Sdwd

[kathyinmo]

I'm like you, Scott ..... Plan is to breed and raise chicks. I just need grow out pens more than anything. I really do not want the chicks around the adults, as it is best to keep them away for 6 months. I am planning on a few hundred Barred Rocks, New Hampshires, and Delawares. I am thinking of a new construction just for grow outs. One big build with several pens. I have some trusses, I think 13 or 14 of them. They are for a 10 ft wide building. I think I could put them every 2 feet (is that right?)... We have 2 acres of unused land we can build on. It would work, I think. Still thinkin' on it....

 

[Junior]

just got through reading the Delaware club newsletter.

good job !

 

[Bassleg]

Quote:
It is best to put your trusses on 2 foot centers that way your sheeting will line up.

 

[kathyinmo]

Quote:
It is best to put your trusses on 2 foot centers that way your sheeting will line up.

Why don't you come here and show me how to do that!

I saw that beautiful barn you have!

 

[Serrin]

Quote:
On behalf of the DPC, Thank You Junior! We sure hope you like the website equally as well, too! And remember, any time you have any suggestions, comments, questions or even an encouraging word for us, feel free to contact us. Email addresses are all over the place on the website. We'd love to hear from you!

 

[Serrin]

Oooh! I just love daydreaming about spring/summer chicken projects! We're gonna have so much fun with that subject once the house is done.

Please Great Spirit! Let us be done building the house before the end of summer this year!

Now then, if money and time were no issue, you just know I'd be having me the Taj Mahal of chicken coops! But, since I am a mere mortal of common means, I'll have to do what I can, with what I have, where I'm at, as Teddy Roosevelt would say!

We still have a great many of those clear polycarbonate panels that I mentioned last fall. They still need to be stripped off of the vinyl tape stuff on them, but that's OK. They make awesome building materials. Especially as the roof of a covered run. So far this winter, they've held up impressively well!

And we'll probably have a good deal of left over OSB sheets from building the house. At least I rather hope we do. And if we do, me and the chickens have first dibs on all of it!

My long term hopes and plans are just this. I'd like to build two more small coops like the converted dog house that I have Brutus, Red and CB in now. It's a 4x4 footprint, which sounds small, but you'd be surprised at just how much room is in there! Three big boys don't even put a dent in the available space! And if I built the bump out kind of nest boxes on each of them, there will be even more room. Certainly more than enough for one boy and five girls of my choosing!

So, I need two of those to put all of my boys happily ensconced in their own coop with their own flock of girls.

Next, I'd really love to build another full sized coop, maybe just slightly smaller than the big coop is now, which is 10Wx10Lx8+H I'd like to build something that has a bit lower ceiling height, as in the winter, I know a lot of heat gets wasted up there where nobody can roost.

Besides, the chooks aren't tall, and neither am I!! Who needs eight foot ceilings in a chicken coop for crying out loud!

I'd really love to have hot and cold running water in the new coop, with a deep sink and an area sectioned off for storage. So, maybe actually the same footprint as the existing coop, just with a shorter wall height. And in a perfect world, I could convince Denny that it should actually be 16x16 so that I could have that extra storage room within the coop itself.

In addition to being well insulated, I'd also like to have a better heat source than the 250 watt heat lamp bulb currently in the big coop. Believe me, it's not much help when we're dipping down in the minus 20 range overnight. Not to mention that in a coop of that size, it would probably be completely ineffectual.

I'd also like to figure out a safe heat source for the boys coop too, and then incorporate that idea into the two new small coops. I'm sure I could come up with some kind of shielded bulb set up so that it can go up near the roof, without burning the darn thing down, or have to worry about one of the boys singeing their combs on it!

*Sigh* So many things I'd love to do for my babies. It always gives me such deep satisfaction when I see them all nestled down for the night in a coop that I know is predator proof, and that is as comfortable and clean as I can make it for them. I really do think they appreciate my efforts....or at least I like to think they do!

 

[kathyinmo]

GEZZZZ, it is just toooooooo dang cold to go outside today. We are at ZERO. Forget it, I am not opening the coops. This will be a first. Yesterday they all just stayed inside, even though the pop doors were open. They all have heated water dishes and I filled them before roost time. SOOOO, I am not going out there til later. Oh shoot .... I will have to go out I guess. The Barred Rocks did come out all day, so I suppose I had better go open their door. Oh yeah, and the Silkies.... they came out, too! Weird, huh? It is 7 AM now. I will wait til 8, I think.

I gathered eggs 4 times yesterday, to keep them from freezing. The 2 Easter Eggers (Maggie's sisters) are the smartest ones of all, I think. The sit in a nest to keep warm. I booted them both out at roost time. They didn't growl at me, so I don't think they are broody.

WOW, you all should see the Delaware Club logo. OMG, it is beatiful! If you are a member you would have received the newsletter in your email, and you will see it. I swear, of all the breed clubs, I think ours has the BEST logo ever! BYCer aveca did it for us. What a talented artist. The finished product is stunning!

Well, you all keep warm today!

 

[Yard full o' rocks]

Kathy...its 10F here. VERY unusual for Ga weather. The snow we got Sunday night is STILL here....uuuggghhh

 

[trilyn]

Quote:
I would my dear, happily provide photographic proof, except for one little tiny detail......the pump house....is..... http://bestsmileys.com/blushing/5.gif ..... A MESS!! I'm terribly embarrassed to say. Nobody, will ever get to see the inside of this place! Ever! No exceptions! So don't even say another word about it! Not. One. More. Word!

You'll just have to take my word for it girl. The two of them are having a ball together!

Lisette is following Chief around like a kid sister or something. Chief just takes it all in his stride. I'm so proud of that boy! A week and a half without the companionship of his girls and he hasn't tried even one single silly stunt with her! He's such a gentleman, and a very gentle man, if you know what I mean! I think I'll be able to trust him with even newly hatched chicks come spring. He's going to make an awesome daddy some day!

I just know it!

You crack me up! That sounds like what I always used to say about our spare bedroom before we redid it. NO ONE was to enter! The door was always shut and if I could've locked it, I would've!

Amazing how much crap you can cram into a 12x15 space. Ask Tim, our living room is on the large side and when he came over to pick up his chicks, we were in the middle of redoing the bedroom. All of the junk was in the living room and I believe he stubbed his toe on the crap that he had to wade through just to see the progress we were making in that room. Needless to say, most of the "stuff I just couldn't live without

", went straight to the dump! Amazing that I can't even remember what I had, now! LOL Now, the room has become my haven, calm and peaceful-I just love it and the dogs are not allowed to enter! They've got the rest of the house to lounge in! Mama needs peace!

 

[Bassleg]

Quote:
It is best to put your trusses on 2 foot centers that way your sheeting will line up.

Why don't you come here and show me how to do that!

I saw that beautiful barn you have!

Our Barn is 99% done all we have to do is put on the trim.