Washingtonians Come Together! Washington Peeps

[WhiskiRanch]

Soon, we will be moving our chicken coop. Right now its a 16x16 and is between 7 and 6 feet tall. We will be building a new one over by our long barn closer to my tack/grain room. I'm wanting it to be a 48x16 seperated down the middle to make it two 24x16s. Having the coop/run closer to the tack/grain room also means it will be closer to power and water. We are expanding our shop this summer so the coop will have to be redone in another spot. I'm hoping to get some runner ducks this spring and that is why I want the coop seperated so they can have their own space and get use to the chickens thru the fence before I start turning them out during the day.

 

[walady944]

yum; gonna try this!'Thanks,
Lynn

 

[FirewifeJess]

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I really think the water must have spilled and gone unnoticed, and the litter isn't drying. I will provide pics of the coop and all the ventilation, but that's likely the reason. I'll take out the water and clean it all out and start fresh tomorrow or Monday and see how it goes for another couple weeks. I'll use more litter and throw some scratch in there every day to encourage them to stir it up too. Hoping that'll help us out! Otherwise I have to figure out how to install poop boards in a very precarious location, doh!

 

[TurtlePowerTrav]

I really think the water must have spilled and gone unnoticed, and the litter isn't drying. I will provide pics of the coop and all the ventilation, but that's likely the reason. I'll take out the water and clean it all out and start fresh tomorrow or Monday and see how it goes for another couple weeks. I'll use more litter and throw some scratch in there every day to encourage them to stir it up too. Hoping that'll help us out! Otherwise I have to figure out how to install poop boards in a very precarious location, doh!

I would only remove the wet stuff and leave the rest, otherwise the process has to start over with keeping healthy breakdown. Then replace what you take out and add .5-1" of new and stir.

 

[FirewifeJess]

It's all damp, it's all been stirred 3 times since I started noticing a problem.

 

[TurtlePowerTrav]

It's all damp, it's all been stirred 3 times since I started noticing a problem.

Then pick out each individual wet piece.

JK. Yeah, ya need to start over. Sorry.

 

[WhiskiRanch]

What would be a good way to get my girls to lay in their nest buckets instead ofon the ground in their house? They were laying in their buckets and then started laying in their two houses where they sleep. I put one bucket in their house but they haven't used it yet. I have even found eggs occasionally outside their house in their run.

 

[FirewifeJess]

What would be a good way to get my girls to lay in their nest buckets instead ofon the ground in their house? They were laying in their buckets and then started laying in their two houses where they sleep. I put one bucket in their house but they haven't used it yet. I have even found eggs occasionally outside their house in their run.

Do you have dummy eggs in the nest boxes? That helped my girls recognize a safe place to lay their eggs. Nest box curtains can help too, since they like their privacy. Where are the nest boxes you want them to lay in? Are they in a nice dark secluded place?

 

[TurtlePowerTrav]

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Also make sure the roosts/houses where they sleep are higher than the nest boxes.

 

[FirewifeJess]

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Oh man. Yeah I just got back from taking DH to work. With the kids. So we could have the car until Monday. They're now complete wrecks and tomorrow should be interesting, but after church we'll head to Reber Ranch and nab some shavings. And a heated dog waterer for the run.