The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[Mumsy]

Wow - I never would have thought of the peg board if I hadn't see that. Thanks for the photos and tell your hubby how we're all loving his work!

Now you have my mind going. Good ventilation and no pred is going to get through pegboard. I'll bet it could be used for lots of things

The other great thing about peg board other than great ventilation is the fact how light weight it is. My husband and I can move these by ourselves. I'll be using those pegboard sides for hanging tools too. My barn is so small, no surface can be allowed go to waste.

 

[zinia8]

The other great thing about peg board other than great ventilation is the fact how light weight it is. My husband and I can move these by ourselves. I'll be using those pegboard sides for hanging tools too. My barn is so small, no surface can be allowed go to waste.

Mumsy great use of the peg board. Like the multi purpose idea.

 

[Mrs. Fluffy Puffy]

Aspin..I am posting these for you...many on here are probably sick of seeing my coops
Coop one









nest boxes



get out of my box!!


Up stairs

Upstairs..does not get much use...has not been dusted in years..sorry

Hospital coop/separation coop/quarantine coop

grow out coop



more nest boxes

Quarantine pen.

Aww, how sweet! Thank you for the pictures. I'm envious now! Imagining a two-story duck house...*sigh*

I too love to see the pictures of everyone's coops and runs. It really helps me connect to all of you here on this thread. Even though we may live thousands of miles apart from each other. Pictures of your flocks and set ups makes it feel like we are friends and neighbors.

One of my favortite things I saw at Catdance farm was the use of so many double condo units for breeding pairs. My barn isn't very large but I really wanted one of those units. I love how they used peg board for the back and sides for ventilation. I love how they are free standing and can be moved from one area to another. I love how the top can be more storage space and the under can be used by the chickens to dig around in. I love how easy it is to put birds in and take them out. I am only five feet tall and don't have a long reach. That's an important feature.

My husband is really good at slapping stuff together from my scribble sketches and in just an afternoon he built me this! The floors of the pens are cedar fence boards. The front is 1/2 in hard ware cloth. I need to staple wire to the doors tomorrow and they are finished! My husband built it custom to fit under my storage shelf.


Getting ready for a barn full of Silkies and HRIR in a few months. I can use this unit for breeding pairs or chicks. Love my husband! He's a keeper.

Love it!

Thanks for posting pics of what your hubby built you Mumsy...I was just about to post a question about the breeding pen size that's needed for Silkies. I have a project under way, a 3-story stack of 3'x4' (x2.5' tall) cages built into a corner that will be used for keet brooders for now, that I'm planning on using eventually for Silkie breeding pens later on once my Silkie flock matures more. I was worried the size wouldn't be big enough for breeding cages/pens, but going by what your hubby built you it looks like what I have in the works should work well enough, maybe even for trios. I'm using an old existing crooked shed that was here before I bought this place... and nothing on/in it is square or level (kinda fits my building skills tho), lol, so I'm having to do extra work to get everything to fit, line up and look ok. It'll be functional and user friendly when I'm done, tho most likely not a thing of beauty.

ETA:
Peg board for added ventilation is a great idea~ Aspen

 

[CoopChick719]

My roo's comb looks very dry. Any suggestions as to what it might be or how to treat? Here's a picture of Marshall.

 

[CoopChick719]

I don't it's a Silkies nature to roost.

Hi Miss Lydia,

I agree it's probably not in a Silkies nature to roost. I think having all that poof on their heads makes it hard for them to see the roosts and their 5th toe is a little tricky for manuevering up there. But I wanted to tell you when I first got my 3 Silkies, they all slept in a pile on the floor under the roost. I contacted the person I got them from and she said "oh, they don't roost just put extra shavings on the floor." So I had my hubby nail some flat boards to the roosts to make sure the Silkies weren't getting pooped on. They pig-piled on the floor for about a month then 1 night, I went to close the coop and found 1 of them on the roost near my 3 bantam cochins. The other 2 silkies continued on the floor for quite some time then decided they wanted to roost too. Everyone has decided they like roosting on the "shelves" better than balancing on the 2 x 4's. I've got a momma with 4 chicks roosting up there now too. I think they just had to see other birds doing it before they decided they could do that too!

