post your chicken coop pictures here!

[ShrekDawg]

start about february or late january but inside

Thanks!

 

[TJordan]

So true! I had a chick a couple years ago and borrowed a friend's chick heat lamp only to find after the first day that the little chick was hot enough in our 90 degree weather and returned the heat lamp the next day! The chick occasionally would sit on the warm laptop keyboard but usually it was too warm and she'd hop off! My heating pad on the other hand is used about 4 months out of every winter to germinate several trays of veggies. The seedlings sprout in less than a week! And the pad's totally washable too!

Wait.... you use a heating pad to start your seedlings?!!! What an idea!!!!

 

[Sylvester017]

That's a great idea! Maybe I'll try that spring/summer when I try veggies again, never got around to planting them this year lol when do you start growing them and then transplant? CA is probably different being a lot warmer but assuming now is too soon? Maybe I don't even need to do this for summer veggies?

In SoCal around Oct/Nov/Dec I sow my saved seeds from the summer before in little peat circles in a tray under a matching cover and set the little covered germinating trays on the XL Sunbeam heating pad, set the temp on #1 (or lowest setting) and leave it 24/7. By end of week just about all the different veggies seeds sprout - cukes being the fastest to sprout for me. I put the heating pad in a very large disposable turkey tin foil tray with the germinating trays on top of the heating pad and turn on the low heat. So fun to watch the little shoots sprout. As each seed sprouts I remove its peat circle from under the covered lid and transplant into larger 3x3-in square pots and keep a clamp-on lamp or some artificial or window light so the seedlings grow and in a safe warm location. I transplant outdoors anywhere from February through May the following Spring. I've had some seedlings in the 3x3 square pots live up to 9-months in the pots before transplanting simply because I sow way too many seeds every year and takes a while to get around to transplanting them into my raised garden beds and have to plant the excess seedlings in container pots.

GARDEN MATH IS LIKE CHICKEN MATH -- VERY ADDICTIVE!




















END OF SEASON VEGGIES IS AROUND NOVEMBER THROUGH FEBRUARY OF THE NEXT SPRING -- NO FROST


MY AVATAR "HIDING" IN THE SQUASH PLANTS

Wait.... you use a heating pad to start your seedlings?!!! What an idea!!!!

The XL Sunbeam heating pad is very long in size, cheaper than traditional gardening heating mats or artificial germinating lamps, plus the traditional garden heat mats seem to poop out after less than a year's use according to various reviews I researched. Why pay $60+ for a garden heat mat that might not work after less than a year when a Sunbeam XL heat pad only runs about half that price and lasts forever. The Sunbeam heating pad has to be the XL size with the option for constant heat control. The smaller heat pads only have the automatic shutoff feature and no option for keeping the pad on constant heat.

 

[bald Rooster]

This is a chicken coop most of the stuff Ive seen is built better than my house Bwahahahaha.

 

[ShrekDawg]

Here's pictures of it atm

 

[Sylvester017]

Here's pictures of it atm

That is a pretty build and nice roof overhang - you used quality materials. But, don't be surprised if water from the nestbox lid seeps into the nests when the lid is opened. It's one of many reasons why we chose to place our coop completely under a patio roof. Are the roof rafters where you plan to have your chickens roost and have a ladder ramp up? -- the little darlings love the highest place in a coop to roost and will love the top. I love the cottage blue color you chose for the outside.

 

[Sylvester017]

Sorry, dbl post!

 

[ShrekDawg]

That is a pretty build and nice roof overhang - you used quality materials.  But, don't be surprised if water from the nestbox lid seeps into the nests when the lid is opened.  It's one of many reasons why we chose to place our coop completely under a patio roof.  Are the roof rafters where you plan to have your chickens roost and have a ladder ramp up? -- the little darlings love the highest place in a coop to roost and will love the top.  I love the cottage blue color you chose for the outside.

Thanks! We tried the original design we copied used OSB for the walls but we decided to use plywood sheathing. Still not as thick as normal plywood but we figured since it had the siding it was fine - the other had none. And well, the one we copied had them roost up there but I wasn't sure if it would be good for them to be so close to the vent? And if it was good to fly up and down because truth be told I never thought of a ramp LOL so the plan is either to let them sleep up there or to put hardware cloth or something up there so they can't get up there and add roost bars. I think my dad might be planning to add a gutter but I'm not sure. Rain may still hit the nest boxes though. And thanks! We found a whole bunch of cement siding on Craigslist so we got it. I was originally going to paint it but decided I liked the color

 

[Sylvester017]

Thanks! We tried

the original design we copied used OSB for the walls but we decided to use plywood sheathing. Still not as thick as normal plywood but we figured since it had the siding it was fine - the other had none. And well, the one we copied had them roost up there but I wasn't sure if it would be good for them to be so close to the vent? And if it was good to fly up and down because truth be told I never thought of a ramp LOL so the plan is either to let them sleep up there or to put hardware cloth or something up there so they can't get up there and add roost bars. I think my dad might be planning to add a gutter but I'm not sure. Rain may still hit the nest boxes though. And thanks! We found a whole bunch of cement siding on Craigslist so we got it. I was originally going to paint it but decided I liked the color

I've used plywood sheathing for other projects and it is a bit thin but still better than OSB. Sounds like you'all weatherproofed the outside well. If you plan to use a ladder ramp you can have it going up the wall with a platform halfway up and continue the ladder ramp from the platform up to the rafters - I would build the ramp wider than a foot because chickens will barrel down those ladders 2 and 3 at a time side-by-side! Seems a shame to deprive them of a high roost if there's enough space to give them ample room to fly down or use a ramp down whichever they choose for themselves. The rafters look high though and for myself would be worried a chicken would break a foot or something when landing on the floor. I had a Silkie that got a surprise shove off a nestbox landing down a couple feet to the floor and got badly bruised -- had to take her to the vet because she wasn't moving. I was lucky she didn't have any injury but certainly had the wind knocked out of her!

 

[bruceha2000]

Quote:
When to start depends on WHAT you start and when your planting season for those crops starts.

If you use a heating pad as a seed starter, make sure it is the kind that can be washed (the PAD, not just the cover) or make real sure that no water can get to it. Water and electricity don't play nice together.