensation]

 

 

for instance, I just pinned this, now all can go repin this so that they can make me some

ya! and I need one as well, but I will need pockets, plenty on front for eggs please  LOL!!! 

just to add that pinterest has a large page of feed bag aprons, if any one should decide to make these, I need a price because I want a few

Contact dmccann on here. She is in PA & makes the aprons, bags, pillows, etc. all out of feed bags.

 

[3riverschick]

Contact dmccann on here. She is in PA & makes the aprons, bags, pillows, etc. all out of feed bags.

I wonder if she is the lady I met at the Rogers, OH flea market. Any one hasn't been there, it's fantastic.
Only held on Fridays and thousands of attendees. Anyway, their merchandise was just so neat! All kinds
of things made out of so many different kinds of feed bags. What a neat way to advocate for your fav feed in a selfie.
Best,
Karen

 

[chippysmom327]

Is there a seed swap page for 2014? I want some sunflower seeds that I can eat the seeds from/feed to the chickens. And strawberry seeds.

 

[wingstone]

Quote: just to add that pinterest has a large page of feed bag aprons, if any one should decide to make these, I need a price because I want a few
Contact dmccann on here. She is in PA & makes the aprons, bags, pillows, etc. all out of feed bags.
wonder if she delivers, or makes it to any of the local markets.....I need 2 child size and 1 adult size........hubby does the sewing in this house and when I told him to make some of these for me his exact words were.......@#@#@#@# @#

 

[Brittany7]

Well so is chicken keeping in general..hahaha ..I will have to do that with a few of my eggs. I only want to keep them a few days so I can start a few at a time instead of having them at all different times... Thanks for the info!! Maybe see some of you at the farm show!! I plan on coming one of the days!

 

[wingstone]

really wish the quail would start laying again,,,,I miss these

and no, they are not the same when chicken eggs are used,,,,,