The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[delisha]

Quote: Thank you! You're the first person I've know that has one!

How cold can it be outside and still be able to use them?
I used them all last winter. So -20 degrees. I have a small area I insulated for the winter so I could brood chicks for early spring hatches.

Quote: Dirt is good if you have good drainage. You will have rotting issues and predator issues with dirt floors. Any chance you can cement and dirt over the cement? I have wood floors, but my coop is up off the ground and hard wired to keep out predators. I chose to remove ducks from the chickens because of the water issues. Ducks need more water than chickens do. They also keep water containers dirty. I do not feed or water in my coops to keep out moisture and mice. Mice are attracted to the feed. (that you bought and paid for)Lice and mites are carried by mice and so are a host of other nasties. Easiest way to keep a coop pest free is to remove a large source like free feed. Best way to keep combs from frost bite is to keep the coop dry. Best way to do that is remove the water and make sure you have good air flow.

 

[RedRidge]

I have a brinsea and also the larger premier one. I'm using them both outside right now with chicks from 1 -2 weeks old and it's getting down to 40 at night. I have had no problems. I don't think I'd want to depends on the plates only with temps below freezing but with lows any higher than that I've had no losses.

 

[Leahs Mom]

On the Sweeter Heater...how large of an area would it heat? Is it just under it like the Brinsea/Premier or does it actually warm the area too?

 

[SallyinIndiana]

Quote: It was exterior grade for the floor. It is hard to say how much water was in the duck pen this year but that area was never desert dry like it had been in years past. We had an unbelievable number of rainy days compared to prior years. all that rain followed an unusually large amount of snow melting. Then summer was much cooler this year, I'm almost positive we did not get our typical 10 days of at or above 100F. While I'm not one for the hot summers, there are some downfalls to not having that warmer hot weather for a week or so. Everything seems to stay wetter and the bugs don't die off as fast either.

Over all I can't say I'm in love with the ducks. I think I made let them fade out of our poultry plan. They are pretty and fun to watch. I really like how they all follow the leader. And the mallards I was given are very pretty. BUT the mess is really too much for me.

 

[ronott1]

It was exterior grade for the floor. It is hard to say how much water was in the duck pen this year but that area was never desert dry like it had been in years past. We had an unbelievable number of rainy days compared to prior years. all that rain followed an unusually large amount of snow melting. Then summer was much cooler this year, I'm almost positive we did not get our typical 10 days of at or above 100F. While I'm not one for the hot summers, there are some downfalls to not having that warmer hot weather for a week or so. Everything seems to stay wetter and the bugs don't die off as fast either.

Over all I can't say I'm in love with the ducks. I think I made let them fade out of our poultry plan. They are pretty and fun to watch. I really like how they all follow the leader. And the mallards I was given are very pretty. BUT the mess is really too much for me.

Around here, termites will get wood touching dirt very quickly.

I will let the Duck experts answer but I would think dirt or cement with deep litter would be perfect.

 

[potagergirl]

I don't know anything about ducks.
With our chickens we needed a house. The property we moved to had an old chicken house with the
floor half rot. Hubby repaired the floor and laid stainless steel down. Sounds expensive but it wasn't.
Go to your local recycling yard they buy it by weight in tons which adds up to a few dollars sold to
an individual.
Don't know if this will help but it was a great idea for us making it easier for me to scrub the floor of the
chicken house when it's time. I'm thinking maybe a duck house is much larger?

 

[Leahs Mom]

I don't know anything about ducks.
With our chickens we needed a house. The property we moved to had an old chicken house with the
floor half rot. Hubby repaired the floor and laid stainless steel down. Sounds expensive but it wasn't.
Go to your local recycling yard they buy it by weight in tons which adds up to a few dollars sold to
an individual.
Don't know if this will help but it was a great idea for us making it easier for me to scrub the floor of the
chicken house when it's time. I'm thinking maybe a duck house is much larger?

How cold is the floor in the winter? Does it make things colder inside?

 

[armorfirelady]

Lala I wonder if rubber stall mats would work for the ducks? I saw them at TSC for $5 each. You could put them down on the wood floor and perhaps they would help keep the floor underneath drier? I would think that since horse produce more mess than ducks they must work fairly well? Just a thought

 

[LindaB220]

I haven't used a sweeter heater but I have used a heating pad set up on top of some kind of wire rack so the chicks could get under it if they wanted to.

Here is a YouTube video someone put together to show how she did it. It's pretty cool!

Thanks for finding this video for me, I was looking for it on another thread.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Lala I wonder if rubber stall mats would work for the ducks? I saw them at TSC for $5 each. You could put them down on the wood floor and perhaps they would help keep the floor underneath drier? I would think that since horse produce more mess than ducks they must work fairly well? Just a thought

Hmmmmm. I wonder if I could put those on the cement pole barn floor.... Wonder if they'd be toxic to eat off of (since chickens eat off the ground)? Also wonder about the fumes which seem to effect chickens easily....

Finally got the area cleaned out in the pole barn so I can put the kennels in there for winter housing. But the floors are cement and that seems to me like it would be really cold - even with shavings on them since they'll dig around and move the shavings. So I've been trying to think of something I could put down to make it less cold on the feet and legs... Thanks for the idea. I'm going to have to check those out!