Texas

[hensfortherapy]

When building, do you have to sink posts or anything? I don't own my house, we rent so..I don't want to do anything too drastic.

My coops are small. I started out with a 4 bird chicken tracker I bought from walmart.com. I think the manufacturer is Little Cottage company. It arrived pre - assembled and I had to put the parts together. I loved it for where I was at the time. $359. You have to remember, the chickens were to be therapy.
My husband built our next coop which I would say would hold 8. He says it cost about $200. So it probably cost about $300. If I had it to do over I would have used 1x1 welded wire on the bottom, but we used some smaller wire we had. My posts are not sunk, but it is only 3x5ish. My chickens just roost in the coop and lay eggs in the nesting boxes. They have a fenced chicken yard they are rarely restricted to and they free range 3 acres.

 

[lovingmyhens]

Morning Everyone!
Sure is chilly here...
I'm sure I'll drink way too much coffee in an attempt to stay warm.
I've got Spring fever so bad I can hardly stand it, lol.
I think my chicks feel the same: they are ready to explore! It's just a bit too cold...lol
Speaking of coops (AussieGirl yours looks great!), is it the popular opinion that building is better than buying?

This single woman, who danced instead of taking shop, just bought cause I'd never build!!

 

[lovingmyhens]

I don't have an answer for you, but I do have a question that is probably pretty stupid. Lots of people here refer to their "DH". What is that?

Haha I had the same question so here goes:
Dh is dear husband
Dd is dear daughter
Ds is dear son or it could be dear sister but more than likely is dear son
And so forth!!

Welcome if I haven't already sent one your way!
Melanie

 

[lovingmyhens]

I have welsummers and love them. they are very friendly. And I think super smart. I'm looking at adding either wynadottes or barred rocks. I am not set for chicks, so I'm looking for POL (point of lay) age. I've heard great things about EEs too. I've been told RIR are great but can be aggressive, and Orpingtons are so sweet, and make great moms.


Hope you're feeling better!

Are yours laying yet. If so what color are their eggs?

 

[hensfortherapy]

I have a question for my fellow Texans. DH and I are working on our coop, and I need ya'lls opinion please. In this pic, you see our coop/run. Measurements are 10x20. The 10ft short wall, facing North is covered in osb with a 2 ft vent at the ceiling. My roost will be along this 10ft section. I am planning on building an outdoor brooder/separation pen under this roost. My nests are on the right. OSB will be below them and above them with a 2ft wide vent along the ceiling. That wall is about 6 1/2ft long with the coop door next to it. To the left of the back wall, is a 5ft section of osb from ground to ceiling. My question is about this wall. Is that 5 ft span deep enough to offer wind protection for winter or should we enclose the next 5 ft span making a total of 10ft of osb? We have 3 choices here for that next 5 ft. We can put hardwire cloth and use a tarp for windy weather, enclose it totally with osb or put osb half way up (to the 2x4) and hardwire cloth to the ceiling and use a tarp for windy weather? I am considering putting another roost along that wall and hang food/water under it. Here is a pic from the outside. Each section is 5 ft. The two sections to the right will be hardwire cloth, our question concerns the section next to the osb. Cover it totally with wire, osb or half way up with osb and wire to ceiling? Thanks for any/all suggestions.

Wow, nice. That is over my understanding. I only have one thought. I would not put food and water under a roost bar. Where they roost there is poop under it.

 

[henless]

I have welsummers and love them. they are very friendly. And I think super smart. I'm looking at adding either wynadottes or barred rocks. I am not set for chicks, so I'm looking for POL (point of lay) age. I've heard great things about EEs too. I've been told RIR are great but can be aggressive, and Orpingtons are so sweet, and make great moms.


Hope you're feeling better!

I am, thanks! I love Orpingtons. Had a rooster for a pet as a kid. Nicest chicken you could ask for.

Henless, what I would do and am planning to do in my coop build is to cover that five foot section with hardware cloth. As it is your west wall you will get direct sunlight through there.

To provide shade and allow breeze through cut and frame your OSB so you could install hinges to create flaps you could raise during the summer and lower during severe storms and winter. Just an option to think about.

David

Hardware cloth was the first plan. Then as we thought and looked at it, we thought we might need another section for a wind break. The only wall I could cut and make flaps would be the West wall. The North will be part of the remaining horse stall, so no flaps can go there.

I would go ahead and put up another run of OSB on the sides. The wind whips around pretty squirrely in winter from north to northwest and sometimes even northeast and from the south. I think in the long run you will prefer to have that next wall portion solid for not only wind but sideways rain protection.

