post your chicken coop pictures here!

[bruceha2000]

T Jordan, if you can replace it ask fir a marine type plywood. We used that but sealed both sides before installing on floors of both coops. No issues yet from my 3 yr old coop floor that sits ten inches at least off the ground. Used an exterior sealant but I don't recall which. No problems yet with it and deep litter in 3 winters either. Just turn it and throw more bedding in one a week. Good luck and I hope this helps.

The only problem with marine plywood is the cost.

Some of mine aren't sure either. I have 5 hens. As you can see from the pic only 3 are eating out of my hand, one is in the background and the other not even in sight. I went out today with some stale donuts only one would eat out of my hand.

Hey, if the stale donut isn't good enough for YOU is it good enough for your precious chickens?

Of the 3 auracanas (so called) i have one that matches the description I've heard. She is very pretty, grey, white, black with very pronounced tufts on her ears and larger than the other chicks except the legbar looking one (might be one of the auracanas). I don't really care if they are pure, i have my very varied flock i wanted and they are all healthy. I put the turkeys in the smallest pen but the tunnels are open so they can mingle if they want. I'll try to get some good pics tomorrow.

Do they have tails? If no tails and ear tufts (not to be confused with the muffs on EEs, Ameraucana, Faverolles etc) then they must have a fair bit of Araucana in them. Where did you get those particular birds?

What scares me is all the new construction going up everywhere in our L.A. County area using OSB walls instead of plywood. Those interior sheets will crumble and then what will hold up the structure - our brand new roof had a leak and can you imagine the damage if our contractor had used OSB? No wonder there's so much "settling" going on in new buildings!!!!! Unbelievable that the building codes allow this junk!!!!

Bad all the way around. 24 years ago we had a house rebuilt by a father/son pair. Super efficient. When we talked about roofs they said "drive by the condos over on ......" in the morning. They had worked on those buildings when working for a construction company. They would not use OSB as roof sheathing and I could see why. The asphalt shingle roofs on those fairly new condos were rippled. Exterior plywood was what they used, no ripples.

That said, the rebuilt part of the current house has 8" Structural Insulated Panels (SIPs, rigid foam sandwiched between 2 sheets of OSB) on the roof but instead of shingles the SIPs are covered with standing seam metal (we could have gone with asphalt shingles but I don't know if the roof would fair any better than those on the condos). And there is no attic space, the first layer on the rafters is 1" half lap pine (the ceiling) then the SIPS. And the exterior walls are 4" SIPS attached to the outside of the post and beam frame. The carpenter put on (new type) "tar paper" rather than the "housewrap" stuff because he said he has seen rotted sheathing in walls of houses not even 15 years old when covered with "housewrap" but much older houses with "tar paper" have always been fine. And over the "tar paper" he put vertical spacers and a "rain curtain" so that any humidity that might get behind the siding will condense and drain out rather than soak into the back of the siding. Besides rotting the siding out from the back, the moisture collecting in the wood will greatly decrease the "lifespan" of the paint as it "pops off" the wet wood.

For those of you who can add Guinea to your flock for mice, rats and snakes. They even go after rattle snakes out west as seen on video. Being in a woods with farm land near mice are horrible. Just waiting for my 3 to grow up so I can turn them loose in the yard.
@Sylvester017 I use heat lamp with the c hook and clamp both and I still worry will be glad when I can turn them off.

Quote:
I don't know that ACV (or any vinegar) would disinfect but it couldn't hurt. I wouldn't spend the extra on real ACV (see below) for cleaning purposes, just use cheap white vinegar.

what is adc and what is the real name for de? thanks

ACV - Apple Cider Vinegar. But you need the stuff with "mother", not the light amber stuff. It is the "mother" that has the purported health benefits.

 

[perchie.girl]

I used marine grade plywood for the floor in the bathroom. Well Worth the cost. After seeing what we scraped out of there.... OSB floors have got to go in my house. I will never use it I will never use particle board for cabinets either. Kitchen has to be gutted because of offending materials.

Guineas aRe great Love em but you have to have enough land so you wont be disturbing the neighbors. They are loud in the decible range. My last flock was about fifteen and I couldnt have a conversation with someone till I shut them up. Yep it can be done funnier than heck.
I am planning on raising up about thirty next go round.

If you are going to use vinegar as a disenfectant.... (its an excellent one by the way) Use white vinegar its more distilled. and Stronger. In Wine making vinegar is what you get AFTER alcohol production I had a neighbor that was training for inhalation therepy. One of the classes had an experiment with household cleaners. Long story short the petri dish that had been cleaned with Vinegar had the overall best results.

There are cleaning vinegars which are stronger but 5 percent acid is the one she used. If you are making your own vinegar shoot for that range. Yep you have to use test strips to find out if you have it strong enough.

Vinegar is also a good cleaner if you have moldy or sour clothing say... Like me you forget to put a load of laundry in the dryer and find it a couple of days later. Just wash the laundry again and add a cup of white vinegar to the load. You can also use it to freshen up your washing machine every so often. Its good for removing calcium as well so doing a wash in the dishwasher is good. Same goes for the coffee maker.

