TWEAK MY COOP~Tweaks on the Cheap

[aart]

Mine were panting in nests too....luckily hinged back access door can be held open a few inches utilizing carabiner chains, really seemed to help.

Is it wood in particular that mites are attracted to or just crevices created by occluded surfaces of by any material.
No doubt that airy, well lit coops are not going to be a homey refuge to any insect.

 

[Beekissed]

Mine were panting in nests too....luckily hinged back access door can be held open a few inches utilizing carabiner chains, really seemed to help.

Is it wood in particular that mites are attracted to or just crevices created by occluded surfaces of by any material.
No doubt that airy, well lit coops are not going to be a homey refuge to any insect.

I'd say any crevice will do but wood seems to have the most attraction for them...lots of tiny crevices to be found.

I'd open my outside access doors too if the dog wouldn't just stick his head in and have a meal.

 

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Well...it's done...for now. I can't say I'm completely fond of the roost configuration but until I get the kind of hardware I want, I had to just stick them in there every whichaway. Need to go shopping for something appropriate.

Didn't get the hinges fixed on the nest boxes or even get the nest boxes opened up for air, but there's always tomorrow.

Did get the tarp spread all the way back and that roosting area opened up to more air...wish I had done that around June so the birds hadn't been suffering from the heat all summer but better late than never. I have the perfect fan...never used one before but since I have it and it's stinkin' hot for the gals when they are laying, I think I'll set them up a fan.

Will post some pics when I get them downloaded...this computer is giving me fits.

 

[aart]

Quote: My pup is not inclined to do such a thing, thankfully....not sure he could get in there even if he wanted to.

 

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The same dog was standing up on his hind legs this evening, picking my green peaches and eating them. He'll eat anything that doesn't eat him first. One day I had sprayed a hornets nest with wasp spray, then knocked it to the ground....where he promptly rushed up, grabbed it and swallowed it.

Checked on the roosting situation tonight and I was right...it's not going to work. Will get the right hardware tomorrow and do it all over again on Friday.

Here's a pic of the new framing and such...




And that peach thieving dog eating my peaches!



With the tarp back on, back window propped open and the roosts in place...which will promptly be torn back out and reconfigured.



Sides lifted and tarp replaced to keep it shady and cool in there. Will get my fan put up tomorrow or the next day so that the girls won't be so hot on the nests.

 

[aart]

The same dog was standing up on his hind legs this evening, picking my green peaches and eating them. He'll eat anything that doesn't eat him first. One day I had sprayed a hornets nest with wasp spray, then knocked it to the ground....where he promptly rushed up, grabbed it and swallowed it.

Checked on the roosting situation tonight and I was right...it's not going to work. Will get the right hardware tomorrow and do it all over again on Friday.

Here's a pic of the new framing and such...

New framing is the 2x4 in a trapezoidal shape?

I've been very fortunate with this dog....oh, dare I say it? Ok must add a disclaimer.......he has very rarely in 9 years done anything wrong.

 

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Yes! It's braced against the outer frame and screwed into the top brace. This is the middle brace to the coop but was originally the back brace before I added another hoop and built in the back and front. I just left that old back brace in place when I did the new construction but it was always in the way when I use my pitchfork in there on removing compost or flipping the litter, so I'm glad to have it gone.

Will get hardware today to do a modified ladder roost on those braces and using the back wall.

I was simply amazed at the airflow in that coop this morning...incredibly cooler than it has been and I'm left wondering why I didn't do this sooner?? Next towards that endeavor is to remove some of the walls around the nest boxes and get a fan in there blowing across those nests.

 

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Better roosting accomplished. Once numbers go down, the nearest and largest roost bar can be removed until next season.

Nest boxes fixed except for drilling large key holes in the side of one...but my drill attachment for that seems to have walked off the property.

Boys.

Fan is up, though it's a wimpy fan...and all the dust kicked up there will require it to be cleaned often, but at least the girls aren't panting on the nests today.

The coop somehow looks bigger now, feels bigger too. Come fall I'm going to get my big boys to lever the coop side up so I can slip some treated 4x4s I found in Dad's lumber stack under the frame in strategic places, also cement block. That will give me 4 more inches of height all around and I can place boards in the gaps to keep bedding in. That gives me more litter room, head room, air circulating room, etc.

It's 95* in the shade here...but not in the shade in that coop! 80* there at roosting height, so the coop and the shade tree to one side of it is keeping that coop 15* cooler. The fan blowing into the nests should be keeping those even cooler for the gals.

I also wish all the folks out there battling flies could see this coop...been working up there for a couple of days this week, some of the hottest days of summer, and the only flies I've had to deal with were horse flies trying to get to me. No flies on the feed remnants in the feeder, none on the litter..and it's damp in there from the rains last night, so smells should be drawing them in. No flies. No smells....well...except my FF bucket.

Since switching to FF and composting deep litter, we haven't seen a fly around here. All these chickens pooping all over the lawn and we don't even have a fly in the house now and again. Wasps, but no flies. I LOVE THAT!

 

[aart]

I've found putting the fan right against the window mesh, blowing into the coop,
keeps it cleaner and even blows some of the stirred up dust out the other windows/openings.

 

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Finished product....breezy from front to back and side to side now. Hinges on the left hand nest box unit repaired, as was the latching mechanism.



The longest roost bar there in the front will be removed come winter, after the flock has been thinned down to normal numbers.








I'll go up tonight and see how everyone is fitting on the roosts~if they are too close to one another, facing one another too closely, etc.