Texas

[chickieluver26]

Who all is going to the Klein Poultry And Pigeon Extravaganza show next month!!? I'll be showing there and want to know some of my competition lol.

 

[Ren2014]

I'm about to build my first coop. I found an 8x8 coop design here on BYC by Mikeee.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/8x8-coop

I live in Texas (an hour north of Houston) and it gets super hot in the summer. My plans are to build it under a large tree in our back yard and I'll be adding some windows for air flow. The kind you cut out after you build it and attach a hinge to open the 'window' and prop it up with a 2x2. And I'll cover the window hole with heavy chicken / rabbit wire.

Is there a certain way the coop door should face? Towards the north/south/east/west? Windows on a certain side for breeze? Or anything else I need to know before I start building?

Thanks

There are so many variables when it comes to windows and doors that you really need to play it by ear. However, more important that those things is ventilation. Either by windows and doors or with some sort of ventilation along the top of the coop under an eve. You want not only air to circulate but to take with it the humidity that can build up in a coop. Take into consideration the primary direction your winds blow down there. Here in West Texas we have primary North/South winds and secondary East/West winds. So we oriented all our doors and windows South to avoid the cold North winds and allow for air flow during hot summer months. Then, we opened up sections under the eve's covered with quarter inch fence fabric. Make sure that all openings are secured against predators. We don't have the humidity problems you have down there though.

X2 definitely add a vent to the top. Use hardware cloth to cover windows and all openings.

Hi - welcome to BYC!

I live about 1 1/2 hours from Houston airport and about 50 minutes north of Beaumont, so our climate may be similar.

That coop plan is pretty cool -- but something that may be more important for consideration is the outdoors space that your chickens will occupy. -- Depending upon your local predator population, etc. their run, or pasture or free-range may be equal or greater in importance than their coop. IMO of course. My chickens use their coop to sleep at night and to lay eggs, the rest of the time they are outdoors. Just something for your consideration.

Be sure to keep us posted on your progress!

X2

Greetings Texans. I didn't realize there isTexas thread, but now that I have found it I thought I would say hi.

So hi!. I am in San Angelo,

We have rock barred, Rhode Island reds, common reds, Americanas, copper marans, and cream leg bars. I have some Cochin in the incubator and I just started,raising coturnix quail.


Obsessed just a bit...

Have a wonderful day!

Dave

Who all is going to the Klein Poultry And Pigeon Extravaganza show next month!!? I'll be showing there and want to know some of my competition lol.

No competition worries from me

Where is it and when?

 

[Kristie9901]

Hi - welcome to BYC!

I live about 1 1/2 hours from Houston airport and about 50 minutes north of Beaumont, so our climate may be similar.   

That coop plan is pretty cool -- but something that may be more important for consideration is the outdoors space that your chickens will occupy. -- Depending upon your local predator population, etc. their run, or pasture or free-range may be equal or greater in importance than their coop.  IMO of course.    My chickens use their coop to sleep at night and to lay eggs, the rest of the time they are outdoors.  Just something for your consideration. 

Be sure to keep us posted on your progress!

Hi chickat, our hens run free on our 1acre. We have 3dogs that are in the yard with our chickens and they protect them. They have killed raccoons, opossums and snakes. They usually sleep on the porch with the dogs but they need a coop for the winter since my dogs cone into the house on cold nights. We've had them for 3 years now. Thank you for all the help

 

[MandyJ]

Greetings Texans. I didn't realize there isTexas thread, but now that I have found it I thought I would say hi.

So hi!. I am in San Angelo,

We have rock barred, Rhode Island reds, common reds, Americanas, copper marans, and cream leg bars. I have some Cochin in the incubator and I just started,raising coturnix quail.


Obsessed just a bit...

Have a wonderful day!

Dave

Hello from Ledbetter. I have 5 pekin ducks.
Mandy

 

[j23cuevas]

West Texas here just joined visited a few times just sayi. Hi

 

[jtn42248]

West Texas here just joined visited a few times just sayi. Hi

Welcome to BYC. We are in West Central Texas (south of Abilene and north of Coleman). We have a total of 72 birds (chickens, ducks and geese) that do pretty well with the West Texas heat and cold and winds. What is your flock like? What part of West Texas are your in?

 

[j23cuevas]

Lubbock is the closest city to us. We started with 12 gold sex links in February down to 11 now. They started laying in mid June. We lost a hen last month not sure how we never found her. We also had to remove a hen (waffles)that was being picked on really bad(could figure out who the bully was) last month as well. So now everyone seems to be doing ok. We are getting 8-10 eggs per day waffles hasn't laid since sometime in late July or August we think she might have been the gen our dog attacked when we first moved them outside this spring. We are expecting a hard freeze this weekend our first freeze of the season. I'm trying to figure a few things. First should I put waffles. Ack with the flock the makeshift coop we made her I don't think will keep her warm with the cold weather. Second what's the best watering bowl. We have a five gallon plastic one but it's hard to keep the clean with the alge. Would a basic bowl work like a large one for dogs maybe. I scrub out the alge the best I can but I can't get it all and I don't want to be outside all wet in the winter. Our run is about 10x10 we are planing to cover it with tarps for winter cause we get killer winds and I'd like to keep the snow and rain out. Should we let them free range in the chicken yard in the winter or just keep them penned in the run next to the coop. Anyway just a bit about our chicken farm any help ideas or anything would appreciated thanks
Jenn
Ps I can't figure out how to add a pic to my profile

