Topic of the Week - Kitting out the Coop

[RebelEgger]

What bedding/material works best for the coop floor and the nest boxes?
I use chopped straw in the nest boxes and pine shavings on the coop floor. When I decide to change it out, I throw it in the run for them and mix more topsoil in it. I would love to try the hemp bedding but I can't find a supplier of it where I am (rural Nova Scotia), and any sources I can find online would cost an arm and a leg.

How can you keep the coop dry, especially now, over the winter months?
I never keep water in the coop, all 3 of our heated waters are hanging outside in the run. The windows are all kept shut in the winter and the roof eaves have an almost 2 ft overhang, so nothing can (hasn't yet anyways) blown up inside. I stay in the storage area of the run until my boots are melted off, either that or the girls come in there with me and peck all the snow off my boots!

Roosts and nest boxes - How many do you provide, how much space on the roosts, what do you use as nest boxes and how do you make them attractive for the hens, etc?
We have roughly 25ft of roost space, give or take a foot, lots of room for our girls and any future hatches. They are made from 2x4 with the 4" side for roosting on. It's installed over 8" over the poop board.

We currently have 6 nest boxes for our 11 girls. They are 12x12x12, built in under our poop board, which overhangs it by at least another ft. They mostly use 2/6 and even though there are 4 other options, will fight over those 2. They have a 4in lip on them and are painted a nice soothing shade of green lol I only have one girl (barred rock) that refuses to use them, she likes to lay in the corner of the coop under the poop board on the opposite side. She has me trained to check that corner every day. The nest boxes have 2 access doors that flip down.

What "boredom busters" can you provide to amuse and distract bored, cooped up birds when the weather is really bad?
I currently have 4 roost bars in the coop at different heights. I plan on adding some more. They also have an old bunk bed ladder and a pallet to climb. I have an old set of steps I am going to give them too, as soon as it unfreezes from the ground!

I hung a tire swing for them!

They have a vegetable ball I put cabbage in a couple of times a week. I also hang a scratch bottle they have to peck to get the scratch out of. Or I hang other vegatables.

The shavings in their run I will rake into a pile so they can climb the pile and fling it everywhere again.
I also make homemade suet for them and hang that in a suet cage.
I usually provide tree stumps for them to climb as well, but we don't have any laying around right now.
I have also had bales of hay for them to jump on and scratch at.

What else do you provide/do to make sure the flock is happy and comfortable in there?
Our run is 540sq ft. It is wrapped entirely in plastic to keep the wind and weather off of them. The run floor is topsoil mixed with peat moss and ash from our pellet stove. This spring I would like to get a load of sand for them in their as well to mix in. They have 3 hangings horizontal nipple waterers and 3 hanging feeders in the run and one feeder in the coop - so anyone who is hungry has options!

I recently started making fermented feed and this has been a big hit with the girls.

They also have a stereo so they can listen to tunes in the afternoon - music makes everyone happy!

 

[froggyphore]

What bedding/material works best for the coop floor and the nest boxes?
I only really have experience with coarse shavings. I used hay in the nests once but it got too moist.

How can you keep the coop dry, especially now, over the winter months?
I don't keep any water in it unless I'm shutting them in for a day. This also helps limit the moisture from droppings. I make sure they have good ventilation like the rest of the year, I never cover windows or anything.

Roosts and nest boxes - How many do you provide, how much space on the roosts, what do you use as nest boxes and how do you make them attractive for the hens, etc?
I try to keep a foot of roost space per full sized bird. I've tried all sorts of things for nests and have never gotten a hen to use one. I have a small platform in the top corner of my current coop that they sleep and lay on.

What "boredom busters" can you provide to amuse and distract bored, cooped up birds when the weather is really bad?
any sort of interesting food, even old rice or some fruit scraps keep mine happy. I like to get them bulk cheap fruit and vegetables like grapes and romaine if they've been cooped up especially long. I like to try different types of beans and if I get a can and don't like them the birds always do. Very cheap nutrient dense option, a $1 can provides a good treat for over 10 birds. I boil them really hard beforehand of course. I really like lettuce pinatas and frozen fruit for sustained entertainment. adding peas to a water pan like duck owners do is also good.

What else do you provide/do to make sure the flock is happy and comfortable in there?
Just what I usually give them. Insulation on the walls roof and a deep layer of bedding, I make sure it's clean with good air and that there's always food in the coop so they don't get bored and grumpy.

 

[BDutch]

In the Netherlands we have a mild climate and in general we only have one week with snow and real cold (freezing temperatures during the day) in the whole winter period. Therefore I don’t do much extraordinary.

