sn0wwhite's Wichita Coop for the Twin Cities

[Bogtown Chick]

SnOw: you could try adding a light in the morning to get them to 14 hours a day--you might have seen this from Minniechickmomma on the Minnesota thread. But add the light per day gradually. I think you are also contending with the new coop and new home...they may not know quite what to think of it yet....although they watched it's construction and relatively still on their home turf...LOL. Fickle little girls. I think keeping food and water access outside is a good idea for mice and poo issues and to move them out. They really only need the enclosed part for sleeping and laying. It is not too cold for them yet. They are big fluffy down balls...that will even grow more axillary feathering near their skin to keep them warmer. You'll be quite amazed at the structure of their feathers by late winter and spring. With the way your girls are set up they will be quite pampered this winter.

 

[sn0wwhite]

SnOw: you could try adding a light in the morning to get them to 14 hours a day--you might have seen this from Minniechickmomma on the Minnesota thread. But add the light per day gradually. I think you are also contending with the new coop and new home...they may not know quite what to think of it yet....although they watched it's construction and relatively still on their home turf...LOL. Fickle little girls. I think keeping food and water access outside is a good idea for mice and poo issues and to move them out. They really only need the enclosed part for sleeping and laying. It is not too cold for them yet. They are big fluffy down balls...that will even grow more axillary feathering near their skin to keep them warmer. You'll be quite amazed at the structure of their feathers by late winter and spring. With the way your girls are set up they will be quite pampered this winter.

I think I've got the light in the coop coming on at about 4:30am and the sun is coming up around 7... I don't know for sure what time the coop opens for them to go out, but yes, they haven't had too much time to get terribly attached to their new home. But they so seem to like it!

I'm not doing artificial light for our girls. I've noticed they've really slacked off in laying. I don't think our EE is going to lay until next spring. I'm not worried about it. Personally, I'd rather have them put their energy into staying warm.

That said, I'm not sure if the outside light would fool them in the morning. I know that when I go down at night and turn on the light in the run, if the coop door is open, the girls will come parading out. They don't seem to care as long as it's light for them.

I do want them to stay warm.... but, an egg or two to prove they can do it would be nice!

Hmmmm....there isn't a timer option with the ADOR, correct? That would be nice, you could time it the same as the light.
Maybe put another light out there to trigger the door?

I don't think there is a timer option with it. Just light sensitive and manual operation. But, that's what I'm thinking... to put a timer on the run light to trigger the door. It would probably let some heat out/cold air in to the coop... but I don't imagine the coop is really that much warmer and I could probably use the ventilation anyway.

 

[sn0wwhite]

So today I started building a new, bigger poop board. I noticed some poo was falling behind and in front of the board I had, so I bought a bigger piece of 1/4 inch plywood and cut it 34x18 and then notched it to fit in between the 2x4s on the back wall so it will have a snug fit.

I glued sides on so that I can add Sweet PDZ and treat it like kitty litter. The glue is drying tonight, so I'll put it in tomorrow.

Then, I added an outlet attachment to the light socket for my outside run, plugged in a timer and then plugged in a light socket attachment and put my light bulb in that. I'm going to have the light in the run come on at about the same time as the inside light and if the ADOR1 opens, and they choose, the chickens can go outside in the run for some food and water in the morning before sunrise. If all goes well... I may add a thermo-outlet then to the inside light and let that come on when the temperature goes below 10 degrees F. Then my dad will be happy they're not freezing to death, and I know they'll have a ventilated option out in the run.

And in other news, Sunny started checking out the nest box seriously today so maybe she's considering using it soon.... fingers crossed.

 

[Bogtown Chick]

You know I never envisioned "poop management" being part of my chicken care regime in the Cinderella phase of planning for chickens.

But now, boy...getting that down with the aid of a poop board just makes life so much easier. That being said...how's it going with your new poop board? I'm sure you'll love having your bedding covered now at roost time.

 

[aart]

Poop Happens....a lot....Everyday!!

 

[sn0wwhite]

Ah yes... poop every day and no eggs yet. I'm fighting against light I'm sure. Daughter said that the chickens were up in their roost by 4 today, and the sun hadn't even set yet!
Probably they'll wait until January when the eggs will freeze solidly.

In other news though, the colder temps don't seem to be bothering them. The door is working well along with the water heater.

I read on another thread though, that putting ACV in my galvanized waterer could be toxic. Is that a big concern?

I'm also starting to look for plans to find a way to add a retractable/removable cover for my garden to extend my growing season with plastic in the spring, and then transition to just wire to keep the chickens out once we get into summer again.... ideas and links are welcome!