Then during the winter you can put up tarps or "clear" plastic drop cloths down at the bottom of the areas with wire on the sides for further wind protection for them while you still get good airflow up above where the plastic is.

A solid wall is what my DH is wanting to put up just for the very reasons you stated. As far as the tarps, I had planned on using them on the wire, but was just going to put them up full length. Your saying it would be better to put them on the lower part and leave the top half of the wire open? Would this be ok at night with them roosting in the back section?

looks really good. think commercial chicken houses they have the north end walled up and the east and west are plastic curtains that raise and lower on a winch. you don't need a winch but a tarp or clear plastic that could be rolled up on a pole and hung at different heights on heavy string or cord. in summer it could just stay up all the time in winter be lowered down for a wind break also if it is clear it will give the greenhouse heat effect. I like the idea of the top 4feet osb on hinges(with chicken wire underneath ) on the west side for summer shade also. I am not too far north of you and my south side is open all year this is the first year I ve had a little frostbite on the combs of my cocks .as someone posted it is the cold and humidity together that causes frostbite. I do believe that summer heat will give your chickens much greater discomfort than winter cold here. but your design is looking very good

The humidity will be my biggest problem. We don't get cold enough here for a "solid" coop, but it does get cold enough to cause frost bite with our high humidity. In the winter time we used to put up a large tarp to cover the open North end of the barn isle and then take it down during the summer to get all the breeze we could.

I don't have an answer for you, but I do have a question that is probably pretty stupid. Lots of people here refer to their "DH". What is that?

DH means Dear Husband, DW is Dear wife.

I want to thank everyone who made a suggestion for us. We've got a couple weeks to decide since we wont have time to work on it until after Valentines day. I'm still not sure which way we are going. I'll talk over with DH and see if we can come to a decision. Thanks everyone!

 

[henless]

Wow, nice. That is over my ubderstanding. I only have one thought. I would not put food and water under a roost bar. Where they roost there is poop under it.

I plan on putting up a poop board under both roosts. Feed/water will go under one, and I want to build an outdoor brooder/separation pen under the other one.

 

[Belott]

Henless, I thought I read on your other thread your nest box is on the east wall. The flaps I suggested would be on the opposite (west) wall. Heat is worse than the cold for us in east Texas. The flaps would keep blowing rain out as well as let the breeze in.
I think a solid wall would be too hot.

The idea of a roll up tarp is a good option too.

David

 

[hensfortherapy]

The tractor.

The coop my husband built.

 

[bnjrob]

Hardware cloth was the first plan. Then as we thought and looked at it, we thought we might need another section for a wind break. The only wall I could cut and make flaps would be the West wall. The North will be part of the remaining horse stall, so no flaps can go there.

A solid wall is what my DH is wanting to put up just for the very reasons you stated. As far as the tarps, I had planned on using them on the wire, but was just going to put them up full length. Your saying it would be better to put them on the lower part and leave the top half of the wire open? Would this be ok at night with them roosting in the back section?


The humidity will be my biggest problem. We don't get cold enough here for a "solid" coop, but it does get cold enough to cause frost bite with our high humidity. In the winter time we used to put up a large tarp to cover the open North end of the barn isle and then take it down during the summer to get all the breeze we could.

Depends on exactly how your coop is situated and how the wind swirls in as to what you'd want for tarps all the way up on the wire in winter.

I use 3 ft tall heavier mil painter's plastic on the runs, so that the wind at their ground level is cut but light and air can still get through. Unless you get a clear tarp, you're going to cut the light coming into the area which isn't great because you'll want to maximize light coming in during the winter to take the chill off, help thaw lightly frozen water, help them want to lay a bit during the winter. Also, putting plastic/tarp all the way up could cause a problem with condensation and frostbite in the winter. If you did put it up higher because they were getting hit with too much wind while roosting, you could just not take it all the way up to help decrease the risk of condensation in there.

I have not had a problem with the birds in open air pens roosting with southern/southeastern winds coming into the pen while they are roosting. They are protected on the north side and partially on the east and west sides that connect to their roost space, but that does not extend the entire length of the structure, only about 4 ft where their roost is (we have multiple pens, not a large pen like you're working on).

One thing that I have seen recommended is to leave it open and simply hang a piece of canvas - like a painter's fabric drop cloth, in front of the roost area to block wind, but otherwise leave the rest of it open. That would help cut wind but not hold quite as much moisture from their breath while roosting, and cut down on risk of condensation.