Chicken coop owners

I'm out in the country so my coops are larger than backyard size.  My year-round coop is 7x14, insulated with electricity.  It's also got an attached 8x20 covered run.  At present I've got 6 hens in there but I've had as many as 30.  I free range them except in winter. 

I had ventilation problems my first winter.  Whatever you build, make sure it's "airy" but draft free.  I had to cut vents in mine in sub-zero weather to fix it.   

With a small amount of hens I like to use a heated pail for water instead of a heated font.  I found those to freeze up where the pail doesn't.  I also have lights on a timer.  Right now they come on at 3:30am and turn off at 8am.

One of the best tips I received was to coat the floor with gloss oil enamel paint.  It cleans up much easier when it has a coat or two of that.  I got mine from the county's recycling center for free.  It's nasty tan in color but it gets covered with pine shavings so I didn't care.      

Just saw this $595 Chicken Tractor at the feed store. 

I sunk six or eight fence posts and put 3/8 CDX on it for about a for by eight with a shed roof with tar paper. Six foot chicken wire for the outside and had to put a top on to keep the chickens from flying out. Once built the coop out of logs (scrap from clean up) and again chicken wire.
Electricity? Heater? These are chickens.
After the last batch was gone one sex link hen escaped. She lived in the doghouse with the dog. Go out to feed and water the dog on a very dark winter night and have something big and totally invisible fly up in your face. (For those non-chicken people, sex link hens are totally black.) It would wake me up quickly. Home grown eggs are bigger, tastier and when cracked in the skillet stand up nice and high.
Don't wash the eggs and they last longer.

The old hillbilly

Bob

Just remember, where there are chickens, there is chicken $hit

Focker said:

fishlessman said:

Focker said:

Thanks again everyone, appreciate the advice.

Think I'm gunna hafta move this project back one notch, and give my Chevy the much needed Alpine and Polk treatment instead.  

Help my brother build his, and take notes...and get his eggs for now.  Will most definitely revisit all of this.  Still undecided on free range tractor vs coop.

you dont have to go all out on a chicken coop, a couple old pallets torn apart made into a box, sme chicken wire and some staples. chickens are weather hardy, dont eat much in the winter, eat whatever they find, table scraps, some cheap feed. i would have them but my property is zoned wrong and theres no way to keep the raccoons out. raccoons, skunks, coyote/wolves, fisher-cats are abundant in my 0.1 acre homestead

Thanks fish, this thread will be revisited.

Just curious, why not just buy them from the store?   Eggs are fairly cheap and you don't have to deal with the smell, hassle, expense, etc.  

Or is this just another hobby, which I get if that's the case...

RedSkip said:

Focker said:

fishlessman said:

Focker said:

Thanks again everyone, appreciate the advice.

Think I'm gunna hafta move this project back one notch, and give my Chevy the much needed Alpine and Polk treatment instead.  

Help my brother build his, and take notes...and get his eggs for now.  Will most definitely revisit all of this.  Still undecided on free range tractor vs coop.

you dont have to go all out on a chicken coop, a couple old pallets torn apart made into a box, sme chicken wire and some staples. chickens are weather hardy, dont eat much in the winter, eat whatever they find, table scraps, some cheap feed. i would have them but my property is zoned wrong and theres no way to keep the raccoons out. raccoons, skunks, coyote/wolves, fisher-cats are abundant in my 0.1 acre homestead

Thanks fish, this thread will be revisited.

Just curious, why not just buy them from the store?   Eggs are fairly cheap and you don't have to deal with the smell, hassle, expense, etc.  

Or is this just another hobby, which I get if that's the case...

They taste better. I'm a store buyer, cause Ima lazy.

nolaegghead said:

RedSkip said:

Focker said:

fishlessman said:

Focker said:

Thanks again everyone, appreciate the advice.

Think I'm gunna hafta move this project back one notch, and give my Chevy the much needed Alpine and Polk treatment instead.  

Help my brother build his, and take notes...and get his eggs for now.  Will most definitely revisit all of this.  Still undecided on free range tractor vs coop.

you dont have to go all out on a chicken coop, a couple old pallets torn apart made into a box, sme chicken wire and some staples. chickens are weather hardy, dont eat much in the winter, eat whatever they find, table scraps, some cheap feed. i would have them but my property is zoned wrong and theres no way to keep the raccoons out. raccoons, skunks, coyote/wolves, fisher-cats are abundant in my 0.1 acre homestead

Thanks fish, this thread will be revisited.

Just curious, why not just buy them from the store?   Eggs are fairly cheap and you don't have to deal with the smell, hassle, expense, etc.  

Or is this just another hobby, which I get if that's the case...

It's a prepper thing.  You know, when society collapses, at least you got eggs and chicken.

When soci ty collapses I'm going to Canada.

pgprescott said:

RedSkip said:

Focker said:

fishlessman said:

Focker said:

Thanks again everyone, appreciate the advice.

Think I'm gunna hafta move this project back one notch, and give my Chevy the much needed Alpine and Polk treatment instead.  

Help my brother build his, and take notes...and get his eggs for now.  Will most definitely revisit all of this.  Still undecided on free range tractor vs coop.

you dont have to go all out on a chicken coop, a couple old pallets torn apart made into a box, sme chicken wire and some staples. chickens are weather hardy, dont eat much in the winter, eat whatever they find, table scraps, some cheap feed. i would have them but my property is zoned wrong and theres no way to keep the raccoons out. raccoons, skunks, coyote/wolves, fisher-cats are abundant in my 0.1 acre homestead

Thanks fish, this thread will be revisited.

Just curious, why not just buy them from the store?   Eggs are fairly cheap and you don't have to deal with the smell, hassle, expense, etc.  

Or is this just another hobby, which I get if that's the case...

They taste better. I'm a store buyer, cause Ima lazy.

TBH, not sure I know what an egg tastes like.  Butter, cheese, ham, bacon, salt and pepper...that's the foundation of good eggs!

RedSkip said:

Focker said:

fishlessman said:

Focker said:

Thanks again everyone, appreciate the advice.

Think I'm gunna hafta move this project back one notch, and give my Chevy the much needed Alpine and Polk treatment instead.  

Help my brother build his, and take notes...and get his eggs for now.  Will most definitely revisit all of this.  Still undecided on free range tractor vs coop.

you dont have to go all out on a chicken coop, a couple old pallets torn apart made into a box, sme chicken wire and some staples. chickens are weather hardy, dont eat much in the winter, eat whatever they find, table scraps, some cheap feed. i would have them but my property is zoned wrong and theres no way to keep the raccoons out. raccoons, skunks, coyote/wolves, fisher-cats are abundant in my 0.1 acre homestead

Thanks fish, this thread will be revisited.

Just curious, why not just buy them from the store?   Eggs are fairly cheap and you don't have to deal with the smell, hassle, expense, etc.  

Or is this just another hobby, which I get if that's the case...

Hobby. I like having hens around. Ducks too, they are entertaining but get eaten more frequently, so got none at the moment.

Focker said:

pgprescott said:

Focker said:

Thanks again everyone, appreciate the advice.

Think I'm gunna hafta move this project back one notch, and give my Chevy the much needed Alpine and Polk treatment instead.  

Help my brother build his, and take notes...and get his eggs for now.  Will most definitely revisit all of this.  Still undecided on free range tractor vs coop.

That's a tough call. Fresh eggs VS. sweet tunes. 

I hear ya.  I can do it fairly cheap nowadays, working my way around an old '94. 

Prices have come way down with car audio stuff.  Will be nice not having cassettes. 

Some of my best music is on cassettes! Still have some 8 tracks, too.