 

[aart]

Ah yes... poop every day and no eggs yet. I'm fighting against light I'm sure. Daughter said that the chickens were up in their roost by 4 today, and the sun hadn't even set yet!
Probably they'll wait until January when the eggs will freeze solidly.

In other news though, the colder temps don't seem to be bothering them. The door is working well along with the water heater.

I read on another thread though, that putting ACV in my galvanized waterer could be toxic. Is that a big concern?

I'm also starting to look for plans to find a way to add a retractable/removable cover for my garden to extend my growing season with plastic in the spring, and then transition to just wire to keep the chickens out once we get into summer again.... ideas and links are welcome!

Yah, acidity and metal don't mix well, you want to use plastic or glass. Not sure about the toxicity part, got a link to the thread?

What size garden bed are you thinking of covering......cattle panel hoop house? There's a garden forum here, might be a good place to look around.

 

[sn0wwhite]

Well, how critical is the continued ACV in their water now that they're about 6 months old? Is it ok to just be a summer thing?

I just stumbled across the statement about toxicity in a random thread... of course I can't find it again. Off to do a google search...

Seems legit... here's one thread: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/113782/apple-cider-vinegar-galvanized-water-container-help

Me and my stupid wanting my food and water dishes to match! I know the chickens don't care. I'm going to roll my eyes so big at myself I'll get a headache.

That's a good link for gardening. I'll be checking that out later.

I'm either going to build a frame to cover the garden or I might look into building a Christmas Light decoration carousel. I need some new building project I think. We had a contractor hang a couple of overhead bins at work yesterday and I wanted to grab his tools and help SO BAD! I'm like a junkie needing a fix now...

 

[aart]

Well, how critical is the continued ACV in their water now that they're about 6 months old? Is it ok to just be a summer thing?

I just stumbled across the statement about toxicity in a random thread... of course I can't find it again. Off to do a google search...

Seems legit... here's one thread: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/113782/apple-cider-vinegar-galvanized-water-container-help

Me and my stupid wanting my food and water dishes to match! I know the chickens don't care. I'm going to roll my eyes so big at myself I'll get a headache.

That's a good link for gardening. I'll be checking that out later.

I'm either going to build a frame to cover the garden or I might look into building a Christmas Light decoration carousel. I need some new building project I think. We had a contractor hang a couple of overhead bins at work yesterday and I wanted to grab his tools and help SO BAD! I'm like a junkie needing a fix now...

I don't know what the best ACV dosing is....there's one extreme to the other...never or always.....I think you've got to decide for yourself. I'm not convinced it's the cureall some claim, but doesn't hurt and could help...but it could prevent any bio from forming in the water which can be good if you use large quantities, but I rinse my waterers daily, have 2 plastic gallon ones that I swap out to reduce trips to the coop and in case of freezing in the winter.

I've actually got some ACV brewing (Braggs into some very old bottled pasteurized apple juice, strands are forming!) because I'm interested in fermentation, but it's more of a science project than a means to and end as far as dosing the chooks. My daughter does a lot of fermented human foods and alcohol production.

Building Withdrawls!! I know, right!?!..and you a brand new builder girl! I've got em too, been feeling a bit lost without 'The Big Project' going on, but I've got eggs in the bator and am building a brooder cover, but it's not enough to ignore the boring little chores...lol.

 

[Bogtown Chick]

I don't know about toxicity but I think the animals can get sick. Also those metal waterers will Rust. I know. Degrading your water quality there after and damaging the metal. I wanted a metal fount myself to go with my metal feeder but then weighed the fact that I really wanted ACV in their water more so. LOL.

What it does, I think is releases the zinc (used for galvanizing them) in unhealthy amounts from the metal alloy. I had this beautiful metal bucket for my Labrador. You know the galvanized ones in the Farm and fleet. It just looked darling in the mud room there. She drank out of it for about 2-3 years--no problem. She needs a bucket because she drinks so much. Any how last summer she started laying low, not eating anything...which is not her normal thing. I knew she hadn't wondered lately or gotten into any thing as the neighbors had not been up. I looked at her bucket one day and just started thinking about some of the things I had read on BYC about the metal waterers and ACV...and pulled that bucket and gave her a plastic ice cream bucket instead. She turned around in a day...finally started eating the burger and rice I had even offered the day before...etc. I think there is something to those claims...and if that happened to a big yellow lab I don't want to try it even with more fragile chickens.

One time I tried zinc supplement for when I was feeling a cold coming on as I had read about it helps immune systems. I tried it once. I promptly lost my breakfast. Not nice stuff that zinc!