Planning in Cleveland

[cabinchicky]

hello and welcome!! yes coop thread and learning center, great place to start. also if in town you may want to check for regulations on how many chickens you are allowed.

 

[clevetromba]

Thanks everyone for the encouragement! I appreciate the advice Drumstick Diva, to not worry too much about the design. I think my biggest concern is building something that works for me, and not ever having raised chickens before I have to rely on the mountains of advice floating around out there. I've done lots of reading and am starting to narrow down my choices. Now I just have to wait for warmer weather to start building.

 

[chickwhispers]

Welcome to BYC!!!

Good luck with your coop and flock! Please post pics when you get them!

 

[TwoCrows]

Good luck in all your chicken adventures and enjoy BYC!

 

[clevetromba]

Yes, Cabinchicky, I am in an inner ring suburb, and I am allowed up to four hens. I just double checked my city's ordinance, and discovered that my coop and run must be a minimum of 10 feet away from the property line, which will make placement somewhat inconvenient since my property is only about 40 feet wide! They also say that manure must be stored 20 feet away from the line, which is ridiculous because that would mean I could only let my birds poop in the exact center line of my yard! I think since I am planning to use the deep litter method, it won't really be considered "storage of manure" since it will be absorbed and composted into the litter.

 

[chickwhispers]

are you using straw? and do you have a small garden? You can spread it on the garden during the winter and it will be good in the spring. So no storing! It won't break down as fast as you'd think, or like though. Mine from 2 summers ago just finished breaking down this fall. So there were little straw pieces showing. Don't know if that would be a problem for you?

 

[clevetromba]

are you using straw? and do you have a small garden? You can spread it on the garden during the winter and it will be good in the spring. So no storing! It won't break down as fast as you'd think, or like though. Mine from 2 summers ago just finished breaking down this fall. So there were little straw pieces showing. Don't know if that would be a problem for you?

Well, I haven't yet begun so I don't know what I'll be using. Is straw safe to use? I read somewhere that straw commonly hosts mold spores that cause respiratory irritations for the birds. It certainly causes major allergy symptoms for me. I found that out when mulching my garden with straw for the winter and ended up with red welts all over my arms, red puffy eyes and lost my voice.

 

[chickwhispers]

For deep litter you need to have a water proof floor. Many people use vinyl flooring over their plywood floor. If you have a dirt floor then no problem. I have a concrete floor, so again, no problems. The key to reducing mold is to stir it to put air into it, no matter what litter material you use. Hay will cause more mold. Any organic material will mold. Some more than others. Just be sure to keep turned, like compost. Many times the chickens will scratch around. many times not necessarily. I use straw and pine shavings, and sweet PDZ and DE added once a week or so. With our cold climate I prefer the warmth of the straw. I will be adding a poop board under the roost though. Then my litter will last longer. They really poop a lot at night. Hope this is helpful.

 

[gander007]

Alright Mark

great to have us onboard with us

 

[BantamLover21]

Glad you joined us!