Share your favorite customization

[Turkeyrun]

I am working my way through setting up a new chicken coop and yard. What is the most helpful or most interesting customization you have made for your chicken's happy home?

Is there something you would never do again?


Looking forward to many more good ideas for BYC.

Thank you

 

[Pineywoods Peepers]

Probably my favorite thing about my coop is having water and electricity run to the coop and a sink in which I can clean feeders and waterers. I can't imagine having to lug water out to the coop or having to take stuff back to the house, clean it, then take it back to the coop. What can I say. I'm lazy. And on top of that I'm not very graceful, so if we had hoses stretched across the yard eventually I'd end up tripping over it. hehe

And even though our girls aren't laying yet, I really like the egg door my honey put in the coop. I can check for eggs without having to go into the chicken's side of the coop.

I'm beginning to wish I'd installed a central vac too.

I had no idea chickens were so dusty! If I had a central vac I would rig it so it would dump right into the compost pile... It's a lazy woman's dream come true!

Ultimately I think whatever you can think of that can make your chicken keeping life easier will probably be your favorite innovation. I read on the boards earlier today (and I can't remember who the poster was) about someone who put her coop right outside her bedroom window. In the mornings she reaches out the window and unlocks the coop to let the chickens loose. I love it!

 

[elmo]

Plastic boot trays repurposed as droppings collectors under the roosts! I can easily lift the trays out to dump the contents in the composter each morning. And sand substrate on the coop floor. I can pick out the stray droppings with a reptile litter scoop taped to a long handle. My morning coop cleaning takes all of five minutes.

Which reminds me....I'm late with chores this morning.

 

[3goodeggs]

oh! great idea! the dollar tree has them...dare I say it? Cheep!

 

[The Chicken People]

Okay so I dont know what plastic boot trays are...anyone got a picture?

 

[chicmom]

OK, we really learned the hard way...My husband built the first coop, and it was so awful, it is now torn down and has been replaced. Two problems, one was I had to lift the roof to collect the eggs. Hubby doesn't always have "open ears" to what I'm saying, and that hinged roof, first of all, leaked at the hinge area, and secondly was heavier than heck! I injured both of my shoulders because I had to lift it, hold it while I hooked the chain that kept it open, and collect the eggs. I spent the whole summer healing.

Now, I bought a small animal barn from Craigslist, (used) 8x12 with two rooms, for only $650.00. What a deal that was! My chickens are in paradise!

Anyhow, my idea to share is simply using sand in the run. I've tried every type of materials for the run floor imaginable, and the sand is the very best. Rake it up and it's clean, no smell, if it gets wet, no big deal! I'd advise everybody to use sand in the run.

Not a very original idea......but, compared to straw, sawdust, and just plain mud, it is awesome!

 

[3goodeggs]

I do not have a picture, but imagine a large black plastic cookie sheet with a rim. You set your muddy boots on them instead of tracking it all into the house. It is a great idea, in theory, but I never got the gentlemen trained to use them here. But they are great to put jugs of paint or bleach on too.

 

[The Chicken People]

Thanks I will go look today! We didnt install poop boards under the roosts so I gotta do something!

 

[elmo]

Quote:
Here's an example of one:


http://www.containerstore.com/shop?productId=10007173&N=&Ntt=boot+tray

I have pictures on my BYC pages of the boot trays in use.

 

[ADozenGirlz]

My favorite and most useful additions to the coop were the automatic pop door opener (that's on a timer) and the droppings board: