Nice set up Sylvester017. I have a huge 12X20 building that used to house my horse trailer. Someday it will be remodeled for my silkies. Its such a nice location being under huge oak trees with an adjacent 2 acre pasture that will be fenced for them. And covered (we have lots of hawks). I have 2.5 years till retirement and then I'm going to hatch some of my own eggs. I am fanatic about them having plenty of room first tho. Love your nest boxes. I love the round holes for the nests too. They are so cute. Mine also love curtains on the fronts of the nest boxes. I think they really believe I will never find their eggs if they squeeze thru those curtains lol. Going to add some PDZ and stir my shavings more, especially where they pile to sleep. I think thats where the smell is concentrated. Its not bad I just dont want any smell except shavingsHello DDNONIN2016 - I don't presume to give anyone advice because to each his own. But I can share my experience about housing our own Silkies and LF hens (4 girls total). I have a 4x6' coop 4' tall (which we elevated on blocks a few inches so we can stand inside a bit without breaking our backs while cleaning - LOL. The coop was custom built and on display at a local feed store. I was drawn to it because it had 3 round-holed nestboxes (most small coops only provide 2) plus I had read that chickens prefer round-holed nestboxes for privacy better than open square entrances. Also I liked the open wire around 3 sides of the coop for ventilation. Also liked the ramp leading up to the 6" wide platform against a 4' side with 3 built-in round holed nestboxes elevated 18" from the open floor. There's a huge drop-down egg collection door to access from outside. The door is flush with the wall of the coop and not one of those rows of nestboxes that stick out from the coop w/ the slanted roof door for egg access (never liked the egg boxes w/ slanted roofs that stick out of the coop - I always worry rain will leak from an unsealed crack and seep into nestboxes). The 3 round holes into the nestboxes are low on the platform but inside each nestbox it's about 16x16" x 2-1/2' tall. The round-holed design also saves most of the straw from being kicked out by laying hens. The opposite 4' wall has a perching bar also 18" high. The 6' side has the door we can walk into the coop and it's left open daily for the girls to go free-range and they can come in whenever they're ready to either lay an egg or roost for the night. We promptly lock the door when the last hen roosts at dusk. We use a tarp to cover the coop at night and currently are expanding with an exercise kennel adjacent and putting a canopy over the entire construction when complete. I assumed the pullets would use the perch bar to roost for the night but from Day 1 in the coop, all the girls, including the Silkies, found they liked sleeping in the secluded round-holed nestboxes. There has never been one night that a hen has slept on either the perch or the floor of the coop. We've had up to 5 hens at one time which meant some had to double up in a couple boxes but the boxes were so roomy we once found 4 hens piled in one box! Cold winter nights or Hot summer evenings the girls never sleep anywhere but the nestboxes. It means a little extra cleaning and more straw to add every day or so but if the girls are happy so are we. When a Silkie goes broody and spends most of her time sitting on imaginary eggs in a nestbox, we drop the back egg door to provide ventilation during heatwaves - heatwaves always make our Silkies go broody! We lined the bottom of the wood nestboxes w/ plexiglass squares not just for easy cleanups but to keep OCD Silkies from scratching the bottom so hard it splintered toes to bleeding. No more problems now. The ramp leading up to the platform has finally fallen apart but before we could construct a new ramp, the Silkies were jumping the 18" up to the 6" platform to enter the round-holed nestboxes that's how determined they were to lay their eggs in the boxes or not to sleep on the floor. I didn't know Silkies could leap so high. During the day they will occasionally use the perch to sit and groom but not for long as our Silkies are constantly on the move free-ranging. Because we've had this wonderful coop before adding hens to it, we never knew Silkies were floor sleepers because our hens always slept in the roomy clean straw nestboxes from Day 1. It wasn't til I read stories about people having their Silkies pile up on the floor to sleep that I ever heard of such a thing w/ Silkies - Smiles
Thanks for all your info. Appreciate it
....lol.
THank you! I wasn't really sure on that one. I always hear they couldn't go high, but didn't know what they could do, this is my first winter with chickens, so I'm still learning!
