Ok this is a three day harvest. I have 25 hens and they are not all laying yet (as far as I know) the easter Eggers I have 5 and I think only 1 is laying,
It's all done!So happy right now. Just wish weather was good enough to paint. At least the girls will have more room now. Hmmm...maybe more chickens! Lol
We let them out when we can. I introduced our Golden Retriever to them yesterday... Goldilocks(Buff Orpington) pecked him right on the nose! I think she was trying to lay the ground rules for who was actually in charge lol.
The new coop will have a 6' tall run and the coop itself will be built off the ground with multiple swing doors for cleaning, and will be quite a big larger. They will get most of the space that you see behind the fence that the current setup leans against.
I started burying hardware cloth yesterday. I did as much as I could with the frozen ground. The next coop will be built against the fence and use the fence as the back wall for it. I am getting a few more fence panels from a neighbor to help build the remaining walls. That tall pile was a raised planter box that I am taking down to build the wider coop, the top 4" of dirt are frozen. There will be aviary netting that covers this entire area.
You can kind of see the hardware cloth attached to the lower portion of the fence in the back. It is buried into the clay layer that I hit yesterday. There is old timber and boulders buried to back it up.
The section of run that you see was given to me and I need to take it apart and will be re-using the pieces in the new set up.
This whole area is my project for the winter/spring. This is my old garden that will soon be dual purpose between the chickens and garden. The plants will be fenced off from the chickens. They will get roughly 1/3 of this garden area, just under 300 sqft.
I have another 50'x40' garden area elsewhere on my property that they will for certain have zero access to and will be pushed to the limits of production this year. My motivation is running at all time highs right now.
I think they are considered cagefree since the coop is for sleeping only. They run free the rest of the day.
Thank you! the egg is from a hyline chicken, that had just started layingWhat gets shipped in a 'container' that size??
Since you have that much space dedicated to the chickens why are you making a raised coop? Seems like you could build a "walk in". So much easier to clean and no ramps needed for the chickens to get out. Plus the roosts can be higher off the ground rather than not much off the floor of a raised coop.
I would seriously reconsider the idea of using the fence as the back wall of the coop. Your location isn't given but as @Sylvester017 suggested, fences aren't permanent.
They are cage free if they aren't kept in cages!
I think the term you are looking for is "free range". USDA is awfully generous with this designation. It means they are able to go outside sometime during the day. It can be on a slab of concrete for just a few minutes and meet the requirement. I suspect only big egg factories would use that version of the designation since most people would think that the hens are outside a lot and that is better than 'cage free' which means they can be kept indoors 24x7 with no access to natural light or the outside world. Thus, they can charge more for the eggs.
What breed of chicken gave you that nice egg? Perhaps a real Australorp?
Boy! I should say you'd be happy with it! It's gorgeous! I like the nice idea for ventilation at the roofline.Finally got a couple days of reasonable weather but rain in the forecast again tomorrow. But....we got to put at least a cover coat of paint on the coop today. Should hold us until spring when we can coat it a bit better. Still happy with the job.
Finally got a couple days of reasonable weather but rain in the forecast again tomorrow. But....we got to put at least a cover coat of paint on the coop today. Should hold us until spring when we can coat it a bit better. Still happy with the job.
