Utah!

[PacsMan]

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I swore after raising 10 of them inside from January to March that I'd never do that again! I spent weeks dusting off my food storage!

I built an 8x8 shed, and I've got 32 fuzzy butts outside right now. 2 heater lamps and an electric blower heater seem to do ok on an extension cord. They're all around 2 1/2 weeks old now.

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Draft Proof - Good
No Ventilation - Bad

Make sure you find a balance. Lots of ventilation is good.

Hey, heard about your neighbor in the news the other day. Bummer… Sorry!

Marty

 

[writermom]

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I'm sorry to hear about your bird. She sounds like she was a great pet. It breaks my heart to think of how sad your family must be.

 

[Stands With A Fiddle]

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Draft Proof - Good
No Ventilation - Bad

Make sure you find a balance. Lots of ventilation is good.

Hey, heard about your neighbor in the news the other day. Bummer… Sorry!

Marty

Yeah, I know about the Draft-proof versus ventilation. I have a rickety old shed that is a chicken coop. I put a tarp two outside walls to give them a draft-proof area to roost. The back two walls where they DON'T roost is more solid, but has some gaps. That one we didn't put a tarp over to facilitate ventilation. The girls have a one-acre back yard to free-range; mainly we were concerned about having a roosting area that is completely draft-proof where they could snuggle with each other.

I'm wondering how that will end with my neighbor. Oddly enough, we don't talk about it much. I find it awkward - "Hey, what's up? How's work going? How's that felony case against you going? How about those Utes?"

 

[PacsMan]

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[kimbobim]

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Thanks. I think it will be rough around here for a day or two. Fortunately (unfortunately?), life goes on - today our 12-year old will be at the CUSEF at BYU (the regional science fair), and our 10 year old has a piano recital tonight. Still haven't figured out how I'm going to be at two places at once. Should be an interesting day.

 

[NurseDr]

Hi WriterMom, et.al,

I to am new to chickens. Seven fuzzy butts from IFA, 3 Black Sex-linked, 2 RIR and 2 Aruacana's. Only issue so far, is one episode of pasty butt with the two Araucana's. Put their vent under the bathroom faucet and that fixed it. They are 2 1/2 weeks old and I love seeing their instinctive behavior. I thought I would have 8 weeks to get the coop build, but they are ready to get out of the brooder, so I better hurry. The are hopping out when I take the lid off the 90qt rubber made container. With the help of the can of chicken noodle soup I put in there for a roost

I too have the stagecoach plans and I'm about 1/2 way in the building process. I have never used power tools before, what excitement! I am modifying the hen box on the stagecoach to double the size to 4' x 4', instead of 2' x 4' in the plans. 8 sq ft I think was to small for 7 hens and I want to prevent problems. I plan to use the DLM, so cut a pop door in the mid- panel and will only use the trap door for clean out. I plan to insulate the hen house part with RFP board, foil insulation then the tin roof. I could not find the H bar in the plan, so I'm using Jbar for drywall and will reinforce the hen house floor with 1" x 1".

My family has made it clear that these are my responsibility, so I'm automating the tractor. I have three teens, a dog, cockatiel, work full time, finishing a dissertation, cross county ski or swim 5 days a week, bake most of our bread and travel more the 60 days a year. Thanks heaven for my spouse that is full time house husband. So any suggestions to streamline these egg layers will be appreciated. Their purpose is as a food source, not pets. I'm installing an automatic pop door, automatic water, solar fan and power in the coop. Not sure about the feeder yet as the one in the plans looks like more bother then it is worth.

So WriterMom, how is you stagecoach coming? What about permits? Who does and doesn't?

 

[writermom]

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Hey NurseDr.

Welcome!

I put my adult hen in my mostly finished coop last weekend. She's doing well and only skipped a couple days of egg laying since the move, so she must think it's okay. My alterations added a couple hundred pounds to the structure, so the mobility was compromised, but the wheels did allow me to get the coop out of the garage and into the backyard. That was hugely helpful. I plan to have it parked in one place now, and just use the wheels for moving the coop in the event that I absolutely have to move it. It's definitely not a coop one person can move, though. I think it could still become a (somewhat) mobile coop if I alter the location of the wheels a bit. I placed the wheels according to the written plans, cutting the holes for them before I really knew what the hen house portion of the coop would ultimately become.

I didn't use the plans for the automated waterer and feeder. Since my intention is to have these chicken primarily as pets, I want to go out daily to care for them and interact with them. My routine for care involves going out in the morning to let them out into the run. I grab some rubber gloves and a trash can and pick up the poop out of the pine shavings. I then check the food and water, adding/refreshing as necessary. Then I dole out chicken love to my flock

. Later in the day I put treats in the run. On nice days, I grab the chicks from their brooder and let them run around the backyard or front yard with my adult hen. I'll be putting the chicks in the coop once I feel they are acclimated to the overnight temperatures. I don't intend to have a heat lamp in the coop this year, but will set one up in the coop for next winter. I'll have to run an extension cord out to the coop for that.

I have the food and water located inside the hen house, under the nest boxes. I also have water in the outside run. I was going to hang the water out there, but when I hung it in the middle of the run, it made the run seem too small. I decided to tuck it in the corner of the run instead. It's sitting on a brick. That outside water freezes on cold nights, so I have an extra waterer that I bring out with me in the morning to replace the frozen one.

I'm not required to have permits in Cottonwood Heights. I'm allowed to have ten hens and no roosters. Just call your city offices and ask to speak with a code enforcer to find out about your city's chicken rules/regulations.

Here are some photos of the coop:

We're getting hammered with snow this morning, so I can't get better pictures right now. I'll head out later and snap some photos of the interior of the house, and I'll try to get better photos of the run set-up.

 

[hen-thusiast]

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I'm so sorry to hear about Poppy. She was lucky to have you.

Our SLW spent a couple of days in the house last week. I think she was having egg problems. Something was definitely bothering her. Luckily, she's been doing better.

 

[PacsMan]

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Wow, it's happening all over. Remember all those baby chicks I have?
Aparently I can raise 30 other baby chicks, 15 big hens, but not the Barred Plymouth Rocks from IFA...
I've lost 2 out of 6 of those. Just up and crocked. No pecking, no pasty butt, no nothing.
*grrrr*

Marty

 

[Stands With A Fiddle]

Marty, I had a perfectly healthy, happy, and laying Americauna up and croak on me in late February. I was upset about that, because she was my only blue layer and had just started. She had no obvious issues up until then - we just found her in the coop dead one morning. I subsequently read that chickens are somewhat inbred and some of them just up and die of heart attacks sometimes.

In other news, I'm going to get my babies outside this weekend or next. They are getting really big and really messy. I can't believe the distance they can get on the poop they are flinging. I'd stick them outside tonight, but I want to do a thorough coop clean-up before the peeps go out. The cleaning usually upsets the ladies for a day or two, so I don't know whether or not to spread out the upset, or clean this weekend, and stick the peeps out on Thursday night so I can observe them for their first 3 days in the big leagues...

The two Delawares and the replacement Americauna (she's about 3 weeks younger than the rest of the big babies, 2 weeks or so older than the Delawares) have been in another cage and will stay in for another month or so.