Getting Ready For The Cold…

Talulah

Seasons usually get dumped on us overnight, which isn't always bad, but the unpredictability of them finally settling in can be frustrating

As usual, our cold weather snuck up on us quickly. My focus, when building the coop, was how to keep it cool, as I sweated through the Memphis summer. Now, here it is the last week in October and we are seeing nights dropping into the upper 30's. I know for a lot of folks that temp is not bad at all but it will get frigid here.
 
When we were researching information about coops I saw a few folks were putting ceramic heaters or other sources of heat in their coop. In the back of my mind I was thinking that I would be getting one about this time.  Friday night Liz and I sat down at the computer to see what other coops were using, and really investigate ceramic heaters versus the deep litter method.

The old saying goes "the more you learn the more you find out what you don't know". It seems that the best heater to get is no heater at all. The message was clear and simple mainly from the coop owners up north. Provide a good shelter, draft-free (not too air tight), deep litter and let the girls snuggle and generate their own heat. What you don't want them to do is go in and out of hot to cold environments and catch cold.

Let them adjust to the environment.  After all, they do have their own high-end, top quality down-filled coats! 

There's a duck!

When I was a kid I had ducks. From what I remember, we had a small fenced in area for them and a small shelter. I know we had these ducks for a few years before we gave them away to live on a farm. Winter seemed to not be a problem. One year we had a  record snow around Christmas. Daffy, pictured above, loved the snow.

This weekend we took care of a few open gaps on the side boards of the coop and added a lot more litter than we had been using. In the coop we mainly used straw. In the run, we used a combination of straw, wood chips and leaves. The girls had a blast when they returned to the run from their daily outing in the yard. They where like kids jumping into a pile of hay. In a matter of minutes, they had spread out the piles and created little nest to take their naps in. In the late  afternoons we will throw in some cracked corn and crushed oyster shells for a boost of nutrition and to help their digestive system do its part in keeping their bodies warm.

So again, we are new to all this, are not experts and encourage you to also research the topic. We also welcome your comments on chickens in the winter.

Harry-



As I get ready to publish this post I'm thinking about the East coast,  getting blasted with a little bit of everything. Hopefully everyone has had time to get prepared for whatever comes. Stay Safe!

Liz-

Why City Kids And Chickens Need Each Other!

Children growing up with animals is especially important in today's world. There are so many life-lessons to be learned. Loving, caring and responsibility are a priority. Watching your kids and grand kids interact with animals is not just a great photo-op but a chance to jump into a real conversation with them. His article also covers our beliefs  and efforts in our Recycle Cycle!

-Written by Morgan Emrich  and borrowed from thegardencoop.com

Growing up with chickens: 5 things city kids learn by keeping a backyard flock

If you frequent Coop Thoughts, chances are you caught this recent coop-building story by Morgan Emrich. I love his take on things, so I invited him to author a post about his experience keeping chickens. Here it is. . .

Kids, Meet Chickens

I would love to raise my kids on a farm. For a lot of reasons, that’s not going to happen. Like the majority of Americans I’m tethered to the city. But that doesn’t mean my children (9, 7, and 5 years old) can’t learn some of the lessons that farm kids take for granted.

Enter chickens.
Turns out a small flock of hens in the backyard can go a long way towards exposing children to things most city dwellers only get to read about in books. The concepts of natural cycles, environmental stewardship, biology, and our place in nature are no longer abstractions for my kids. Thanks to a small coop and a few chickens, these types of things have become concrete realities.

         In particular, their feathered teachers have taught them five key lessons:

1. Where Their Food Really Comes From

Last spring, we had a young hen that hadn’t yet laid an egg. My younger daughter picked her up at the exact moment she decided to produce an egg. The egg settled in the crook of her arm. It’s possible for a kid to believe that eggs come from the back of grocery stores, but watching an egg come out the backside of chicken makes it pretty hard to hold onto that belief.
This morning, my seven-year-old son asked where bacon comes from. I told him what a pork belly is and how it’s cured and smoked. He shrugged and chewed away. It’s no shock to him that food comes from animals. When a chicken goes in the crockpot he knows what it is. He understands that dinner used to be walking around, pecking away, and crowing or laying eggs. He also knows that we want that animal to have been treated humanely when it was alive.

