Starting out, beginner, need a lot of advice:)

[LynneP]

Hi Dustin-

Where are you? (trying to think about climate) and those windows on the top- are they part of the house or part of the chicken clubhouse?

I'm assuming that concrete structure is for plants? You'll certainly be able to grow for your kitchen and for your birds in that...

Any pics of the inside of the coop?

 

[Intheswamp]

Oh yeah, you've got the makings for a good little coop there! Get it up off the ground a bit...a couple of jacks and some cement/wood blocks will do it.(can do it with one, but two's better). While you've got the building jacked up you might want to put some small squares of tin (or roofing felt) between the blocks and the building's bottom frame..if it doesn't already have it.

If those two windows up top are attached to the club house then those will be some great vents!

Does the structure currently have a floor in it other than dirt?...I can't really tell by your first message but it sounds like it doesn't. If it doesn't have a floor you should be able to use part of the surface of the cement blocks to build the floor on...you'll also need probably two stacks of blocks toward the center of the floor area also. Set up some simple floor joists to reinforce the flooring. You could use plywood for the flooring or you could use something like solid pine/oak/whatever boards if you have some laying around or can get them cheap for the flooring..just take a little more work. Whatever you use lay down some linoleum or either paint it *very* thickly. As you work on the floor insure that it is predator proof...try to fit the flooring against the walls as tight as possible, fill any gaps with some 1/2" hardware cloth or scrap pieces of wood. Rats are predators, too, so try to seal it tightly around the bottom....getting it raised up off the ground will help, too.

What are the floor dimensions of the house? How tall?

Are you raising anything in the boat? Talapia? Anything? Duckpond?

While you get the coop in shape definitely keep in mind how you will incorporate the run with it.

You might have mentioned it, but where are you located? It would be good to know what type of weather and predators you might have to deal with.

Best wishes,
Ed

 

[OverEggstended]

I will mention that the birds will be GREAT at getting the garden ready for planting. They will weed, till a bit, fertilize, and de-bug. But once you have it planted, better fence it in... especially for the seedlings. Or... they will weed, and till, and...

I have heard that it can make one frustrated enough to have a nice BBQ for friends and family!

 

[Xanatos]

I live in central north carolina, there is already a wooden floor in the club house, it is a bit warped from age, not much, and I had been considering the suggestion someone had made about getting some scrap linoleum to use, and I don't know anything about a 'run' Also I'm not really sure what I was going to do with the boat, my grandparents had a few goldfish in it, but their gone now, any suggestions to make use of it would be great, I had considered filling it with soil for something that would be somewhat safe to grow near chickens.

I had been planning to fence off the entire club house area, and the area with trees behind it, to give the chickens room to move about, find bugs, etc.

I would guess the dimensions of the house at being about 7 feet height inside, i can stand up with room to spare and I'm almost 6'feet, the length and width would probably be 5-6 feet by 7-8 feet, not huge for an adult, but plenty for a kid to play in. the 'attic' area IS attached (formerly via a ladder, but I removed it to make room) but too small for me to comfortably climb up into anymore.

I have been building nesting 'cubbies' boxes to attach onto the sides of the house to give the chickens a place to nest, and was going to put 2 levels on each side/behind, and then put in some bars for them to roost on at night going at an angle inside.

of note: The area im 'fencing' them inside of is going to be sharing a wooded fence with the properties edge, its our fence, but it seperates us from the neighbors (and his dog), someone had mentioned I should 'bury' 18inches of some sort of devider in the ground to keep digging predators out, can anyone suggest something cheap that I can get for this purpose? The only thing I could think of was the metal stuff you find on the bottom side of trailers.

 

[LynneP]

Nice part of the world, Dustin, NC is gorgeous.

About your predator question- you need no access greater than 1/2" to protect your birds, which makes 1/2" gauge hardware cloth useful in several applications such as-

-over a fence
-on the floor of your coop, assuming it would be impractical to put it under the coop. (maybe on the planks, then recover the base and add linoleum?
-as a skirt on your run, either buried 18" deep or constructed as a flange that bends out under the soil
-above the birds too, you can apply the hardware cloth without demaging your ventilation to keep trouble out.