 

[Turkeytruff]

Wow I got to the end of the thread - can't believe it! Will probably be another 3 months before I get caught up again so just wanted to share how excited I am - there are 7 BCM eggs under 2 silkie butts tonight ready to start hatching - tomorrow is day 21, yay! Also have 9 more under a Buff that should be due next Monday/ Tuesday and the week after that the 16 in the incubator should be ready! I know it is wrong to count your chicks before they hatch but here's hoping that at least a few of them hatch out....

I will post some pictures when I get them....

 

[cywiar merch]

MADE AN ERROR AND POSTED THIS AS A SEPERATE THREAD BUT WANTED TO POST IT HERE!!

Hi Everyone,

I have been lurking on this thread for some time now, soaking in all the invaluable info and tring to catch up, but just can't. I also started reading the old timers thread. Hands down - one of the best threads I have ever read on any internet site! Loving it! Again - just cant catch up. So informative but also just so humourous at times.

I am hoping to start keeping some chickens of my own for eggs and then on to meat. I have 2 cats for pets so not looking to keep them at pets. I have an issue that I would like to clarify before I go any further and ask anymore questions.

I plan to keep the chickens in my back garden which is very small - it is about 300 sq ft. Is this too small for 3 chickens? I plan to have a coop and run but they would have the free run of the garden.

 

[Pozees]

Hi Miss Lydia,

I agree it's probably not in a Silkies nature to roost. I think having all that poof on their heads makes it hard for them to see the roosts and their 5th toe is a little tricky for manuevering up there. But I wanted to tell you when I first got my 3 Silkies, they all slept in a pile on the floor under the roost. I contacted the person I got them from and she said "oh, they don't roost just put extra shavings on the floor." So I had my hubby nail some flat boards to the roosts to make sure the Silkies weren't getting pooped on. They pig-piled on the floor for about a month then 1 night, I went to close the coop and found 1 of them on the roost near my 3 bantam cochins. The other 2 silkies continued on the floor for quite some time then decided they wanted to roost too. Everyone has decided they like roosting on the "shelves" better than balancing on the 2 x 4's. I've got a momma with 4 chicks roosting up there now too. I think they just had to see other birds doing it before they decided they could do that too!

I wonder if this has as much as anything else to do with your Silkies deciding to roost? How high off the floor and how broad are your shelves?

For the time being, until I know for sure what gender mix I have in the 5 Silkie chicks I have, I want to build them their own enclosure out in the shed (if it ever gets finished) so I've been looking at all your great ideas and trying to decide exactly what I want to do. I was thinking I might put a 1x4 up just a few inches off the floor in case they wanted to roost. Whatever I build I want to make portable.

Last time I did chick check last night, the Silkies were leaping and flapping their wings and just having a ball, playing like little kids on a playground

 

[PeepsCA]

My roo's comb looks very dry. Any suggestions as to what it might be or how to treat? Here's a picture of Marshall.

From the looks of his messy crest, it may just be an accumulated layer of coop dust/dirt... or do they have wood ashes to dust bath in? (Fine dust gets in all the nooks and crannies, even on the birds). If you are feeding your flock FF it may be a coating of residual food too (my Silkies all wear their FF proudly). Does anyone else in your flock have anything similar going on with their combs?

I'd just take a warm, wet wash cloth and clean Marshall's comb and crest really well (or you could completely bathe him, but that's a bunch of extra work from start to finish until he's fully dried). After you get it cleaned up, if it looks normal and there are no areas that look sore or raw I wouldn't be too concerned.

If it's possibly a fungus then I'd try some NuStcock rubbed in every few days, the sulphur in it will help take care of the fungus.

 

[aaggjg]

Aoxa - I am no silkie expert by any stretch of the imagination, but Doc looks a lot like spook did at that age and I was convinced she was a he... Swept back pouf etc etc. like so many of my other boys. Well she fooled me... But she could still sprout a comb overnight like one of my blue "girls" did at 4 months