Red Heaven Chicken Spa & Resort

[MT45]

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

It's been a little over 6 months.

What breeds of chickens did you get? How are they doing?

Did they start laying before Christmas or are you prepping for eggs soon?

Your coop & design are BEAUTIFUL! In operation, has it worked for you? Have you made other changes?

How is your family liking "chickendom"?

Fair enough! So far so very good ... we sure have learned a lot. I'll attached pics to explain but here goes:

First picture is our first egg - cost around $12 grand
Added 8 more chickens (lost a few so net 25 now)
Added an "upper" roost bar tight against back wall due to added chickens
Added poop trays to areas under the roost bars - BEST thing I ever did! I can clean the coop in under 4 minutes and now the bedding lasts forever. I just use a wide putty knife and scrape droppings into a small handheld bucket.
I added a dump/holding bucket near the deck, we take the small pail of daily droppings out to the dump and pour them in daily. Once per month or so, I load the big dump/holding bucket (garbage can with wheels) into the bucket of my tractor and move it to my compost area.
Decided to add wood chips as our base out in the run - been a good thing.
Automatic rain barrel fed waterers working great - removed for the winter and have added the standard "hot plate" heater under a 3 gallon galvanized waterer
Added an egg basket shelf so we have somewhere to collect each day
Added a spring loaded "catch" to the nesting box lid
Added raccoon proof latches on each end of the nesting box lid
When I added the new chickens I purchased an Amazon wire cage, then custom built a small coop to attach to it. We used this for 6 weeks as a "cage within the run" to acclimate the new chickens to the existing flock.
Egg production has been good so far - even thru winter!

 

[2ndTink]

Looking good and gorgeous eggs!

 

[MT45]

Looking good and gorgeous eggs!

Thanks! We really enjoy caring for chickens and love the eggs too. I forgot to add a few more things ...

We feed organic and use Pasture Perfect Layer blend
I added an outdoor tempurature and speed controlled ceiling fan
I added a large horse water trough (rubber) and use that as the "bath" - mixed with ashes, sand, organic soil and peat moss. I find it an oxymoron that whenever I get my chickens "bath" prepared, I am the dirtiest I will be for that day ...
I had to "close off" the rafters inside the coop - there were 2 cross beams going across the top at just above my head height (just over 6' from the floor) and quite a few of the chickens were flying up there and roosting. They sounded like bowling balls dropping down each morning and after I found one dead (knocked off at night?) I decided it would be safer for all involved if they roosted at about half that height! The first night they flew up and into the panels I installed but the following evenings they understood that the old perch area was not off limits.
Not sure if I shared this earlier or not .. I di also add a 10,000 volt hot wire all around the perimiter of the run after I saw a coyote standing right next to the door the first morning after the chickens arrived. I sent him a message with my rifle and ... knock on wood, we've not had any predators attempt entry. I did see a possum on my cameras come up to the hot wire and touch it. He turned into the fastest possum I have ever seen in my life! The wire is mounted at about 8 inches off the ground.
All for now!