TWEAK MY COOP~Tweaks on the Cheap

[LeslieDJoyce]

Yep...that's one of the great advantages to DL in the coop and run...what comes up from the earth to consume the feces. They keep the soil loose for good water absorption, they digest the fecal matter and they provide extra food for the flock. One article I read said that a flock on DL could provide a good percentage of their protein needs.

Our run is pretty big, so it would take a lot of shavings to fill the whole thing. But there are some spots where I think it would be great to put a thick layer of the shavings ...

One of the things we do on this farm is "heel in" nursery stock that's been dug and bundled but not shipped. We use shavings for that. So maybe we can steal some shavings from those spots now that the season has passed. I bet those shavings would be well started with life.

 

[tridentk9]

Great score!!!  I'm currently finding the weaknesses in my all purpose pen when it comes to broodies and chicks......I had to remove a whole trash bag of bedding from that pen because the broody keeps scratching it up to "find food" for the biddies....which means each morning and evening she has buried the water bucket, the feeder and everything else in the pen with the deep litter~and that nipple bucket is hanging chest high to her from the ceiling, the feeder is up on 2x6s, etc....that's how high she is piling this bedding.  She's the busiest, most industrious broody I've ever had in that regard and is a good mama. 

So, the deep litter cannot be used for broody and babies in an enclosed pen...check. 

What about a solid chicken size panel 6 inches or so in front of food/water. Open at both ends, almost like a windbreak. It wouldn't stop all of the shavings, might stop most.

 

[Beekissed]

What about a solid chicken size panel 6 inches or so in front of food/water. Open at both ends, almost like a windbreak. It wouldn't stop all of the shavings, might stop most.

She's kicking them pretty high....up to 3 ft into the air, so not sure how effective it would be. Never had a broody quite like this one....she seems obsessed to get her brood out of that pen onto the grass, so she paces back and forth constantly...when she isn't scratching the bedding obsessively. This pen is pretty big, so it's not like she doesn't have space but she's a free ranger and they hate confinement of any kind...though I've never seen a broody take on like this one.

The only reason I haven't let her out of that pen is because we are having a family reunion here in a couple of days, with lots of little kids who will want to chase the chicks and hold them, so keeping them away from that stress seems to be the best thing to do....but we'll see.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

She's kicking them pretty high....up to 3 ft into the air, so not sure how effective it would be. Never had a broody quite like this one....she seems obsessed to get her brood out of that pen onto the grass, so she paces back and forth constantly...when she isn't scratching the bedding obsessively. This pen is pretty big, so it's not like she doesn't have space but she's a free ranger and they hate confinement of any kind...though I've never seen a broody take on like this one.

The only reason I haven't let her out of that pen is because we are having a family reunion here in a couple of days, with lots of little kids who will want to chase the chicks and hold them, so keeping them away from that stress seems to be the best thing to do....but we'll see.

Broodies will take all the bedding out of the nesting box. They dig down as far as they go wherever they decide to dig. They dig out of the broody cages, or just far enough so the chicks can get out but they can't, which is why we take away the broody cages ASAP. They pile all the bedding in a 11' x 22' coop down by the door so when you open it the shavings spill out. Pity the poor chick that gets in the way ... I've seen chicks flying in the shaving storms.

What we've done, and it works okay-ish, is set up a wire platform under which we place the food for the babies, and we place some adult food on top, so the hens lead the chicks to the feeding station. It is only off the ground a few inches ... the chicks go under.

The regular adult food is in a trough that's pretty high and pretty solid and doesn't get too filled with shavings even when the broodies are active indoors. With another broody we just had to change which end of the coop the food & water went a couple times per day. She'd move all the shavings to one end, and then back again. Now that the chicks are older, we're feeding the birds outdoors, and it seems to be working.

I have this coop we made on a pallet. 6' x 8' I think. We put hardware cloth over the pallet for the floor. It was supposed to be for the ducks, but the ducks hate it -- they're very outdoorsy. I was thinking I'd set that up near the breeding pen and use it for my broodies ... I'd keep a very thin layer of bedding in there, and keep a pop door open to the grow-out area. The idea would be the broodies could nest & hatch in there, and that way the chicks would be in a controlled environment without a ton of litter for the first few days. Then when the chicks are more mobile and the broody starts taking them around, we could continue to put feed & water down for them in the pallet coop ... The trick will be persuading them to move out of the broody house eventually and start eating & sleeping with the rest of the young birds. I guess we do that by closing the pop door and not letting them back in when the last batch of chicks is about 3 weeks old.

 

[Beekissed]

These little ones can reach the tall feeder and I've seen them do it, but they prefer to let her feed them. She will take bits of food and drop it on the ground and call them. Or she will eat some food and bend down so they can pick the remnants off her beak. Their little crops are full, so I'm thinking they are getting enough food. They are even using the water nipples on the bottom of the bucket...the one thing she cannot bury!

