Onyxwar, I did find somewhere on line a video of a chicken pen made out of pallets, I think it took 4 of them. I used part of the design on a new chicken coop that I built, I can post pictures of it tomorrow and see if I can find the link, or you can try googleing it...
Need Help Convincing DH to let me have a few chickens.
What's the point of the poop board, Green? We just let our chickens' droppings fall on the litter and we clean it out and compost it occasionally.
I like your feeder, but isn't there a lot of competition for that small access area? Or maybe since it's always there they don't feel the pressure? I don't think that would work with forty hens, though.
"Poop boards" are highly recommended by a lot of experts because chickens do a significant amount of their pooping during the night....the boards are supposed to make cleaning the coop much easier and necessary less frequently.
Hmmm, we just let the poop fall where it may and clean it out with the litter, occasionally.
Thanks MissJ...I am probably going to use the plans from this book (modified a bit) and use the pallet wood instead of buying new wood. I think I saw what you are talking about and that is what gave me the idea. I would still like to see what link you have and it might help others out too if they are looking to build a small inexpensive one.
The biggest down side to many of the smaller coops is that the perches are above the door. I figure that would not be a good idea since you don't want them walking through the poop. I am going to put the nest boxes above the door and place the perches toward the back corner w/ a poop drawer that I can just pull out to clean.
What kind of wire should I put over the drawer to keep the chickens from walking on it and from getting hurt. I have seen some people say 1"x1" mesh and others say 1/2"x1/2" mesh.
I have between 30 and forty chickens in the big coop,They all eat at differant times so there is never a squabble that I have seen.About 3 feet of the coop when you first walk in is for feed and stuff on one side and the other side is two cages for sikies or little ones or new ones.I use the deep litter method and only clean the coop out once a year in the spring so the poop boards are great for me and it cuts down on the condensation in the winter when it is so cold outside.I could not believe how much they poop when they are asleep.I use sweet pdz granular in the poop boards and scoop it out so a bag last me about 5 weeks.
Ohhhh! Good suggestion about the sweet pdz granular! Is that available at the farm co-op or TS? I've seen something like that but was afraid the hens would eat it. But if it is at the bottom of the poop board then they wouldn't. I think a poop board will be good for my set up as my hens seem to all cluster in one corner of their roost (no matter how hot it gets). Most of the rest of the bedding stays nice and clean. I am so glad you all brought it up!
I have 1.5 x 1.5 hardware cloth already so I was going to use that.
I get it at my ts,and its harmless if they eat it
Here is an argument about eggs you might be able to use Just saying
http://networkedblogs.com/8cZZV
Wow, almost made me cry. How sad it is that they are treated so badly. I knew they were in cramped quarters, but I did not realize it was that bad. I don't know if that would make a difference to him, but now I am definitely going to get some next spring whether he says okay or not. I think I am just going to build a coop over the winter (if I have time) and one day when he gets home from work we will have chickens.
He is going to be working in WY until Feb of next year so he will be staying up there Sun night until Thurs night. I wonder how long it will take him to realize they are there. I bet he wouldn't notice for at least a couple days. Like what Cat said I will not ask anymore, just apologize after. :-) I hope he doesn't get too upset, but if I totally drop the subject until then I can just say "I thought you were just afraid of what the neighbors were going to say and I already talked to them. They don't have a problem with it, so I just figured it would okay."
Now I just have to find someone local to buy eggs from until then.
onyx is it time for your county fair? usually you can get some laying hens from the 4H or FFA kids that had them for projects and now are done. That way they are already established. I did post some pictures of my chicken town in another link, and I also have 2 big girl pens down by the other horses that seem to work well for established chickens. I am keeping breeding trio's separated so I can incubate eggs next year and keep them separate from my layers.
I have seen tons of postings on Craigslist over the past month for pullets that just started laying. I also saw some of the same postings in Feb and March. There is a bunch of agricultural land around our area so I don't think it would be too difficult to find any chickens locally. One of my friends have a neighbor that raises RIR's and sells them to people she knows, so I might be able to get them that way. I think that is going to be my best bet, since she is really particular about who they go to. She wants to make sure her chickens are going to a good home and will not be in an unsafe environment.
I just realized something, I could probably go over and talk to her a bit about coop construction and what type she prefers. Then I can see one in person. Sometimes it is hard to get the idea from pictures.
Onyxwar, LOL. Sounds like my DH and the ceiling fans. He said he didn't want them and I said they would be really good so that we don't have to run the air conditioning too much. He went on a business trip and I installed ceiling fans. He didn't even notice them for almost a year! Honest! Maybe your's just won't notice. Does he go out into the backyard much?
He sits on the back porch and watches our son play on occasion. Other than that he just opens the back door to let the dog in and out. If I put the coop close to the house on the other side of the yard he wouldn't see it unless he walked outside all the way, but that would put it close to our bedroom window.
Yeah....probably don't want the coop near the bedroom window. Too bad those Eggloos are soooo expensive. He probably wouldn't notice that.
I haven't posted on this forum for a while,and I didn't read this thread carefully, but my suggestion next time, is don't ask just do it. He may never even notice (grin). Chickens are inexpensive to keep and they give you eggs.
If you want a cow that's fine too as long as its legal in your area. This may explain why I'm happily no longer married.
Lisa
The Eggloos have been around long enough now that I'm starting to see them on craig's list and the local lists.
I was looking at those, but the price is not low enough for me. I took some plans to my dad (a retired carpenter) and he said we could make it for under $100. I told him we should make a few and try to sell them on craigslist since coops are going like hot cakes and are over 300 for one similar to what we are going to build. He is all for it! My DH is fine w/ the building and selling of the coops and has not said anything about us having or not having chickens. I think he knows that we will have some feathered friends next spring since I have not brought it up again. I guess we will just have to see then. Thanks for all the help.
WOW, Im amazed you found away to make coops and $$$$ also, good fo you.
By next spring your DH will not only agree to chickens he will insist they were his idea! LOL
Couldn't resist posting this picture of Little Bit. Its a guinea keet that got stuck in its egg, now it thinks I'm its mother.
Very cute! What is a guinea? Egg layer, pet, show, meat??
Flea and tick eating noise maker =D! LOL Actually I kind of like them and might want a few but our frontage is on a big curving road and I understand it is very hard to keep them off a road.
We have them as pets and they have also attracted 2 peafowl that are very noisy also. Here's a link:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guineafowl. Mine stand in the road all the time but we only have 5 houses on the 2.5 miles past our house so there isn't a lot of traffic LOL. I didn't mean to hijack the thread. Keep us posted on your coops.