Re: New and improved chicken coop

On Jan 8, 10:48 am, Shag <travis...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Jan 6, 9:10 pm, rjmac...@xxxxxxxxx wrote:





On Jan 6, 6:35 pm, Shag <travis...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On Jan 6, 1:43 pm, rjmac...@xxxxxxxxx wrote:

On Jan 3, 3:04 pm, Shag <travis...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

I'm trying hard to learn to be a hick since I moved out to the
country.  Yeah...  maybe we went a little overboard for 4 chickens
but...  (actually only have 2 chickens, but are gonna get 2 more very
very soon).  Still gotta make a couple of nesting boxes for the coop,
have to make a small ramp that leads up into the coop, have to set up
the food/water supply stuff, a little trim work, add a latch on the
small doorway into the coop...  little stuff like that, but it's
mostly done.  At least the hard part is.  It is 100% enclosed (floor,
ceiling, all sides) with welded wire fence.  Overall dimensions are
8'X8'X6' tall.  Doorway is 2.5' wide.

http://photos-c.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-sf2p/v649/125/7/1437904395/n14...
2 doors for easy access to coop/nesting boxes for collecting eggs:http://photos-d.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-sf2p/v649/125/7/1437904395/n14...
The doorway so we can clean it out and get them fresh food/water:http://photos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-sf2p/v649/125/7/1437904395/n14...
Shot showing how the top is also covered with the welded wire
fencing.  Nothing's gonna get in or out of this thing unless we want
it to:http://photos-f.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-sf2p/v649/125/7/1437904395/n14...

How's the new coop working out by now ?

Randy

Really well, thanks for asking.  Both chickens we have so far (Ann and
Betsy) walk up and down the ramp into and out of the coop/run and seem
to enjoy themselves out there.  The feeder and the waterer we have
should be enough to feed/water at least 4 chickens a day with only one
refill per day so that will work out since we can refill them when we
check for the eggs.  I thought the little kids would enjoy the
chickens the most but actually the oldest one (evil step-daughter #1)
seems to like them more than the little kids.  We had her and her
boyfriend go out there tonight to be sure "the girls" got into the
coop for the night and got locked up.  I mean that the chickens got
locked up.  heh heh  Kim (my wife) worked on the coop some yesterday
and added a roost inside the coop and a stepped-ladder kind of coop
the outside and also put more trim on the coop.  Oh, and Kathleen
(evil step-daughter #1 I mentioned earlier) helped out.  I've got
about $20 to get by on until payday this Friday but then we're gonna
go pick up a couple more chickens.  We'll see how it goes.  As always,
stay tuned...  :-)- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Good to hear.  You must have a small waterer.
If you were closer I would give you some more chickens.
We enjoy kicking back and watching the birds interact.  I know it
sounds
a little strange but try it sometime.  They enjoy socializing.
Have you got nest boxes setup in the coop ?

Randy

The waterer holds only one gallon.  So far the two chickens we have
are only drinking maybe a pint of water a day between the two of them
but it's cold outside and they're still young so I'm guessing by the
time we have 4 full-grown chickens that they may very well go through
a gallon of water a day during the summer at least.  Yeah, I went out
there the day we put the chickens in the coop and drank a beer while I
watched them walk around.  They followed me as I walked around their
enclosure like they enjoy being around people.  We have one nesting
box in the coop so far.  They're still too young to lay so they're
just kind of ignoring it for the most part so far.  We're gonna pick
up a "double" nesting box when we go back to get 2 more chickens this
weekend.  So we'll have 3 nesting places and 4 chickens.  That should
work for now.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

You can make a nesting box with just about anything.
Some of our neighbors had some old plastic milk crates and just
set those on their side and tossed in a little hay. Chickens don't
care.
Just keep them cleaned out every so often and watch out for snakes
that crawl up in them. I hate it when that happens. Had to pull a
6ft
black snake out of a nesting box once. Small coppehead out another
time.

Randy


.

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