 

[bnjrob]

Lubbock is the closest city to us. We started with 12 gold sex links in February down to 11 now. They started laying in mid June. We lost a hen last month not sure how we never found her. We also had to remove a hen (waffles)that was being picked on really bad(could figure out who the bully was) last month as well. So now everyone seems to be doing ok. We are getting 8-10 eggs per day waffles hasn't laid since sometime in late July or August we think she might have been the gen our dog attacked when we first moved them outside this spring. We are expecting a hard freeze this weekend our first freeze of the season. I'm trying to figure a few things. First should I put waffles. Ack with the flock the makeshift coop we made her I don't think will keep her warm with the cold weather. Second what's the best watering bowl. We have a five gallon plastic one but it's hard to keep the clean with the alge. Would a basic bowl work like a large one for dogs maybe. I scrub out the alge the best I can but I can't get it all and I don't want to be outside all wet in the winter. Our run is about 10x10 we are planing to cover it with tarps for winter cause we get killer winds and I'd like to keep the snow and rain out. Should we let them free range in the chicken yard in the winter or just keep them penned in the run next to the coop. Anyway just a bit about our chicken farm any help ideas or anything would appreciated thanks
Jenn
Ps I can't figure out how to add a pic to my profile

It is better for chickens to be with other chickens. They are very social animals. Chickens are also quite vicious and they will have their pecking order fights and they can purposely, or accidently, kill another bird during these times. It's something you just have to get accustomed to and figure out your best method for dealing with it. The less interference the better, but you'll have to figure out for yourself when it's too much and you need to step in. It's up to you about putting your bullied bird back into the group. I would, but first I would take one of the other birds out and put with her. Let them become buddies, and then reintroduce them both back to the flock at the same time, at night after dark. If they bond together alone, then they may rely on each other when they go back to the large flock and not be at higher risk for bullying. If you put the one girl back in by herself, the fighting may be even worse, because you're putting her back onto the other birds' turf. It's still likely to be any unhappy time putting even two of them back into the group as opposed to putting just one into the group. It's just how chickens tend to be.

Water that is subjected to light is going to grow algae no matter what. You can decrease the rate at which the algae grows by figuring out how often you need to completely empty and refill the waterer and scrub the waterer - which is trial and error. And keeping the waterers out of direct sunlight will also cut down the rate of algae growth. You have to watch the sun pattern all day long to get the best spot for a waterer with the least amount of sunlight hitting it during the day.

Waterers that are completely enclosed so that light does not get into the main body of the water won't grow algae as easily, but you will find that they grow black mold/mildew. I combat this by putting garlic cloves in my water, it helps to slow down the rate of that mildew growth and adding a few drops of oregano essential oil to the water, along with the garlic clove, can give me pristine pool water for quite a while in my opaque nipple water buckets. I also use apple cider vinegar, 1 TBS per gallon, in our water. It helps to combat the invisible slime that the sides of water buckets get after just 24 hours of the same water sitting in the bucket.

The translucent plastic chicken waterers slow down the rate of algae growth, but they will eventually grow some algae if you don't change the water often enough, because the light is still getting to the water, just not as easily with that translucent plastic.

We use a combination of waterers for our different poultry and groups of poultry, depending on their needs. The hanging nipple buckets that cut out light completely tend to be the lowest maintenance for keeping clean, needing just a rubbing of their insides to get any of the mildewy stuff off a couple of times a week. After that, the translucent chicken waterers that have the open water trough bases are my next lower maintenance ones. My open bowls need a quick scrub every couple of days to every few days, depending on where they are situated and how much light hits them during the day. During the winter when we have sub-freezing temperatures day and night for a number of days in a row, everybody gets the black rubber water bowls, because it is easiest to dump frozen water out of them.

There really is not a one-size-fits-all approach with waterers. There are so many variables based on where you put the waterers, how often you refill and/or completely change the water, how dirty the birds get the trough portion of the water, and even what is in your water. And if you add anything like vinegar, oregano oil, and garlic like I do. Of course if you add vinegar, you never want to put it in those metal chicken waterers - it will corrode the metal and can poison your chickens.

You can let the birds outside during the winter. Ours love nothing more than to be out. We've had them running around in driving sleet and snow, below freezing, having a grand time. Just make sure that they have wind breaks. We put wind barriers up on the west and north sides of the pens to keep the winter wind from them. Many of our houses are open air houses, not 4 walled coops. Remember, poultry have survived for thousands of years without electricity and climate-controlled environments. When ranging them, just make sure they have access to wind barriers - they'll use tractors, trailers, and anything else in the yard to get out of the wind. I even have a couple of old satellite dishes set up in the pasture as shelter from sun and wind. The cold is not so bad as constant wind can be, especially if they get soaked by rain.

 

[ArMason]

What are you using in the bottom of the brooder?

 

[buggal]

What are you using in the bottom of the brooder?

We use a fine wire mesh that the poop falls through. We use sand on the just hatched chick but once they are 2 weeks they get moved to the wire mesh. Less clean up time with the wire mesh but we have found that the baby chick like the sand to get grit. We have found that they go for the grit before they even look at the food.
BTW Welcome from Aubrey, TX (north of DFW)