Should i put a light in the coop for during the day?

[DickMidnight]

What's the reasoning behind putting the food and water outside?

a few reasons.

1. food and water outside encourages them to be out in the fresh air and sunshine more often.

2. less mess inside the coop. they’re messy eaters, so keeping the food outside keeps the mess outside, which keeps any potential pests outside.

3. moisture. spilled water creates moisture in the coop which you don’t want, especially because you have minimal ventilation.

4. the more time they spend inside, the more they’ll poop inside. poop creates heavy, wet, ammonia laden air that needs to escape. you’re already lacking ventilation, so inviting them to poop inside even more than they do at night isn’t a great idea.

 

[Spetznaaz]

Those prefabs are a joke, shouldn't be used as any kind of standard to compare against at all. We call them dollhouses on BYC, because that's what they are good for - dolls, not chickens Or maybe as a brooder, or isolation/quarantine unit etc. but not as an actual coop.

The problem with small coops like yours (yes it's small, maybe not as tiny as some prefabs but still small) is that it's hard to ventilate them well, because they don't have enough height. 4x4 on the floor could be fine, if the whole structure was taller, so you'd have enough vertical space for a roost plus ventilation that's high enough not to blow at the chickens directly. In your case, you could probably get away with less height if you stick with silkies, because they don't roost high, if they roost at all. Their fluffy feathers are cute, but defective by their very nature, and can't properly do the job feathers evolved to do - give birds flight (or help with jumping, as with flightless birds), and insulate them from hot/cold/moisture. Humans like to breed defective animals if they look cute, and propagate their flaws (just look at some dog breeds, that can't breathe or walk properly...) So anyway, that's why silkies don't like to roost high, or at all - they can't jump the way normal chickens can. And they can't keep warm the way normal chickens can, so they huddle for warmth (normal chickens don't huddle for warmth once fully grown - their feathers insulate them and don't let heat escape, so they can't heat up their buddy with their own body heat). If the roost is low enough and wide enough, they might take to it. It's better to help them out with the setup, and maybe put them up on the roost for a while, to teach them to roost. Some can be okay sleeping on the floor, but they run the risk of sleeping in their own poop and messing themselves up, which can create other problems.

Anyway, back to ventilation. Being "airy" doesn't count as ventilation. The space is still pretty small, and, regardless, you need an active exchange of air with the outside, to get fresh air in. In addition to moisture, the air in the coop is also laden with ammonia vapor from their poop. That's harmful to their respiratory systems. Theirs are more sensitive than ours, so what might seem and smell fine to you, may not be so fine to them. If they sleep on the floor or very low, that's even worse, because they are closer to the poop (if not rolling in it). You need the moist, poopy air to be able to vent out and be replaced by clean, fresh, dry air from outside. So the coop definitely needs a vent. I'd start with the existing window, dual-purposing it to act as a vent at the top and for light at the bottom (covered with something transparent), and not add any large fowl breeds to the silkies. The larger, normally-feathered birds will want to roost high and will be all over that thick bar, pooping into the feed and water. And the more birds you add, the more ventilation you'll need, because they'll poop and breathe more...

Water inside vs. outside is a personal preference as well as dependent on your setup and climate. And whether you have rodents nearby. I don't like to have food outside, day or night, because I don't want to attract rats, squirrels, wild birds and everybody else who'd like a free meal. They are usually afraid to go into an enclosed space, so even with the pop door open during the day, they tend to not venture inside. And I like to keep my water outside, to avoid any spills in the coop or chickens stepping in it or messing it up with pine shavings. They have an auto door that opens at sunrise, and can go out and drink all they want. They don't eat or drink at night, so they don't need either in the coop, I only keep my feeder in the coop to keep it safe from other animals. The only time I've brought water inside the coop is during very heavy snowstorms, when the run cover can't keep all the snow out and I can't keep up with shoveling, and the chickens don't want to go out. But that's really only like once or twice per year, and not something you need to worry about over there

Yeah we ordered one for £280, it got here and was damaged. Absolutely tiny, made from really thin cheap wood, an absolute joke. Ended up getting the current one for £150 delivered although i must have spent a good £200 on material to sand it down, clean it and preserve it.

I get what you're saying regarding the height and ensuring the ventilation doesn't blow directly on them. That could be a challenging one to solve. I might see if there are any vent designs that minimise draft.

That's interesting what you say about Silkies feather not keeping them warm, i was always under the impression Silkies were quite tolerant to cold weather due to their feathers. Yeah i know they are pretty unnatural, us humans sure do like breeding defective traits we consider "cute" lol i do love em' though! And yeah i think they may have been sleeping in their own poop as one of them has loads stuck to her below her vent. I need to wash them again but that was a horrible experience. They seemed to enjoy the blow drying though lol

Thank you for the explanation about ventilation, certainly something i need to fix soon. I am cleaning the poo out every day and there usually isn't much but definitely needs to be done.

Yeah i've noticed they keep spilling their water which is making the coop damp, i think it's probably best if i put it outside.

a few reasons.

1. food and water outside encourages them to be out in the fresh air and sunshine more often.

2. less mess inside the coop. they’re messy eaters, so keeping the food outside keeps the mess outside, which keeps any potential pests outside.

3. moisture. spilled water creates moisture in the coop which you don’t want, especially because you have minimal ventilation.

4. the more time they spend inside, the more they’ll poop inside. poop creates heavy, wet, ammonia laden air that needs to escape. you’re already lacking ventilation, so inviting them to poop inside even more than they do at night isn’t a great idea.

Our girls don't need encouragement to go outside lol they run out as soon as their door opens and only go in for food or water. Before i had the shelter they would just sit in the rain and get soaked.

I haven't noticed much food on the coop floor but they certainly do spill their water. They don't seem to get much poop in the coop at all to be honest, probably like 4 or 5 i have to clean up each morning. I think i'll put just the water outside for now and see how it goes.

Thank you for the advice everyone

 

[3KillerBs]

Some pics of the coop and run. Still need to put wood chips down in the run as it's just pure mud at the moment. The tarp over the run is a temporary roof until i can afford to build a proper one. Please forgive the state of the garden, i've been doing lot's of building lol

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View through the window:

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The first thing is to flip your window cover to put the hinges on top. That way it serves as it's own awning to keep the weather out.

Here's an article showing how to make a sturdy, safe, adjustable prop for such a window: https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/window-support-for-top-hinged-windows.74810/

And here is my article on coop ventilation: https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/repecka-illustrates-coop-ventilation.77659/

The usual guideline is to have 1 square foot of ventilation per adult, standard-sized hen.