Coop Questions

They'll deliver the coop as soon as the concret pad is poured. Is there anything I need to do to the inside of the coop before the chicks go in it (it's still too cold so they'll be in the garage for a while) ? I've been trying to find a thread that mentioned painting the walls with Killz... is that correct? They're going to insulate the walls with ox board so if they need painted or coated with something I'd like to do it before they install them - easier to roll the paint/whatever on when it's on a saw horse. How about the floors, do they need anything, like Killz, porch paint, or vinyl flooring (I can get a roll of seconds cheap).

My darling chicks are out growing the box!! Tomorrow I'm moving them to a big plastic swimming pool. They're so cute!

Annie

The floor might be easier to clean if it were painted. My coops are bare wood and work ok. What have others done?

Annie some of your questions are not ours to answer, I mean some of us have dirt floors, some of us have concrete, some of us have plywood, and the list goes on. It's really a matter of what do you want and why your prefrence. I would never suggest you should do it my way. Were all different and like our way for a reason. I have an insulated coop and I have a noninsulated coop. I have power to some and some have no power. Sometimes it's whats available. The main thing is have fun and no matter what you do, you'll find things you like and things you don't like, it's a real learning experience. Hay.

I used cheap place and press tiles of lino.. but never had a reason to need it. I have shavings in there, and it's never gotten dirty..

I agree with Haystack...

One of my coops was painted on the inside with Kilz and it's nice, but I don't see that it is so much easier to clean.. I think it was more of something for me, rather than practical.
One of my coops is plain wood.. and it's no different than the others.. just maby not as pretty..
My other coop is treated with Thompson's water seal.. same thing.. nice, but oh well...

So like Haystack says. Do what makes you feel good about where your babiez will live, cause it really doesn't matter to them as long as you love them like you do!!

Thank you! I was worried about what might be toxic to the chicks and was thinking of amonia in the coop and how paint might make it easier to clean. Paint has fumes too. I need to plant some shrubs or pines on one side of the run for a wind break (we live on a windy hill top) and got to tinking about what might be poisonous if leaves and/or berries blew into their pen. Can you tell I'm a little obsessed and worried about doing something wrong? LOL!!! Everytime they run to the side of the box to eat from my hand I just ~~melt~~ and feel so protective of them!

While I'm obsessing I'll ask this coop question too so I don't wear out my welcome. I'm going to use shavings in the coop. Should I add some DE to the shavings and about how much DE for a 10 x 12 area? OK, I'm done LOL, thanks for putting up with me, I worry about the chick suffering becasue I do something wrong.

The chicks borrowed the dogs wading pool.

This is Bob doing things his way, as usual!

Here is my sweet Bernadette, she's changing color!

Chickens rarely eat things they shouldn't unless they have nothing else to eat. So I wouldn't worry too much about the odd toxic leaf blowing in. Also some things that are listed as toxic, in reality aren't....my chickens eat every oxalis plant they can find and have totally denuded my wisteria vine with no ill effects.

However, there are some things that are really dangerous, like oleander.

DE? Sorry, I'm acronym impaired. What does DE stand for?

AnnieBBB, plant roses! If you think you are obsessed with your chickies, don't get me started on roses!!!!! LOL! Seriously, I'm planting roses, hollyhocks, and daisies along the west and north sides of my chicken run this year. And then further away from the coop and run I just planted Loblolly pines. My chickens don't seem to mind the wind much, though. They just dig into the bedding and go about their business. It is more for me. The sun does bother them (they are Brahamas) and we put up shade cloth for that and put milk jugs with frozen water in the mornings when it was very hot last summer. That seemed to help them alot!

Have fun with your chickies!

Diatomacious Earth.

wind is not a problem when it is warm, but wind when it is cold is a real no no for the girls. So you might want some kind of a wind break, and then I planted Rhodies, and azaleas for shade and color. They seem to like both and sometimes like to roost in the rhodies. watching your chicks an asking yourself why they do certain things will really educate quickly. Like why do they all want the same nest for laying, and also the privacy issue when laying. many want a dark secluded area to lay in. They will teach you so much if you'll just study them. Hay

If your chickens need to dust bathe, I'd use sand.. they would probably love that. Some people use a lil kid's sand box, but I can't here cause of the cats..

