DH is building the coop as we speak. I thought I knew what we wanted but tonight, after reading some more posts, I've realized that I know NOTHING!
We will have two rooms hooked together, one with the nesting boxes in it and one for them to roost in that is hooked to their run. This is also where their food and water is. The new addition will be 8' x 7' with nesting boxes on both sides of the 8' walls. The current room is 6' x 7'. There's plenty of ventilation in the chicken coop so I'm not worried about that. There are two man door openings that have nothing in them so the girls get plenty of fresh air, even in the winter.
Should we have windows in the area with the nesting boxes or should it be all closed in and dark?
Is it ok to have just dirt flooring? We've had chickens for years now with just dirt flooring and I never realized I was doing it all wrong. Suddenly I've learned all about shavings and pine needles and deep littering or something. Are my chickens ok? Have I done something to stunt them?
We live in Utah so it snowed here last week and is supposed to snow again this week, hopefully that will be it for the year. It starts snowing in October though and keeps going all winter long. I mention that in case that has any bearing on the dirt flooring for insulation.
We have 20 girls (and one roo) now but I can see us getting more because we love them and the variety of them. Is that too many nesting boxes? Should we put something else in for them?
Sorry for the rambling and loads of questions.
Thanks a ton!
We will have two rooms hooked together, one with the nesting boxes in it and one for them to roost in that is hooked to their run. This is also where their food and water is. The new addition will be 8' x 7' with nesting boxes on both sides of the 8' walls. The current room is 6' x 7'. There's plenty of ventilation in the chicken coop so I'm not worried about that. There are two man door openings that have nothing in them so the girls get plenty of fresh air, even in the winter.
Should we have windows in the area with the nesting boxes or should it be all closed in and dark?
Is it ok to have just dirt flooring? We've had chickens for years now with just dirt flooring and I never realized I was doing it all wrong. Suddenly I've learned all about shavings and pine needles and deep littering or something. Are my chickens ok? Have I done something to stunt them?
We live in Utah so it snowed here last week and is supposed to snow again this week, hopefully that will be it for the year. It starts snowing in October though and keeps going all winter long. I mention that in case that has any bearing on the dirt flooring for insulation.
We have 20 girls (and one roo) now but I can see us getting more because we love them and the variety of them. Is that too many nesting boxes? Should we put something else in for them?
Sorry for the rambling and loads of questions.
Thanks a ton!