My bantams and their coop summer:

What I do:

• Late autumn I add a second window to blok the cold winds from the east and close the lower ventilation opening on the north side.
• After the hens stopped laying I mix chick feed in the layer feed and give a bit more scratch because the layer has too much calcium for non laying chickens and a little extra energy is just fine during the winter period.
• I give a little dried mealworms because the chickens cant find much insects in the garden in winter.
• If it’s freezing during the day I connect the water warmer on a timer to be sure the chickens have water to drink.
• Throughout the year the coop/run combination has a sand floor. If the sand floor in coop/run combination gets frozen I add straw.
• If our world is covered with snow the chickens don't go into the run (no roof but netting) and won’t go outside to free range. They just wait in the coop/run combi until the snow starts melting.

 

[Sylvester017]

TY! Wonderful contributed suggestions in this thread!

We thought our new Barn Coop roof was rain-proof -- Nope! So after a season of tarping from rain and no way to keep sun from beating down in summer, we put in a block wall & planned an extra patio roof ABOVE the Barn Coop to keep rain off of it and off us when we collect eggs. The coop is cooler in the summer too with a patio roof over it, plus we swap out the solid floor tray for a wire floor tray for ventilation in summer months. After keeping backyard chickens for 5 years we knew we had to remodel with better chicken accommodations in mind:

Pretty Barn Coop turned out not so waterproof!

Building a block wall -- construction makes a mess! The hens in the raised garden bed soil in front of their coop don't seem to care!

The builders actually built the patio roof over the coop in its final resting place!

Finalized block wall w/privacy fencing and patio roof over coop and run. The pen door is open all day for hens to have free run of the yard.

Wire floor tray for summer ventilation

On rainy days the nestbox stays dry under patio roof. A raised patio slab keeps the pen floor dry too. Sideways blowing wind sort of gets the slab damp but nothing like soaking wet mud floors we had before! We and the chickens got tired of cold wet days!!!

 

[Sylvester017]

Wow is that chicken really eating at the table from a bowl? What a well mannered chicken. Now i can say ive seen it all.

Teehee! We have chickens that sit happily in our lap when we play board games!

SUZU our Silkie watching us play Wingspan -- a bird board game:

 

[Sylvester017]

@Diepage -- Love your snowman video -- chickens follow us ANYWHERE, eh?

 

[Victoria Peckham]

We are first year chicken owners and this roost set up is the best thing I built, the tarp swagging under it catches 90% of dropping, twice a week I sweep/rake off in to my shovel and put in the compost bin. Easy clean

Thank you for this hack! I am definitely going to copy you! My ladder is smaller, in a much smaller space. I was using a cut down box under there but it had gotten soggy (strong wind and rain ) and when I replaced bedding I forgot to put in a new one. Really not looking forward to cleaning it up this time!!

 

[Victoria Peckham]

I feel a bit bad. I have 11 turkeys and 8 chickens and I do NOTHING for them lol. They range all day and they don't even HAVE a coop. They just climb up on top of stuff like the fence for roosting. I do have a goat barn that I keep the floor covered in hey, but they only really go int here to lay. I just assumed they would head in there if they got too cold. I live in south Louisiana so it doesn't get that cold. It will freeze a few times a year and we will have only a few stretches were the temp stays in the 30s all day.

Should I be worried about my girls? I mean I have had quail that just stayed outside without issues but this is my first winter with Turkeys/Chickens.

If you don’t have predators to worry about and it doesn’t get too cold, free range sounds delightful!!

 

[Victoria Peckham]

I’ve read through about half of these responses and have learned a lot. One thing I haven’t seen mentioned is hemp bedding. I use it in their small roosting area and like that it is almost dust free and easy to handle. I use shredded paper in the nesting boxes so they know it’s a different space, but the paper sometimes sticks to the eggs. Still learning! We’ve had less than a dozen eggs, so far.

My first winter and chicks hatched in late August so they were still young when we had a cold snap. Here in Western WA that meant about 15° with high winds for a few days. I was not prepared and ended up wrapping part of their run, including padding the ground, with blankets and furniture so they could find protection but still be outside of their small roosting area if they wanted. I blocked half of their vents. The coop still had plenty of ventilation due to the wind getting through every little crack. Everyone survived and seemed content, but we will be making changes by next year. The chicken tractor/coop kind of works well, but is definitely too small. They free range during daylight hours now. I’m adding an embarrassing pic of my attempt to protect them from the wind and rain.

When it warmed up, I thought the chicks had all lost weight, but it was just because they didn’t have their insulation all fluffed up

Anyway, thank you for all of your posts. It will help me plan for next winter.