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We have regular size and bantam size chickens, and also guineas. They each seem to roost differently and I don’t know if that’s typical or not.
I had read my chicken books before I got them and before we built the coops. Of course roosts are very easy to add to coops or move or take down so don’t get too worried about what will work or not. Just give it a try and move it to a better location if necessary later.
I had read in my books, STOREY’S GUIDE TO RAISING CHICKENS (Gail Damerow), and THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF COUNTRY LIVING (Carla Emery) , perches should be 2 to 4 feet off the coop floor, allow 18 inches between birds and 18 inches away from walls, using 2 x 4’s or similar. Stagger them so birds are not right underneath each other so their droppings during the night land on the floor and not a bird.
My bantams don’t perch at all and the books said they would only need about a foot above the floor anyway. They prefer to sit in a nest box or hunker in the shavings.
My guineas don’t like to be inside unless it’s cold or nasty out. They will sit outside on the ground, or sit on top of the coops.
My regular sized chickens do like roosts, so on one side of the A-frame coop are the water and food, and the other side are staggered roosting ledges under the sloping roof. The nest boxes sit in between both spaces on the back wall.
nestbox (dishpan in frame)
In the morning when collecting eggs and rousting out any broody looking hens I use a cat litter scoop that I hang on a nail ona wall stud, to clean out the nest boxes and swirl around the shavings under the roosts to incorporate droppings into the shavings and Stall Dry powder I have in the litter. It helps keep out flies and the Stall Dry can help keep bugs at bay, like ants and flies. Occasionally I will haul out the garden hoe and dig down into the litter and give it a good toss, so everything will keep breaking down. Eventually I will scoop out about a third of the litter and replace it with fresh, using the old stuff in my compost heap.
nestbox frame
angled view into one side of coop
Since I’ve had my chickens a little over a year ago, June 2008, I have not had any health issues. They all eat, drink and poop as they should.
I am using the deep litter method for the coops which is great. There has been no smell and everything decomposes. Every so often, maybe every 3 months or so, I shovel out maybe a third of the litter and put back in the same amount of new litter and mix it all together. The reason is, if you remove it all, you remove the little ecosystem of microbes decomposing the wastes.
I was worried about the floor becoming wet or damaged. Has never been an issue with the deep litter method. The top layer has the droppings and wetness and I just mix the top layer around down into about the middle, which then absorbs any wetness. The wet never makes it down to the floor which is just plywood. This litter is about six inches deep or more. Just add a top dress of more litter as it needs freshening up.
I use Stall Dry which is a great product for anyone to use with an animal odor issue. I top dress the litter with this every so often, maybe every couple months or when I perceive odors needing to be contained. The Stall Dry has Diatomaceous Earth to take care of bugs, and also a deoderizer. It does not harm the chickens or any animal, if they should ingest it.
I also mix Stall Dry on the alpaca poop piles and fluff it like making a salad, wait a few minutes for it to absorb moisture, then scooping and cleaning up the pile. I sprinkle a little more to deoderize the remaining ground and also the DE will take care of flies. Then I use the poop to fill any holes or depressions in my yard and/or work the poop into my flower gardens or around trees or bushes. It will not burn the plants. Sometimes the alpacas poop and pee in the barn if the weather stays crummy for a few days, so Stall Dry cleans up and also “clears the air” in there. I just don’t like a smelly barn or coops if I can help it.
So, the books I recommend again for chicken info are “Storey’s Guide to Raising Chickens”, and Carla Emery’s “The Encyclopedia of Country Living”. These kept getting mention and recommendation from others in my research. I found both on Amazon.com and you can watch for them to go on sale. Various bookseller’s will have different prices and shipping, so shop for the very best deal. They are worth their price, even if not on sale.
Read up on the deep litter method and make your life easier. You can find Stall Dry and the pine shavings (get the fine shavings so they decompose faster) at the local co-op usually or Tractor Supply or any ag store. My coops are designed so I don’t have to walk into them and that is also a huge plus.
hanging out with mom
This is our second summer with the chickens. Last year they arrived a few days old in June so they were in our garage housed securely in a stock tank until they were old enough to be in the coops and in the pastures late in the summer.
So, this year I am observing, as the heat has hit us in the 100’s, that they enjoy the barn a lot. I keep the big ceiling fans on and the alpacas hang out in there during the heat of the day for the shade and breezes. We do have the coops up on cement blocks and some also like to hang out there where the winds sweep through and they can fluff in the dirt. The barn has a hard packed dirt floor but they really know how to dig in and make their dust bowls. In the evening in the barn I am putting back the dirt they displaced.