I never used to use this much bedding in a broody pen...just a skiff of bedding but not enough to really cover the floor. Don't know why I didn't remember that......

 

[RoseMarie1]

I love these crates, but for some reason my chickens don't really like my nests with slats where they can see each other. Almost all of the chickens, except my larger Cochin ladies, prefer the smaller nests with solid walls between to the larger nests with slats only. I have to spend some time cutting pieces to fit in between and see if it helps everyone become more cozy to those boxes.

I cut up and old bluejean dress I had bought at the thrift store to stuff for a scarecrow to keep the hawks off by chickens hopefully. Anyway I cut it in strips and laid it across the top of the crates and down the sides and now they can't see one another and they're laying in them now. In fact they're not wanting to use the closed in ones. lol I think these crates are much cooler right now to.

 

[RoseMarie1]

For the past 3 years I have used a silver tarp on this hoop coop, thinking the color would reflect the light and keep the coop cooler. I was wrong. I removed that old tarp and placed a bluish-green tarp on it as a temporary measure until I could get the coop construction done. Meanwhile I had removed the back "porch" shelter, combined it with the front porch shelter and made a longer, more hooped around porch on the front and covered it with a green tarp as well.

My coop is several degrees cooler just with these two changes!!!

I can actually FEEL the difference in there. That grey/silver tarp was letting in too much light, apparently, because the coop feels shady and cool compared to. I was thinking the darker colored tarp would absorb more heat from the sun and just bake it in there but it is not....am loving this simple and accidental tweaking lesson.

It just so happened we cleaned out the shed recently and found a bag with a brand, spankin' new tarp in it and no one could remember from whence it had come....so read FREE, because we would have remembered buying such a thing. Sometimes people give us stuff they pick up at yard sales and such that they think we can use and we both feel like this is one of those things. Hence the lovely sea-colored, heavy duty tarp now on the coop....a FREE accidental improvement. Not only that, it was the exact size needed for this coop when I place the additional hoop on the back. Win/win!

I know folks don't feel like God involves Himself in our lives to such a degree that He sorts out things like tarps on a chicken coop, but I have seen over and over where little things that benefited us that could not have been mere coincidence(I no longer believe in coincidences) were on hand and fit a certain project or need in our lives like it was tailor-made for the purpose. I call that God given. For this I praise His name!!!

YEA That's awesome Bee don't cha just love it when this happens!

I came on here wondering if you ever got your new pen up and tweaked and wanted to see your changes. Was looking to see for pix and I found this post. I'm going to do me a porch on mine to because I'm tired of sunshine after 12 shining in on their ff and also tired of getting wet trying to get into the pen. I also have something I am trying my dead level best to figure out WHAT I can do with it that someone gave to me. PART of it I plan on making wings with like you did on your coop for shade on the west side of the gazebo pen. When the person told me about the stuff I thought it was thicker or more solid than it is though. It's something they use on the roads and he said it would work to have shade for them but I'll have to double or triple it for shade but he said there was like 300' foot of it on the roll. I'll have to get pix of it when I start unrolling it so I can get that shade cloth made for that pen. Was going to sew it where I am going to put the grommets so those areas will be thick or might not even have to do that since it's going to have to be doubled or tripled to make it more shaded. One thing for sure the water will drain out of it. lol Anyway the roll is sooo wide we didn't have any where to put it except for laying it ON the top of the 16' pool. So it's resting there at the moment. I ALSO plan on making me a COVER for that pool with it to keep out leaves in the wintertime and bugs in the summer time. I'll just cut it round and hem the edges and the rain will go through it and not hold water on top. That's my first plans for it when I saw how porous it was.
Anyway I can't wait to see your pens!!!
I also don't believe in coincidence. Things happen for a reason and not by chance. Don't believe in luck either it's blessings!!!!

 

[theawesomechick]

Updates on all your coops, please?

 

[niter]

I would like to have more room for a larger flock and am torn between a second, larger coop or tweaking my existing coop. Currently, I have the Garden Coop, which I love, but am limited by size. After looking at around at coops it occurred to me that basically what I want is the size of the garden coop (hen house and run) but enclosed. We let our chickens out dawn to dusk and they do not use the run much (I do understand this will change in the winter so another run may be in our future). What I was thinking was use the existing frame and build coop walls for a larger coop.

Has anyone done anything similar to this?

 

[aart]

I would like to have more room for a larger flock and am torn between a second, larger coop or tweaking my existing coop. Currently, I have the Garden Coop, which I love, but am limited by size. After looking at around at coops it occurred to me that basically what I want is the size of the garden coop (hen house and run) but enclosed. We let our chickens out dawn to dusk and they do not use the run much (I do understand this will change in the winter so another run may be in our future). What I was thinking was use the existing frame and build coop walls for a larger coop.

Has anyone done anything similar to this?

That's a great idea!.... to close in the garden coop/run frame as a larger coop...then building an attached run.
You may free range most the time, but weather and/or predstor issues might make you really glad you have a secure run in case you need it.