post your chicken coop pictures here!

[Bluesky68]

Omgoodness You people have it going on. Awesome! I'm ashamed of myself. Only a month in but now I realize I've got tons to do for my 2 new rouens and new to having ducks. I'm a landscaper and I'm use to very neat and while I have lots of animals. Ducks are Anything but neat. Lol alreadt loVe them so whatever they want. Can't wait to see the metamorphosis from looking female to being male or males. Again Awesome houses for your feathered friends. Totally impressed! CC

 

[Latestarter]

Greetings @Bluesky68 and welcome to BYC! Glad to hear you love your ducks! I don't have any waterfowl... water's pretty expensive where I'm at on the front range in CO. Lots of good stuff here on the site. make yourself at home!

 

[NanaNeen]

Is there any suggestions for run care? Mine is on dirt/soil and it builds up fast . Every week or so I have to try to crawl half way into the little doorway and rake and remove. I use Sweet PDZ in the coop floor is there something other than dirt I should have in the run?

 

[ShrekDawg]

How bigs you coop going to be. Not include the run

4x8 but it's built on a 6x8 base so we can add nest boxes and a little storage area but yeah

 

[ShrekDawg]

Is there any suggestions for run care? Mine is on dirt/soil and it builds up fast . Every week or so I have to try to crawl half way into the little doorway and rake and remove. I use Sweet PDZ in the coop floor is there something other than dirt I should have in the run?

Some people use sand and it seems to work pretty well. I'm personally going to be going with a sort of deep litter thing in the new run. Originally I was told about 6 inches deep, 3 inches of wood chips (chips not shavings because the varying particle sizes of chips breaks down faster, shavings don't really break down) and then 3 inches of leaves, grass clippings, garden scraps, etc, anything like that really on top. But after reading some more and other more recent comments it seems like deeper is better so I might try 12-18 inches deep so 6 to 8 inches each, some say even deeper than that. I'm not really sure what I'm gonna do. But yeah, the basic principle is wood chips and leaves/yard stuff. And it breaks down and composts right inside the run and you just add more dry material when it starts to smell. No PDZ or DE or anything, it just handles it on it's own. And one of the best parts if not the best is it creates sort of like an environment within the run and provides them with all sorts of tasty bugs and things to do. And you don't have to do anything to it. A lot of people use it in the coops too but I think they have dirt floors. I am planning to just pile deep bedding of shavings in it though. But yeah.

 

[Chicken Egg 17]

If you are worried about it building up I would personally use stone and then if you let them out to roam for the day they can still go and scatvh in the dirt and grass. Then when there gets poop build up on the stone just take the hose to it and hose the poop and first down through the stone.

 

[perchie.girl]

Is there any suggestions for run care? Mine is on dirt/soil and it builds up fast . Every week or so I have to try to crawl half way into the little doorway and rake and remove. I use Sweet PDZ in the coop floor is there something other than dirt I should have in the run?

It helps to know what sort of environment You have..... general area of the country. But work with what is available and economical.

first of all Just a teeny suggestion.....Next time you build a run make it tall enough so you can stand up, if possilbe. it will make life infinately easier.

I read up on Sweet PDZ... very good stuff. good at ammonia absorption. any way. Deep litter was suggested It works for Many Many people. It esseentially turns the coop and run into a compost engine. depending on a bit of moisture above and below to keep the organic matter cooking and breaking down.

I cant do it here. because of my climate. humidity in the low 20s most of the year. and Water is at a premium reserved only for drinking for the animals. For me its a double whammy. LONG term Drought a well that historically is a low producer and the water table dropped 100 feet so far.

I depend on the climate to help me do the work. Large runs so the maneur doesnt get built up over a small area.... But really most of the concentrated poop happens in the roosting area. I use rice hulls for the floor. They are available here and the chickens love em. and if they are not available I use shavings. both stay fluffy longer allowing air circulation while the poo dessicates.

I like rice hulls because my horse likes them for a bed.... I pour a pile in and she will sift through a bit to find little bits of rice then she does a Big OOOMPH as she plops down in the middle of them.... too funny.

But the birds like to sift through too looking for little bits of rice so I dont have to spread the hulls out they do it for me. And the Black birds will line up on the fence and mumble while I work... waiting for me to leave so they can do a little digging themselves....

MY personal other choice would be sand. Because I can harvest it off my own property... Horse drags a big tractor tire on occasion and it fills up with sand as we go.... We havent done it in a very long time but we could.

deb

 

[junebuggena]

Is there any suggestions for run care? Mine is on dirt/soil and it builds up fast . Every week or so I have to try to crawl half way into the little doorway and rake and remove. I use Sweet PDZ in the coop floor is there something other than dirt I should have in the run?

Just how big is your run? And how many live in it?

 

[NanaNeen]

It will be about 60 Sq. Ft.in the next week or so. Right now it's just a small 3x7 under the coop. 6 white Leghorns hens.

Why don't pine shavings breakdown?

 

[Teila]

After years of ‘do I put the covers on the run’ and with our tropical climate, weighing up whether trying to keep them dry during a tropical storm is going to make it too hot in the run etc, today was the first real test for the new coop and covered run. Yeah, I know, ho hum for all of you who have covered runs, but I am chuffed to see all the effort was worth it with the water running off the roof and dry chickens underneath …

The Past:




The Present; check out the rain coming off the roof ..