For external parasites, I use Adam's Flea & Tick spray in a blue bottle from Walmart. Once a month or more, I'll spray their roost & nest box.. sneak in there when they are roosting and spray butts and under wings.

I used DE in the coop and my chickens all started having respiratory problems... I hated the stuff, it made me choke and cough every time I opened the nest box door and the breeze caught it.. Never again. Some people swear by the stuff.. not me.

Now for feeding it to the chickens for worms? I didn't believe till recently, when I came home and found my hen had worms. I scrambled some eggs, mixed in some DE and yogurt.. gave it to her for a week.. she is totally cleared up.. I thought it didn't work once it got wet, but for her, it was a miracle cure.

I like rustic and things to look like the job for which they are intended, so I'm with you on the coops! Unfortunately, the zoning where we live doesn't allow it. I feel pretty lucky to be able to have chickens at all. When we built this house my husband and I picked it for that reason OR I would have it filled to the brim with cattle, goats, pigs and have a couple horses to show. You can take the girl out of the country.... LOL

Remember if you use DE get the food grade because there are two different kinds.My tractor supply store opened last night for the first time and I asked about buying the DE and they did not know what it was,the sales person also did not know what flock block was,but he took out his tablet and said he would try to get these things ordered.

Thanks for the reminder to buy the human grade. I saw those flock blocks at the feed store and wondered if they were worth getting. Now that you've mentioned it I'll get one and see how it works. I'm not sure they're old enough for it yet though. The Silkies are almost 2 weeks old, they look like little smidgens conpared to the others that will be a week on on Monday.

Plan to spend as much time as possible outside today, it's going to be beautiful weather!

i have one coop (original I started with) with a floor.. we painted it with kilz one year.. white paint one year.. then i got to pick what I wanted last summer. Kids & I painted it with high gloss paint. Sprays clean much better with the garden hose bc its slicker than snot. Other coop is dirt floor & I painted it the same just bc. (walls not floor)

I give mine peat moss to dust bath in. They loved it. BUT watch the dust they took 4 inches of peat moss & redistributed it in about 48hrs over a 15 x 18 room. If you've never seen 2 inches of dust on a cob web.. just lock chickens, bowl of peat moss & cob webs in the same room for a couple days.

Thanks for the warning LOL. Have one of those round plastic disk snow sleds, I'll fill it - outside - and let them play with it there! Think I'll try the high gloss paint too.

Moved them from the box into a wading pool, they run around flapping their wings since they have a lot more room. I finely grated a carrot to see if they'd like it, that would be NO, each one that took a peck immediately wiped their beak off, very funny! Can't wait until they are old enough to offer fruit and greens. It wasn't quite warm enough to put them outside for a few minutes today, nexrt week it'll be cold again so they'll have to wait. I just love watching them every minute! when I call them they run to me and eat from my hand... I'm such a sucker, they can have whatever they want!

o.. i don't recommend painting light colors... looks dirty within hours of putting them in there. We did a nice dark shade of John Deere green. :)

I was thinking of a medium tan or brown to color coordinate with the poo and cobwebs :-)

It was so awesome today at the gymkana for many hours, then went to some friends for horseshoes, BBQ and Beer... Got a little sunburn on my face, its a burn that I dont mind...

i wanted Nutmeg or Coco.. but the boys wanted John Deere green... with the metal nest box painted John Deere yellow....

John Deere is a great theme!

After the final coat of pain in the coop my DN is going to do some "art work" inside. She wants to make sure the chickens have something nice to look at LOL. Think I'll suggest she paint the nest boxes too.

ours were about 50 yrs old & starting to rust so we painted them with rustoleum paint. We can get it in mini sample cans here about 2 oz in various colors. Thankfully they had bright yellow.

Haha, I had a hard time getting my DN to go to bed tonight, she kept telling me everything she was going to paint inside the coop and even started a rough draft on paper. I'll be lucky if she stays in bed tonight. GREAT that paint comes in the 2oz sample size, she wants a rainbow too! I love that child! This will be a great project for her!

Could someone please explain "flock block" to me? I asked the TS person over the weekend, but they didn't know. I'm going to the farm co-op Tuesday, do I need to know what to look for......

Here Terri

http://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=111647

OHHHHhhhhh! Cool! Thanks, MissJestr!