But if you have a serious disease going in the coop or major colds in the house you cant beat house hold bleach. With no additives

deb

 

[MeepBeep]

My husband works for a company that sells plywood products and he had them treat it with a clear, animal safe sealant before he brought it home he says.

It should be noted that modern day pressure treated wood for all practical purposes is non-toxic when used for building construction purposes... The chromium and arsenic were removed by the industry for consumer treated woods back in 2003/2004...

Also if you paint or coat the new pressure treated wood (once it drys) any potential risk is even lower...

 

[TJordan]

Hey. Does anyone out there have frizzle Cochin??? I think one of my Easter hatched might be one. 4 toes, fuzzy feet, out turned wing feathers. Even think it's a pullet. Oh I hope I hope!!!

 

[Janet Lynn]

I ordered all of my supplies to build a large coop with six nesting boxes and run. I put it together all by myself.



After I finished this much my husband and myself moved it to where I now have it beside my house. Too add the run.



I used water proof paint on the coop and inside the nesting boxes and the roosting bars. I also put garden trim all the way around the run so critters will have a harder time trying to dig under.

I added solar security lights on the back to scare away critters at night

I hung one of those wasp catchers that use water inside the coop under the roof. Next step is to put my chickens in it when they are big enough.

 

[Sylvester017]

The neighbors one each side of me the horse stables and the Mennonite family have Guineas and chickens u name it they have it we live on two acres on a quiet road in the woods

We had 25 farm acres and still didn't have Guineas. The ducks, geese, chickens, horse, goats, and cows were noisy enough for us

.

 

[Sylvester017]

They sure will eat the eggs though if they can get to them.


I've heard a lot of people use ACV. We plan on making our own and using it for cleaning purposes as well as adding it to their water because it's good for their gut.

I would say the vote is still out about ACV being good for the chicken gut. Here's what chickenwaterers.com answered me when I asked them about adding ACV water to their Brite Tap nipple valve waterers. The following is quoted from Mark at chickenwaterers.com:


I did quite a bit of research on ACV and didn't find much compelling to recommend it. If you want to read the blog posting I did on this, you can find it at:

http://blog.chickenwaterer.com/2012/12/dont-use-apple-cider-vinegar-acv-in.html

The article is titled "Don't Use ACV" but what the article really concludes is "there's no real evidence that it works, so don't bother." By the way, yogurt is a probiotic because the lactobacilus bacteria it contains can survive in the gastrointestinal tract.( Lactobacilus doesn't need oxygen to survive). ACV contains Acetobacteria that people also think is a probiotic but this type of bacteria does need oxygen to live and so it can't survive in the gut. ACV is not a probiotic. The best time to give your chickens probiotics is when they are baby chicks. At that time, the normal flora in their guts has not developed yet and they would be more prone to get salmonella or coccidiosis. Commercially available probiotic solutions are sold for chick but you can also try giving your chicks some sauerkraut.

Putting some ice in your water jug is a nice touch. Chickens prefer cool water and it will increase their water consumption. Leghorns given cool water versus warm water laid about 10% more eggs because their overall water consumption rate was higher.

Kind regards,

-Mark

 

[Sylvester017]

what is adc and what is the real name for de? thanks

adc? or ACV? ACV is Apple Cider Vinegar and I don't use it. I asked the Brite Tap nipple valve waterer people if I should add ACV to the chicken's drinking water and they basically said it was useless as a probiotic because ACV needs oxygen to be effective and ACV gets no oxygen in the chicken gut. This has been an old folk remedy with no value behind it except as a disinfectant maybe.

de is Diatomaceous Earth and if used for chickens should only be in the white pure form and not the low-grade gray or yellow form. I don't use de for my chickens because of chicken respiratory issues and having to wear gloves, face mask, and goggles to safely use it plus my friend said it didn't help control bugs in her flock at all -- I especially don't use DE after reading the following research article: http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2012/05/diatomaceous-earth-de-benefitrisk.html

Everyone has to make up their own mind and do the research themselves rather than depend on word-of-mouth with no valid research/trials behind it other than the manufacturer's word for it and they are in it to make money is all. Wow - there'll be an angry mob after this post I'd bet -- but to each his own decision for his own flock. My philosophy is that if the jury is still out in controversy on the effectiveness of a product I don't use it until the final research/trials prove it one way or another.

 

[FarmerPhronc]

WOW! I wasn't really expecting a discussion about the advantages of ACV(apple cider vinegar) over DE. I was just asking about getting a used coop and what would be best to wash and disinfect it with, Guess I'll just wash it out with a hose and spray a little bleach mixed with water about to kill anything I don't my ladies catching.

 

[carajoden]

Hey. Does anyone out there have frizzle Cochin??? I think one of my Easter hatched might be one. 4 toes, fuzzy feet, out turned wing feathers. Even think it's a pullet. Oh I hope I hope!!!

I have a Frizzle and ordered more (eggs she hatched) from eBay. They are getting their wing feathers and four of them are turning up. I'm so excited. Frizzles are my favorite. . So fun to pet.