The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[Melabella]

We had sliding doors last time. Oh how I hated them... They would freeze in and you could not move them. Lots and lots of swearing going on.

We did think of them though. We are not windy here at all, but I will be putting hooks to hold them open in the day time.

I have both types on my barn, facts are, doors are a you know what in the winter time. Both styles have their pros and cons. The 6 inch slab of ice on the north side behind my barn is huge, and such a horrible danger. Putting down any kind of ice melt is out of the question, the chickens see it and think it's some sort of scratch and eat it. The freeze, and thaw, freeze and thaw that has been this winter is God awful. Nemo dumbed 2 and a half feet of snow on the ridge where we live. It's a death trap now. Unless you are out there clearning as if falls, it's inevitable that doors will just be a pain to open and close in the winter. I HATE IT!

Can you tell I'm grouchy this morning?
MB

 

[aoxa]

I have both types on my barn, facts are, doors are a you know what in the winter time. Both styles have their pros and cons. The 6 inch slab of ice on the north side behind my barn is huge, and such a horrible danger. Putting down any kind of ice melt is out of the question, the chickens see it and think it's some sort of scratch and eat it. The freeze, and thaw, freeze and thaw that has been this winter is God awful. Nemo dumbed 2 and a half feet of snow on the ridge where we live. It's a death trap now. Unless you are out there clearning as if falls, it's inevitable that doors will just be a pain to open and close in the winter. I HATE IT!

Can you tell I'm grouchy this morning?
MB

LOL

You're a funny grouch.

Okay.. so what about doors that swing to the inside to create less of a pain? The front door to the main part of the barn was like this and was no problem at all.

 

[TurtlePowerTrav]

I have both types on my barn, facts are, doors are a you know what in the winter time. Both styles have their pros and cons. The 6 inch slab of ice on the north side behind my barn is huge, and such a horrible danger. Putting down any kind of ice melt is out of the question, the chickens see it and think it's some sort of scratch and eat it. The freeze, and thaw, freeze and thaw that has been this winter is God awful. Nemo dumbed 2 and a half feet of snow on the ridge where we live. It's a death trap now. Unless you are out there clearning as if falls, it's inevitable that doors will just be a pain to open and close in the winter. I HATE IT! Can you tell I'm grouchy this morning? MB

LOL You're a funny grouch.

Okay.. so what about doors that swing to the inside to create less of a pain? The front door to the main part of the barn was like this and was no problem at all.

That's what I was thinking, like doors on a house swing inward.

 

[aoxa]

That's what I was thinking, like doors on a house swing inward.

The only issue I see this being is in the chicken area where the shavings may get in the way.. but the door stoop could be up higher to prevent that being an issue...

 

[Bulldogma]

An inward swinging door would work as your main entry door, but the issue with them in the animal areas is that animals and bedding get in the way. Even if you raise the door stop, sooner or later you're going to clock some poor chook that ran over because it was excited to see you. I would say have those doors swing outward and perhaps put a bit of a roof overhang over each door to prevent too much snow from piling up in front of the door.

There's one at the bottom of the page at this link: http://www.transylvaniadreaming.eu/index.php?paged=2

Just a thought.

And while I like pocket doors, in the barn I always found they would get jammed up with bedding and sometimes they come off the trolley at the top and can be a pain to put back. Yeah - both types have pluses and minuses.

 

[aoxa]

An inward swinging door would work as your main entry door, but the issue with them in the animal areas is that animals and bedding get in the way. Even if you raise the door stop, sooner or later you're going to clock some poor chook that ran over because it was excited to see you. I would say have those doors swing outward and perhaps put a bit of a roof overhang over each door to prevent too much snow from piling up in front of the door.

There's one at the bottom of the page at this link: http://www.transylvaniadreaming.eu/index.php?paged=2

Just a thought.

And while I like pocket doors, in the barn I always found they would get jammed up with bedding and sometimes they come off the trolley at the top and can be a pain to put back. Yeah - both types have pluses and minuses.

So you know exactly what I mean about the trolly doors. Pain in the butt. One was permanently stuck for the entire winter. The other we had to really work at every morning and night. The bedding would have to be cleared from the sliding part daily and it's messy. I think you have a good idea there about the other doors. I can have swinging in doors for the front and exit and even the tractor area.. but the two livestock doors could go outward. If it's snowing, I'm going to have to shovel anyway.

