- Thread starter
- #11
MightyThor
Chirping
- Aug 15, 2016
- 19
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So Thor, I hate to break this to you, but that coop is never going to work for your birds. Nothing you do can fix it, it's just not going to ever be appropriate housing
Now, the good news is, I'm heading to Redmond to see my momma next week. I'll happily swing by where ever you're located and take it off you hands. So it doesn't stress you out, you understand. Just being a good chicken neighbor, of course!
Okay seriously, I don't think you have much to do. Secure wire, etc like you've mentioned. I never disinfect. They're livestock, they happily eat their own poop, I just don't see the reason unless there were sick birds there recently.
Brooding littles out there should be a piece of cake. For the floor of the coop, I'd use pine shavings. It's my go-to bedding for pretty much everything.
For the run, you might research deep litter or deep bedding. You don't have so much of a mud issue as I do on the wet side, but they'll devastate the ground in no time. Deep litter will give them something to scratch around in and keep the soil healthier. There are tons of threads about that here.
do all those windows open, for good ventilation? You may need a bit more, especially if there's not shade there.
dont' bother putting anything in the net boxes for now. In fact, I'd block them off for the time being. Pullets like to sleep in them, and where they sleep is a powerful habit to break. The problem with sleeping in the nest box is, they poop A LOT while they sleep. If they get used to sleeping in the nest, they'll poop a ton there. And when they start laying, you'll have poopy eggs. Easier just to start them sleeping on the roosts, then open the boxes up with they approach point of lay, say after 4 months.
I don't use ladders or anything for my roosts. My chicks manage to flutter up to the roosts, about 4 feet high. Even my little silkies make it to the 3 foot high roosts.
As they grow, put stuff in the run to make it more interesting and increase the space. As it it, all that height is basically wasted space. Get some branches or whatever and run them across for additional roosts. I put in sections of log or branches, things like that. Move them around every so often to give access to the bugs underneath, and just to mentally stir up the flock a little. Give them something to talk about, you know?
Are you also keeping horses? If so, once they're older, toss some manure in the run and watch the fun. They'll have a heyday scratching around, and it's free!
Hahaha! Our chicks are from the Big R (or whatever it is called now) in Redmond. I wasn't planning on getting chickens until the spring, after we had time to clean up the property and get it ready for animals, but the husband talked me into an impulse buy last weekend. I normally research the heck out of any project before starting, so I'm kind of out of my comfort zone by winging it (no pun intended) with the chickens! Good news is that all are happy and healthy after a week, so I must be doing something right.
Thanks for the tips! The windows give pretty good ventilation, and there is a beautiful juniper providing lots of shade to the coop and the runs. The large volcanic rock wall also blocks the hot late afternoon sun, but that will be moved once we can line up the right equipment since the property line has shifted since the wall was built (and it's blocking about a 1/2 acre that we want to use).
No horses, though I like the idea!
