The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[Bulldogma]

Delisha - I love seeing pictures of your coops! Your setup is one of the reasons I made sure to put broody/separation areas in my new trailer coop! I would love it if more folks shared too... LM's coop is really neat - the more I see the more ideas I get for things I would like to try to do.

 

[Sally8]

Delisha - I love seeing pictures of your coops! Your setup is one of the reasons I made sure to put broody/separation areas in my new trailer coop! I would love it if more folks shared too... LM's coop is really neat - the more I see the more ideas I get for things I would like to try to do.

x2

 

[Mumsy]

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.

 

[jockeyeba]

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.

 

[jockeyeba]

Delisha - I love seeing pictures of your coops! Your setup is one of the reasons I made sure to put broody/separation areas in my new trailer coop! I would love it if more folks shared too... LM's coop is really neat - the more I see the more ideas I get for things I would like to try to do.

x2

X3

 

[PeepsCA]

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

 

[Pozees]

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.

Totally a keeper!

 

[Mumsy]

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.

This unit is 20"x40"x60". I don't know how big Catdance Farm pair pens are. Pairs or trios of Silkies don't have to be housed permanently this way. Just a few weeks at a time.
I can also easily turn these into brooders or intensive care, or show conditioning pens.

 

[Leahs Mom]

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.

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

 

[zinia8]

Looking for input on how and when to intragrate new chicks to older hens. Chicks are in the brooder for now.
Planning on making non med starter ff for them.
Should I get a clump of sod from the yard and put it in with them?(have dig under a foot of snow)
What should I look out for as far as disease or sickness that could be transferred between the two groups. I have never noticed anything in my older girls. But what are the odds of something being wrong with the chicks and make the older girls sick and vise versa.
Hope this make sense.