Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[Shadrach]

Thanks, that’s useful to know! I was pondering whether the covers would ever be closed, even partially.

Your coops sit directly on the ground, don’t they? (That’s what I’ve seen in your posted pics.) I truly can’t visualize ours tumbling around the run if they were already down on the ground. Just a bit concerned about them being blown off the platform.

Hi ChaosMom.
I'll post some pictures of the plastic coop I have and explain how it's fixed to the base I built for it when I get home this evening.

 

[RoyalChick]

Thanks for the welcome! We live on a very tiny urban lot, so it’s hard to say “free range” with a straight face, but we plan to let them out at least several hours a day while we’re present. We have a side yard that has converted itself to jungle, so I’ll point them in that direction so that they can do their chicken destruction.

The climate up here in the mountains was until very recently lovely, four-seasons temperate, rarely too cold and rarely too hot. But in the last 12 years or so, it’s gone from USDA zone 6B through 7A to 7B, an unprecedented change in such a short time. (This is a measure of average winter low temps; I don’t know how widely it’s used beyond the US.) Last summer had an unbroken stretch above 32°C, which was absolutely unheard of. I’m focusing on providing shade. We hit -14°C a few times this winter, which is not over.

And it’s only going to get weirder and more extreme, of course.

Wow. Thats a big change. In that time in NJ I moved one zone from 5b to 6a.

 

[Mother of Chaos]

I have a nephew in N Carolina, nr Durham & there the summers get to very hot & humid & the winters colder & snowier than UK. Also they can be on the path of hurricanes…

Whew, no kidding! NC has three regions: mountains (west), Piedmont (central), and Coastal Plain (east), and Durham is just barely Piedmont, very close to Coastal Plain. Raleigh-Durham can be brutal in the summer.

WNC used to be the summering area for wealthier people nearer the NC and SC coasts, escaping the heat, yellow fever, etc.

 

[Mother of Chaos]

Wow. Thats a big change. In that time in NJ I moved one zone from 5b to 6a.

It’s so frustrating as a gardener! Of course, it means our growing season is longer, but it has brought new insects and plant diseases northward. I’ve given up on growing heirloom tomatoes. I’ll hit the tailgate markets for them. Those kids break their backs raising organic produce, especially those who had their lands covered with toxic goo in the hurricane, so I’m happy to throw some money at them.

 

[Mother of Chaos]

maybe. The Solway's was inadequate for sure, and Shad made adjustments accordingly. I just hope that @ChaosMom isn't conflating Nestera with Solway; they are both made of recycled plastic, but there the similarities end.

Do you use the three plastic droppings trays that Nestera wants to sell me for $80? I’m tempted to just give even more money to Darth Bezos (Amazon) for a single dog pen liner for half the cost - if it’s worth it.

Having roost bars 8” above the floor is sorta hurting my head.

 

[Mother of Chaos]

Ooo! Found this in another thread!

This is from a couple of years ago.
View attachment 4048029

These are more recent.
View attachment 4048027View attachment 4048028

Is the second picture (third, I guess) showing a “day room”, roost and all, for hanging out in crappy weather, or an actual expansion of the nighttime roosting space?

 

[Perris]

The Lodge (four individual legs) wasn’t high enough to preserve usable space beneath

The legs aren't separate, they are part of the single flat sheet that makes up one side (no joins, so nowhere for mites to hide; think about that every time you contemplate adding something somewhere). What do you want to do with the space? Ordinary size large fowl can fit under it to shelter if necessary, though I imagine a brahma would struggle.

Last summer had an unbroken month+ stretch above 32°C, which was absolutely unheard of. I’m focusing on providing shade.

So I've found a Nestera in full sun stays surprisingly cool despite being black. But the nest boxes can get warm for a sitting hen, so I have either moved them to the shade of some trees in the height of summer or rigged up a shade sail over one if it's serving as broody coop in mid summer.

