Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[BDutch]

you misunderstand the type of coop in question; this style is designed just for sleeping and laying in. My birds use these coops - and in preference to a wooden one which sits empty unless I use it as a hospital coop.

Sorry if I wasn't clear Perris. I did say the coop was designed for England. If you use it in combination with a good run or free range whole year round its probably fine.

I was refering to people in the US. I think any small coop is not fit for winters with lots of snow and temps bellow freezing for a long period.
2 years ago we had about 10 days with freezing cold and snow in the Netherlands. The chickens didn’t want to go outside. And I really felt sorry for them staying in a coop/with covered run size of about 2,5m2. I now this is a real problen in many area’s in the US and if course in Canada too.

If we had such cold for a month every winter I would probably choose to buy a shed or build a bigger coop for my chickens.

 

[Shadrach]

That's really interesting because I've seen many senior members of BYC (some of whom have been very helpful to me in other ways) post that any change to a chickens diet can trigger stress and needs to be very gradual. So I'm glad to know that your chickens do well with seasonal variations.

It is true, sudden changes in diet can cause problems.
BUT, and it's a very big but, one needs to beat in mind under what circumstances the chickens who are having a diet change live in.
If for example the chickens have never (or rarely) been out of the coop and run and have been eating commercial feed all their lives then a change in diet may well cause problems.
If the chickens have been out ranging and have had household leftovers as well as what they've foraged then they will be used to a varied diet and be fine with most changes.
As with a lot of BYC advice, context and experience is very important.

 

[Shadrach]

A reaction before reading comments in this thread.
People nowadays believe what they want yo believe. Scientific proof is bent more often as it used to, with our connection to every group of people we like to agree on. Influencers and telegram groups have taken over the (slightly more) thrust worthy news channels in developed countries with freedom of speech.

Imo. The article is no more than another wrinkle in the water as we say in NL.

More opinion: Eating eggs probably gives enough sulfur boosts. Only if you skip all animal product in your diet, you / chickens need some supplements. The mills/feed factories, simply put al necessary supplements in the chick and laying feed.

And we or our chickens certainly don’t need meat from abused and poisoned animals coming from factory farming. Neither from fish in basins that are poured over with anti biotics.

For me there is no dilemma: stop eating products from large scale factory farming if possible. Because its not only unhealthy, you also have a part in animal abuse and the increase of the worlds greenhouse gasses. If you eat balanced vegetarian, or a small piece of the good meat 2 or 3 times a week you really don’t need any supplements to stay healthy. In general people eat too little vegetables and too much meat.

I have another not nice to now news : restaurants in NL often sell beefsteak from Brazil nowadays. Its free from regulations (tearing down even more rainforests) and way cheaper than the Dutch beef in the supermarkets.

I don't think it's going to pan out like that. They'll synthezise it and /or grow lab cultures. I don't think cattle of fish are going to have much of a role in it.

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-01910-4

 

[Shadrach]

I think these small coops are only okay for broodies in spring in many parts of the US. Hot summers, and very cold winters with long periods with snow.

A small coop without the possibility to go out during the day is not something you want for your chickens.
These coops are designed for the UK.

I see you've had a bit to say on this topic further in the thread.
I'll start with this.

If the chickens live in an environment that is so hostile they can't leave the coop then they shouldn't be kept in that enviroment.
Yes I know people do. I wouldn't.

 

[Shadrach]

I remember reading about the president of brazil outright saying they had to go.

Likewise. Disgusting.

 

[Shadrach]

Most people build one coop in their lives and learn to live with it's faults.
I've built a lot of coops; some small for broodies, others large enough for 50 hens.

There are as Perris points out lots of different types of plastic. One can't judge the worth of a recycled plastic coop on the fact that there are piles of unrecycled plastic left over from the days when thermoset plastics were in common usage.