I would plant insect-repelling plants like marigolds in the concrete boat, and things you can feed the birds and youself like lettuce, beans, peas...

You're going to have a lot of fun with this because you're preparing to do it right.

Are you going to roof your run?
Ventilation is a major issue year-round, too.

 

[possumqueen]

HOT diggity!!! WHERE in North Carolina???

LynneP is dead on. Ventilation is your number one concern. They don't need warm in the winter around here. They need air and shelter. They DO need cool in the summer, but your pic shows lots of shade, so you're good there.

If you are anywhere near me, then you're sitting on that good ol' red clay, which is soooo fun to dig in -- NOT!! Digging down to lay wire will be no fun, but you shouldn't have to go more than eight inches because nothing else likes to dig in that stuff, either. Suggest a hardware cloth skirt around the fence, held down with rocks. That means you attach the hardware cloth to the bottom of the fence and lay it out on the ground about 12 inches. Eventually grass will grow up through it, and it'll be permanent.

And DO plant something in that boat. Fill it with dirt and get rid of the water, or you'll lose chickens in it.

maggie

 

[Xanatos]

Archdale, NC (next to greensboro/high point)

As for Ventilation - the clubhouse has the 'attic' window, the window on the main level, and the door itself is a 2 part (it was made for me as a child, so the bottom and top can open seperately of one another) Will this be sufficient for ventilation?

As for the boat, I suppose I should empty it of water at least, I don't know how I'm gonna fill it with dirt just yet, short of buying it, but I don't want any dead birds, unless I'm hungry that day!

What is this hardware cloth stuff?

Also, for the boat - why do you suggest marigolds? Aren't insects good for the chickens?

I don't know about roofing the 'run' or even how I could go about doing that - I know what I 'want' overall, I want the chickens to free range over the areas I want to grow food in so they will tear the ground up, fertilize it, and free range part of their food on bugs. I had been reading about something called Electronet on http://www.themodernhomestead.us/ being used as a movable fence, I had planned on surrounding my crop area in this or something else and then letting the chickens run around there (connecting it to the coop area) being chickens.


I appreciate the help everyone, this had been quite a frustrating venture as theres sooo much I need to learn still.

 

[LynneP]

Could the bottom of the boat be drilled to create drainage?

Marigolds repel things like cabbage moths and mosquitoes if you get the 'pepper' varieties.

It's not that repelling insects is a priority, just that some can be troublesome in large amounts, especially the blood-sucking kind.

Hardware cloth is sometimes called 'mason wire' and can be purchased at hardware stores! Ask for 1/2" gauge. Widths vary with 3' being average. It can be fastened with fence staples and if you need to connect two panels, hog nose rings can be used. You can see it in one of my links below to the way we constructed our run.

Considering the unexpected winter weather this year, having windows that can be left open (shielded with hardware cloth) but closed down in high winds or bitter cold, you will be in good shape. In hot weather your main door and pop doors will permit air to enter on the low end and exit the windows especially that attic one.

You'll kow, believe me! That's when we'll have the discuss ion about bedding and stall powders in it.

 

[Xanatos]

I actually am draining the boat now, but once its drained ill open the boats built in drainage pipe, the boat itself is lined inside with plastic, which will help keep moisture in, but when I cut a hole and open the boats pipe, not too much water. I imagine it will be very good growing soil.


Since i'm covering a rather large area and this is more adding to whats there instead of building my own 'run' i think its called, I have thought about using the nets that cover swimming pools (we have one, its where we got the idea) and erecting a 'roofing' for this entire area out of 2 of those, it will be pretty cheap, and keep the hawks I see outside away, unless this is a bad idea for some reason I'm missing?

If possible I would prefer to use the boat to grow something useful aside from flowers, feed for the chickens, or for myself, but do you think the marigolds would be better?

I also had planned to use a carpet to lay on the ground somewhere in this area to 'farm' earthworms for the chickens, is this a good idea?

 

[LynneP]

I think folks from your area should comment on th netting Dustin- we have so many predators that I can't have an opening greater than 1/2" and certainly for rodents and snakes that would matter.

The boat is going to be a huge asset!