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grrr, I love my little coop that my husband built me but oh my gosh it is an ongoing battle. I know the first coop is almost always the one to learn from and learn I have. I had him install a poop board under the roosts and I like that in the summer, I just rake the poop up in a matter of seconds and throw it in the compost pile and the majority of the coop stays cleaner for weeks. I used the deep litter method last winter when I just had the 4 chickens and it worked well, it kept the floor warmer and they still smartly used their egg box. This year with the newbies they dig a nest in the hay under the poop board and I have to get down and dirty to get the stinking eggs out and the older girls decided it was a great idea too! This is bad when I have the daughters gather eggs cause they leave the ones under the poop board....have found a nest of 5 eggs twice now....of course frozen once and a few broke since the oaf of a rooster (Brahma) gets under there. I just enclosed one egg box a bit more hoping it will help keep the straw in better so they are more inclined to use it. Next step is blocking off the area under the poop board with fencing. There are so many things about this one that I like, for instace 2 doors for flexibility but once it got placed one door is useless. I will have to move to get an improved coop though hehe.
 
newmarch2014 said:
grrr, I love my little coop that my husband built me but oh my gosh it is an ongoing battle. I know the first coop is almost always the one to learn from and learn I have. I had him install a poop board under the roosts and I like that in the summer, I just rake the poop up in a matter of seconds and throw it in the compost pile and the majority of the coop stays cleaner for weeks. I used the deep litter method last winter when I just had the 4 chickens and it worked well, it kept the floor warmer and they still smartly used their egg box. This year with the newbies they dig a nest in the hay under the poop board and I have to get down and dirty to get the stinking eggs out and the older girls decided it was a great idea too! This is bad when I have the daughters gather eggs cause they leave the ones under the poop board....have found a nest of 5 eggs twice now....of course frozen once and a few broke since the oaf of a rooster (Brahma) gets under there. I just enclosed one egg box a bit more hoping it will help keep the straw in better so they are more inclined to use it. Next step is blocking off the area under the poop board with fencing. There are so many things about this one that I like, for instace 2 doors for flexibility but once it got placed one door is useless. I will have to move to get an improved coop though hehe.
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The woes of chicken ownership. I feel your pain... There is so much I hate about our out of the box coop its not even funny. Considering the location we have to have ours in, I feel I just need to suck it up and try to build our own from scratch... But I'm not particularly handy. A thing to consider for spring for sure.
Hope the fixing goes all right.
 
Ditto on the coop woes.... we have built 2... and whereas the second is still better than the first... it still has a LOT of room for improvement... especially the run....Hubby said we can build a new one around September (that's when it will be financially possible according to his financial plan ;) lol ) I can't wait... but he thinks the run should be able to keep green grass in it (lol yeah right, I don't know why he thinks it will.... ever...). I told him that the run will not be able to keep green grass...but he argues with me that our backyard doesn't lose the grass.... (yes, well the backyard is VERY large, compared to the run. I did tell him if we had a fenced off free range area, then it will most likely stay grassy there, because I can control when I let them free range in it, unlike the run... Anyways... yeah, I'm excited, there are several concepts I have in mind... but I'd really like at least a 4x8 so that I can split it, and maybe have enough room for a small storage area.
 
So I am starting to understand the phenomena that is "chicken math." How can I get all the chickens I want if I'm only allowed 7, and why on earth did I tell the children they would be allowed to choose? Also, I would like it noted that there is some sort of time eating black hole associated with the forum. I have found it to be particularly bad in the "breeds" and "coops" sections.

Carrie
 
yeah i am on my second coop lol. i understand. its a endless learning experience. and sometimes it takes hands on experience because what works for someone else might not work for me. sadly it can cost a lot to learn what works best for you lol. i hate when the girls dont lay where they should. do you put fake eggs in your nest boxes? sometimes that can help as they like to lay where others do. but i think you have a great plan in place on how to deal with it :)
 
I'm on my second coop as well, and have others planned, but not for my current lot. It's an ongoing process, that's for sure.
 
the-bird-man said:
yeah i am on my second coop lol. i understand. its a endless learning experience. and sometimes it takes hands on experience because what works for someone else might not work for me. sadly it can cost a lot to learn what works best for you lol. i hate when the girls dont lay where they should. do you put fake eggs in your nest boxes? sometimes that can help as they like to lay where others do. but i think you have a great plan in place on how to deal with it
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I was thinking I would go get some to put in the nest box I want them to use to see if it helps so thanks for suggesting it. In usual form my husband outdid himself as usual when I asked for a coop the problem with having an over achiever for a handyman is that you certainly can't rebuild the mini taj mahal of coops .....that gets expensive .
idunno.gif
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crazy Sandy said:
Im is Talorsville (SLC) I have some one that goes to utah counnty every week
Click to expand...
after talking with my husband, we decided I should probably wait to get anything new, as I would hate for someone to be stuck out in this cold if they weren't accepted... as much as I would LOVE to take a speckled sussex off of your hands, I'd best wait... <3
 
I talked to the Kaysville City Zoning department, they affirmed my 7 fowl calculation (he specifically said they rounded down, they obviously don't know chicken math). I have to get a conditional use permit (I think they just want the $50), and no roos.
Carrie
 

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