The idea that modern plastics cannot be repaired is frankly nonsense. In this thread I've shown pictures of working with plastic with really basic tools. Plastics, depedning on their nature and there are many have a couple of advantages over wood when it comes to build and repair. If the plastic is thick enough a thread can be tapped into it and unlike a wood screw the action of cutting the plastic and making the thread doesn't leave a moisture opportunity where the wood rots around the screw.
There are some excellent adhesives for plastics these days so it can be glued giving a similar strength to a wood glue joint.
The one thing that rarely gets metioned is one can rivit plastic and done right that will give an almost unbreakable join.

Every coop I've made or seen can be given a thermal rating. The plastic coop I have currently works well from minus 3C to 34C. If it has a problem it is the rate at which it gains heat and loses heat. -3C to 34C is hardly a rating that restricts the coop to useage in the UK. I would be more than happy to have one of these plastic coops in Catalonia where days above 40C were not uncommon.
The coops I built in Catalonia had terrible problems with the humidity as most woods do. Not a problem with a plastic coop.

Size is the only current drawback as far as I can see for those who insist that a hen needs four square feet in the coop. Why people have got stuck on this standard leaves me banging my head in frustration. Look at the roosting pictures I've posted in the thread. That is what four square feet in the coop per hen looks like when there are only five chickens and Henry counts for two. Most of the roosting space is wasted.
Again it's ignorance gone viral. If the chickens get out during the day they don't need all that space in the coop. What they need is space and shelter in the run and for many the run is almost an afterthought.

The Nestera coops are better made and better designed than the plastic coop I have and I've been delighted with mine and so have the chickens as anyone who has read this thread is able to see for themselves.

 

[BDutch]

there are many different types of plastic - as there are different types of wood. Sweeping generalizations serve no-one well. I did my research on coops before I bought my first chicken, and I concluded that these Nestera coops are the best available in the UK. I have not had any reason to doubt it since acquiring my first - which was already 2nd hand - in 2017, and have bought two more since.

How are the mites in your wooden ones? What preservative do you use on it? Have the rats eaten it? I could go on.

I had a few red mites + mite eggs in it in the second year I had chickens. The mites and eggs were all sitting under the bark of a roost/branch and in a large crack in another roost. Threw away the branche, cleaned everything. I used diatomaceous earth. Dusted the girls with it once (very carefully). And used it as a paint on the roost and in the inside of the coop. Hoping that the eggs I missed would die from the DE.
I reapply the DE 2 x a year.
Never had a infestation after this one, that was just starting to develop.

Ad a preservative I use a natural, black fungi paint. It needs linseed oil applying it and needs more oil every two years.
This flimsy coop I bought is 11 years old now (used it as a rabbit hunch first). It started to leak etc.. Made a new larger roof on top snd needed to make several other improvements. Also made an extension to it. This coop is not good quality and I am surprised it hasn’t fallen to pieces. The roof really is a life savvier.

PS, I wil always prefer wood over any kind of plastic because of the environmental pollution and in general plastic I find plastics ugly. But I use it too, because plastic is often very convenient.
Recycling it, is a good thing. I didn’t say the recycled plastic coops are a no go. It’s just not my kind of thing.

There is also lots of greenwashing going on in the so cold ‘ocean plastic’ products. But wood isn’t always good/what they say it is too (unlabelled/false labelled tropical rainforest).

PS2
I have no problems with damp in my coop.

 

[Shadrach]

Further....
All that wood people are using, it comes from trees. Reusing plastic rather than cutting down more and more trees which end up rotting or burning at the end of their fuctional life seems infinitely preferable and should seem so to anyone who has an environmental concerns.

 

[Shadrach]

I think your eco wood is the same sort of thing I have been using. I love it. And keep finding new uses for the bits of scrap!

I don't know about the eco wood but the recycled plastic coop i have can be recycled.

 

[MaryJanet]

I don't know about the eco wood but the recycled plastic the coop i have can be recycled.

From the little I've seen eco wood can be painted, drilled, sawn etc, it behaves just like timber while using up waste plastic and leaving trees alone.