Separating your injured birds

[GooderSan]

As often as I seem to have sick/injured birds (couple of times a year), I am thinking of building a small separated coop/run. I range my flock with my goats in a 2-3 acre pasture, so whatever I build *MUST* be sturdy enough to withstand goats. Has anyone built something like this? I have nearly unlimited access to free wood pallets. My main coop is 6'x4'x4', elevated 2' off the ground with a 1"x1" welded wire floor and 3 nesting boxes. Should I build a miniature one like it? Build onto the current one? Or would a solid floor with sand/straw be better for sick birds? Does an injured/sick chicken need a nesting box? How many square feet of run would one or two chickens need? Should I cover the run to keep them dry when its raining? I have a yard separate from the pasture, should I put it in there to keep as much distance between the flock and sick chicken? I have answered many of these questions in my head, but sometimes my ideas don't work out when transferred from my head to the construction phase. Any input here would be nice. I have ideas forming, just want to bounce some ideas around. Whatever I decide it will have to be on the cheap (pallets help a lot with that). Roofing is a tough nut to crack, it seems i never can find something cheap for that. Right now I have an injured duck on our porch in a 36"x36" rabbit cage lined with straw which is FAR from ideal. I feel like it is stressing her, which is very counter-productive.

To sum up, how do you separate your sick/injured birds?

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I like having multiple coops. You can build one like it or one with small units in it.
A solid floor would be better for an injured bird if the injury is to the foot.
They will need a nest box if they are actively laying. Even sick birds sometimes lay. Often the stress of injury will prevent ovulation.
A covered run is preferable for a sick bird.
Build it as far away from the existing coop as possible. Pathogens can travel quite far by air.

Keep looking on craigslist for free or cheap building materials. I found someone dismantling a barn and got used galvanized corrugated roofing that I've used to cover runs and to build roofs for coops.

 

[mirandaleecon]

I like having multiple coops. You can build one like it or one with small units in it.
A solid floor would be better for an injured bird if the injury is to the foot.
They will need a nest box if they are actively laying. Even sick birds sometimes lay. Often the stress of injury will prevent ovulation.
A covered run is preferable for a sick bird.
Build it as far away from the existing coop as possible. Pathogens can travel quite far by air.

Keep looking on craigslist for free or cheap building materials. I found someone dismantling a barn and got used galvanized corrugated roofing that I've used to cover runs and to build roofs for coops.

Ditto!

We are in the process of building a coop out of pallets and scrap plywood. It has been surprisingly simply, and the only thing we really have paid for is nails, and we bought roofing paper and shingles for $7 at a garage sale. We got a ton of scrap wood and OSB board from a housing construction site. If you can find a place like that, or anywhere else that has roll off dumpsters, they throw away tons of usable stuff. You may feel goofy poking around in a dumpster, but at the construction sites it's all "clean" trash. Just make sure you ask before digging around or taking anything. Most are more than willing to let you take what you want because they have to pay per pound to throw it away...

 

[GooderSan]

Got a former dog house free from a neighbor. Needs a floor built onto it, nesting boxes, doors, windows and a run, but it definitely covers most of the construction issues. Will have to pick up some pallets to build a floor. I have never had a solid floor coop, always used 1"x1" welded wire for easy cleaning. What does everyone prefer as a floor covering medium? I have seen straw, wood chips, sand...

As for proximity, best I can do is get it around 50' away. After that it becomes a burden to get to out in the pasture (steep hill).

 

[mirandaleecon]

Got a former dog house free from a neighbor. Needs a floor built onto it, nesting boxes, doors, windows and a run, but it definitely covers most of the construction issues. Will have to pick up some pallets to build a floor. I have never had a solid floor coop, always used 1"x1" welded wire for easy cleaning. What does everyone prefer as a floor covering medium? I have seen straw, wood chips, sand...

As for proximity, best I can do is get it around 50' away. After that it becomes a burden to get to out in the pasture (steep hill).

I have been using weeds and grass clippings in my old coop. They are free and provide a soft landing when they are jumping off the perches. In my new coop, I did not install a floor, just put some 2x4 welded wire down so nothing can dig in. I bought a wood chipper and I'm slowly filling the floor of the coop with that. I'll probably throw some dirt in and whatever organic matter I can find to get a deep litter system going. I feel like that is the cheapest, easiest to maintain, and healthiest of any of the options. If for some reason I couldn't use deep litter, I think my next choice would be sand and use a kitty litter scooper to clean it out when it needed it.

I think 50' should be sufficient. Just keep in mind that if you have a contagious bird segregated, you should change clothes/shoes and wash hands before going to the next coop.