We hit -14°C a few times this winter, which is not over.

It does not get that cold here. You might want those vent covers on in mid winter. And plenty of shavings on the floor if you have floor roosters.

Do you use the three plastic droppings trays that Nestera wants to sell me for $80?

Yes and they are worth every penny. They make daily poo-picking a doddle; just slide the tray out to clean, minimal effort and bending. And none has broken despite being made of a different (and much thinner) sort of plastic than the rest of the coop. Again, they have no joints to offer homes to parasites that will find and colonize your coop if they can.

Having roost bars 8” above the floor is sorta hurting my head.

It's far better than high roosts. None of my birds has ever had bumblefoot or any other ailment that can be caused by heavy landing from a too-high roost.

 

[Mother of Chaos]

The legs aren't separate, they are part of the single flat sheet that makes up one side (no joins, so nowhere for mites to hide; think about that every time you contemplate adding something somewhere). What do you want to do with the space? Ordinary size large fowl can fit under it to shelter if necessary, though I imagine a brahma would struggle…

Wow, I wish I had been able to determine that from their website, which is pretty uninformative when it comes to the deets like this (and dimensions.) I suppose that ship has sailed, though, since it’s integral to a side. The built platform top will be a sheet (no joins) of plywood with sealant.

Possible purposes of underneath are food and water, dust bath, or general unenclosed real estate.

…So I've found a Nestera in full sun stays surprisingly cool despite being black. But the nest boxes can get warm for a sitting hen, so I have either moved them to the shade of some trees in the height of summer or rigged up a shade sail over one if it's serving as broody coop in mid summer.

It does not get that cold here. You might want those vent covers on in mid winter. And plenty of shavings on the floor if you have floor roosters…

Ahh, this is very useful. We’ll hang on to the vent covers! I thought I had the shade part figured out, but the locations of pop door/ nesting boxes/ clean-out access nixed that, so back to pondering.

…Yes and they are worth every penny. They make daily poo-picking a doddle; just slide the tray out to clean, minimal effort and bending. And none has broken despite being made of a different (and much thinner) sort of plastic than the rest of the coop. Again, they have no joints to offer homes to parasites that will find and colonize your coop if they can.

It's far better than high roosts. None of my birds has ever had bumblefoot or any other ailment that can be caused by heavy landing from a too-high roost.

Ok, you’ve convinced me on the poop trays! Do you set them over shavings? (Would there even be a point?) Do you fill the trays themselves with shavings? It seems like they would hop down into their droppings each morning, shavings or no, before I could clean.

As for the joists roosts, this is their habitat, not mine, so I’m happy if they’re happy. Overall, they’ll be ~meter above ground level. I’m just used to seeing pics of high-up birds peering down at their human staff.

Thanks again! You’re the only poster I’ve found so far who admits to using (and liking) a Nestera, but I’ll attempt to cut down a bit on picking your brains into dust.

 

[Perris]

Do you set them over shavings? (Would there even be a point?) Do you fill the trays themselves with shavings? It seems like they would hop down into their droppings each morning, shavings or no, before I could clean.

They sit on the plastic base sheet. Sometimes I have shavings in them and sometimes not. Some do indeed hop down before I open up but as I open at dawn, not many and not often, and you'll find that chicken skin (and human, come to think of it) is normal droppings proof; typically it's only the smelly caecal poops that stick to chicken feet and human fingers.

I’m just used to seeing pics of high-up birds peering down at their human staff.

I don't know where the idea that chickens want to roost high comes from. They are jungle fowl in origin, living on the floor of the jungle, nesting on the floor of the jungle, not in its canopy. I don't know whether they roost on or near the floor too; the only study I've seen looked at what they do in oil palm plantations, which are monocultures not jungle.

I’ll attempt to cut down a bit on picking your brains into dust.

I'm happy to help; fire away!

 

[Perris]

the crocus herald the start of spring tomorrow!

what a difference some sunshine makes