I let a hen get broody and she hatched out some eggs; these 2 were the only ones that survived. They are lots of fun to watch and easier on me because she takes care of them and I don’t have to worry about their comfort.
So I have decided that next time we make coops, because we made one for each pasture to house about 10 each, that the coops don’t need to be so tall. They must be well ventilated and have enough floor space for everyone at night which we have now, using a sheet of 4×8 plywood for the floor (not any finish; I have not had a single moisture issue). The A-frame design is great because it funnels the air from the vents installed down low up and out the vents in the A-frame roof line vents. I also keep the big door open during the day to help the breezes come through. Also, the guineas decided they don’t need or want to be in a coop at night during the summer. They nest around on the ground near each other and I close up everyone else in their coops.
With a little modification to the design to bring down the roof-line, I think it would be a pretty perfect coop. I like it because I don’t have to walk into it. The 4′ depth allows me to reach anywhere inside and the 8′ length is also reachable, although I sometimes use the little kitty litter scoop I have hanging in each one (to clean out the dishpan nests) to reach any stray eggs that may have been laid in the far corners.
If you don’t yet have chickens, I hope you consider getting some from a poultry supplier like Ideal Poultry. You will know your birds are disease free and purebred. The eggs are awesome and I located a nearby egg buyer on LocalHarvest who pays for the feed by buying my eggs.
staying cool in the barn
I loooooove my chickens. I’m not personally attached to any, but I just love hearing them clucking, the silkie bantam rooster crowing, the guineas squawking when they see something unfamiliar, and drinking out of the alpaca’s water buckets. (The chickens have their own water fonts, but for some reason they like to hop up on the old tire that sits around the 5 gal. Tractor Supply buckets and swig away).
I was absolutely petrified about keeping them but then decided what have I got to lose (except maybe a few if I was a real klutz about it). I did my research to see what kinds I should have, and that went out the window when Ideal Poultry had a special on rare breed chickens package (all pullets). I love my rare breed chickens. I also love, love, love the Partridge Silkie bantams. They were a risk as they were straight runs (not sexed, you could end up with all males), but I was extremely lucky and had only one male. Of course you don’t know until they are full grown what you have.
I got a total of 30 (10 Silkies, 10 rare breed, 10 guineas). From zero to 30 is quite a leap but I wanted to have enough that if some did die I would have some left. I lost 3 after several weeks had gone by just because I think they were not thrifty. The others graduated into the coops just fine. Then, recently, with warm evenings, I was keeping the chicken hatch doors open on the coops and that’s when disaster struck. I found one guinea and one chicken dead on separate days (headless, the birds were apparently too big for the hunter to carry off). Then I started counting and found 4 of my Silkies missing (no scattered feathers, so I assume they were small enough the hunter could quickly snatch at night and carry off). Now I do close them up and everything has been fine.
We designed our own coops (very simple A-frames to economically utilize materials and enable good air flow from low venting up and out the top screened vent gables). If you would like more info on the design, let me know. If you need any support in getting started, I have some books and hints that can help you. You can contact me. The only thing is to first check your zoning laws if you are in the city limits, and also your homeowner assocation laws or property deed restrictions.
I advertised on LocalHarvest and got 2 regular egg customers that ends up paying for the feed which is just fine. I’m not looking to get rich, but if it helps pay for something it helps. I sell them for less than the store and one buyer has a co-worker who puts in an order and she takes to her. Local Harvest is the best place to advertise. Selling at farmer’s markets requires some paperwork and I am not quite ready to get out that early and sell yet. You can also find chickens to buy if you don’t want to go through the dependent chick stage. Get a chicken breed that fits you best; do some internet research. Ideal Poultry has a section on breeds descriptions. Give it a try and you will love it
I love to look out and see the chickens swarming over the pastures. I know they are getting rid of nuisance bugs for me. I am thinking of bringing a couple over into the house yard and keep them secured in an empty dog house at night and let them out during the day, but I have lots of flowers and don’t want them to munch on those, but I would like to get grasshoppers eliminated before THEY devour my plants.
I haven’t seen them yet, but seems like the population just explodes overnight and all of a sudden, there they are. So I will have to see how to go about that; maybe after all my little flowers are bigger and bolder. I just don’t want to lose all my seedling flowers.
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