 

[Arkansas81]

Well went out the fix the wind damage from the storm the other day. Not to much invovled but it is so cold here. My mom came out to help, we were both froze to the bone before we got back in.
But got everyone squared away for the storm that is fixing to hit. Everyone chowed down on the ff this morning, guess they like that they have something that is somewhat warm to eat in the morning. For a good while now it's not been to bad weather wise but it is making up for it for the next couple of days. I'm so sick of winter!! But since I started the ff the girls are kicking into high gear! I'm starting to recoup some of my money that has been spent. No where near breaking even but any bit helps.

I'm so glad the ff has been so successful, the dry food consumption is way less, helps me out in more than one way. I just can't wait till we get some chicks pippin! Should-hopefully have a new one this weekend. I have a broody that is sitting on 5 eggs now and I've almost got 3 dz ready for the incubator I just bought! Good thing I've already got the chicks spoken for. Man that is a lot of babies if I didn't.

Anywho batton down the hatches boys-n-girls it's going to be a bumpy storm that a brewin!

 

[Arkansas81]

Well went out the fix the wind damage from the storm the other day. Not to much invovled but it is so cold here. My mom came out to help, we were both froze to the bone before we got back in.
But got everyone squared away for the storm that is fixing to hit. Everyone chowed down on the ff this morning, guess they like that they have something that is somewhat warm to eat in the morning. For a good while now it's not been to bad weather wise but it is making up for it for the next couple of days. I'm so sick of winter!! But since I started the ff the girls are kicking into high gear! I'm starting to recoup some of my money that has been spent. No where near breaking even but any bit helps.

I'm so glad the ff has been so successful, the dry food consumption is way less, helps me out in more than one way. I just can't wait till we get some chicks pippin! Should-hopefully have a new one this weekend. I have a broody that is sitting on 5 eggs now and I've almost got 3 dz ready for the incubator I just bought! Good thing I've already got the chicks spoken for. Man that is a lot of babies if I didn't.

Anywho batton down the hatches boys-n-girls it's going to be a bumpy storm that a brewin!

what's up with that?? Good honky!!! Computers

 

[delisha]

I have two doors on tracks outside..hate them both. One is left permanently open and I do not even use the building for chickens. It stores the lawn mower. The other one in the coop, DH made and put another door in front of it , that door pulls open and hooks on the side of the coop. It is to keep it the tract door from freezing..well it does not. I have had to crawl threw the poop door a few times to get into the coop. I have no idea if I could fit threw the poop door any more so I sure hope it does not do it again.

Pocket door will not work on dirt floors. Dirt will get into the tracks constantly. Your door choice is perfect and they have many uses the way you have them set up. You can herd and corral with them, you can direct air flow, you can capture and contain in hall ways..great plan!

Arkansas?

I notice you use this huge print.You can enlarge your reading ability by just holding the ctrl key and clicking the plus sign. Hope that helps.

If you get goats you will have great advantages. You can use the raw milk in the FF and you can feed out piglets on it..they will get huge. We used to have a pig farmer who gave us all of his runts..they really did well on the fermented feed with the goats milk. We had nubians and alpines. I hated milking in the winter..really cold on the hands. If you get goats..you need to make a milk stand. You will love making soap and cheese too.

 

[aoxa]

I have two doors on tracks outside..hate them both. One is left permanently open and I do not even use the building for chickens. It stores the lawn mower. The other one in the coop, DH made and put another door in front of it , that door pulls open and hooks on the side of the coop. It is to keep it the tract door from freezing..well it does not. I have had to crawl threw the poop door a few times to get into the coop. I have no idea if I could fit threw the poop door any more so I sure hope it does not do it again.

Pocket door will not work on dirt floors. Dirt will get into the tracks constantly. Your door choice is perfect and they have many uses the way you have them set up. You can herd and corral with them, you can direct air flow, you can capture and contain in hall ways..great plan!

Arkansas?

I notice you use this huge print.You can enlarge your reading ability by just holding the ctrl key and clicking the plus sign. Hope that helps.

If you get goats you will have great advantages. You can use the raw milk in the FF and you can feed out piglets on it..they will get huge. We used to have a pig farmer who gave us all of his runts..they really did well on the fermented feed with the goats milk. We had nubians and alpines. I hated milking in the winter..really cold on the hands. If you get goats..you need to make a milk stand. You will love making soap and cheese too.

How about bumping up the size of that heated room for future milking stands. I think that would help the hands

Glad you chimed in about the doors. We had shaved the door up so it would be less likely to stick, but it kept on sticking. Such a pain. Wish it wasn't, because it is a nice feature.

We're meeting contractors tonight.