Texas BYC Cafe

[Ms Jellybean]

Afternoon y'all. Newbie here. Almost finished my coop and will be ready for sone birds next week or after that. Looking for info or breeders who will part with some for a newbie. Me and the wife decided it's time to show the grandkids food and animals come from places besides the store. We are going with pygmy goats and chickens to start and maybe a pony by spring. This is gonna be a hoot! Live north of Ft Worth do if any places or people with chickens we can drive and keep the post office outta this! Besides might be nice to meet someone with the same interest and possibly get a mentor so we do his right!

Welcome!

I want to get some land so I can have goats too. It seems that chickens and goats go together.

Check Craig's list for birds. There is also a few FB pages if you are there. DFW Chicken Trader has a lot of stuff going on all the time.

 

[harley1975]

Well the auction was a bust. There was 4 game roosters and 8 rabbits there. Guess the seater kept people from bring more. Most of the times ther is a few 100 chickens. Deadasslast2004 what breed of chickens are you looking for and how many ? I hatch out chicks to sell. Let me know what your looking for and I will see if I can help. Right now the Incubator is full not sure how many I will have left to sell out of this batch. Here is my farm page on Facebook I will post pics and keep an update on what I am hatching. https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jones-Farm/620216548090387

 

[Ms Jellybean]

I am looking through things to pick up for my chickens. I 'rediscovered' this waterer and was wondering if anyone ever tried it. I love that you can attach it to just about any water jug.

I think a 5 gallon jug would be good for 6 hens, wouldn't it?

 

[henless]

Ms JB ~ I prefer the horizontal nipples. I never used the other ones, but from what I've read, the horizontal ones cause the least trouble. They don't drip and mine haven't froze so far this year. I have 15 chickens, and my 5 gallon bucket will last about 1 1/2 weeks before it's almost empty. I do change it every week, just so I don't have to change it during the week.

 

[Ms Jellybean]

Ms JB ~ I prefer the horizontal nipples. I never used the other ones, but from what I've read, the horizontal ones cause the least trouble. They don't drip and mine haven't froze so far this year. I have 15 chickens, and my 5 gallon bucket will last about 1 1/2 weeks before it's almost empty. I do change it every week, just so I don't have to change it during the week.

I just looked those nipples up. Do you think you could attache them to a rubbermaid water jug?

 

[Ms Jellybean]

Help me out, please.....

I really like this coop and I think it would work great here with a couple modifications - larger windows and a solid color top. I want to DL so I would need to do something different for the roosting area too.

But I also really like this coop - minus the bamboo and banana leaves. lol!

I've read sand is bad for coops, but I see a lot of people using it. What is up with that? I like the idea of DL and would prefer that I think.

So, which coop is the best? 6 hens or so. I can have 12, but I really don't want that many. I know 'chicken math'.... My yard is better suited for 5-6 birds.


Maybe I should start a new thread on this and get a plethora of answers. Nah, I need Texas answers.

 

[henless]

I don't see why not. I've seen them in all sizes of buckets.

I like the first coop best. I like that you can walk in the run without having to stoop. With the coop be raised up so high, you may not be able to DL in the coop it self, but the run should be no problem. You can always do a modified DL in the coop. Let it get just so high before cleaning it out. Then, you can put the clean out in the run or in a compost bin.

 

[Ms Jellybean]

I don't see why not. I've seen them in all sizes of buckets.

I like the first coop best. I like that you can walk in the run without having to stoop. With the coop be raised up so high, you may not be able to DL in the coop it self, but the run should be no problem. You can always do a modified DL in the coop. Let it get just so high before cleaning it out. Then, you can put the clean out in the run or in a compost bin.

That's a good idea. I was also thinking about just leaving the floor out of the coop area so things can drop to the ground. Not as secure, but the whole thing is pretty secure and it will be inside another run as well. Would that work - leaving the floor out? I could use a ladder type roosting system. Then I wouldn't need to worry about letting them out first thing in the morning every day either.

 

[henless]

If you brought the wood siding all the way to ground level, and make a walk in door it would work. But, you would lose the run space that was under the coop. It would also increase the price since you would need more siding to enclose the coop.

If you really like that coop, I would leave it as it is. Just plan on cleaning out the coop part more often and just dump the shavings in the run. If you make your run really secure with an apron and hardware cloth for the sides you could leave the pop door open all the time. It would be kinda like my open air coop before I added the run.

If you could find a used portable building, you could get that and make your coop out of it and attach a run. This was a real simple conversion out of a metal shed. I think it needs more ventilation, but it offers a good size coop. You can find a wooden or metal coop. The wood would be easier to work with, but the metal is doable.

 

[Ms Jellybean]

If you brought the wood siding all the way to ground level, and make a walk in door it would work. But, you would lose the run space that was under the coop. It would also increase the price since you would need more siding to enclose the coop.

If you really like that coop, I would leave it as it is. Just plan on cleaning out the coop part more often and just dump the shavings in the run. If you make your run really secure with an apron and hardware cloth for the sides you could leave the pop door open all the time. It would be kinda like my open air coop before I added the run.

If you could find a used portable building, you could get that and make your coop out of it and attach a run. This was a real simple conversion out of a metal shed. I think it needs more ventilation, but it offers a good size coop. You can find a wooden or metal coop. The wood would be easier to work with, but the metal is doable.

That is a cute idea with the shed. I'll have to look on Craig's list.

Otherwise, I will build the coop/run as it is. I think that I read about people doing a modified DL in a coop that style.

Thanks for the ideas.