2. Natural Cycles

When you care for chickens, it’s hard to ignore some basic natural laws; namely, that nature operates in a cyclical fashion, and everything is connected. City life leads many kids to believe that food appears in big trucks from faraway places, it gets eaten, and its remains get hauled away. No more consideration on the subject is needed.
With the help of our chickens, what comes into our household, stays in our household (Vegas wishes it had it so good!). Our kids bring our table scraps out to the coop and exchange them for some fresh eggs. And even after we eat those eggs, the cycle keeps spinning — the shells go into the compost, releasing their minerals to the soil, the vegetables, then to us or our hens.
Of course, it’s possible to learn this same lesson with simply a compost pile, but composting isn’t nearly as fun to watch as a group of hungry hens tearing into last night’s dinner.

3. Our Dependence on the Countryside

Fact is, backyard chickens or not, cities depend on the surrounding countryside for their survival. We all depend on a healthy farm economy. We depend on a healthy ecosystem and people working the land for our way of life to continue. Obvious maybe, but hard to actually see in daily life.
A trip to the country feed store to pick up chicks offers a peek into a different world. Agricultural tools, supplies, animals aplenty. My children have visited small farms and country folk to buy pullets, straw, and feed — not to mention countless trips to u-pick farms. More than once, we’ve left with live hens in one arm and frozen rabbits or meat in the other, all the while developing relationships with people who make a living off the land.

4. How to Treat Each Other

Joel Salatin raises cows, chickens, and hogs on his world-famous Polyface Farm in Virginia. His animals live mainly outside. They breathe fresh air, eat grass and bugs, and generally live splendid lives. He rails against confined animal operations that have become the norm across our country. While Salatin has empathy for the animals, his main concern is more far-reaching, more about humanity than about the individual animals. Salatin says that when a culture treats animals with disregard, it’s easy to extend that same disregard to our fellow humans. We risk becoming more callous toward life in general and less sensitive to the pain we inflict on others.
When we’re building coops, buying feed, and fencing off areas of the yard, my kids and I have conversations about the choices we are making. Will this be enough room to keep them happy? Is there enough calcium in the feed for egg production? Do you think that they’ll be protected from the wind in this kind of coop? Is there enough sunshine in this spot?
To answer these questions correctly — heck, to ask them in the first place — we need to assume a relationship exists between the hens and us. If we can keep them happy and provide for some very basic needs, we’ll benefit by getting yummy, healthy eggs. It’s a reciprocal relationship where we both benefit. If we keep the hens happy, they’ll help keep us fed. If we treat them poorly, they’ll suffer from ill health, maybe even death, and we’ll suffer from a loss of eggs, at the very least.
It’s hard to imagine a better model for how we should treat each other: look out for one another, lend a hand, and don’t demand too much in return.

5. Life and Death

For something to live, something else has to die. Raising hens gives children a glimpse into this existential truth. Keep chickens long enough and your kids will be witness to the death of an animal.
My children have seen baby chicks die for unknown reasons. A neighbor’s dog got into the yard recently and killed two hens. My daughter held a wake, kind words were spoken, and the beloved ladies were buried in the backyard, deep beneath where our new hens now poke around.
Last summer, a farmer skillfully butchered a few of our older hens as we watched. My kids know that life literally goes on — and they understand it in a way that other kids (cousins, friends) do not. It might be overly dramatic to say that our chickens gave their lives so that we could learn these things, but it’s true in a sense, and I’m grateful to them for that.

A More Natural Life

It’s entirely possible to teach my kids about ecology, animal rights, and the cycles of life by using books, videos, and lectures. Parents and teachers attempt it all the time. Possible. But I have my doubts that any of it really sticks. There’s very little that is life-affirming about those methods. Nothing replaces feeding, caring for, and protecting an actual living being. An animal that your kids can partner with to make, in some small way, a more natural life.

Morgan Emrich is a freelance writer, husband, father of three, and caretaker of a Leghorn and an Araucana, a.k.a.”South American Rumpless” (a good name if there ever was one). He lives in Portland, Oregon.
What lessons, big or small, have you or your children learned by caring for chickens?  

Read other articles tagged with: Children, Guest Post, Portland. Or filed under: Health and Safety, Just for Fun. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 15th, 2012 at 6:30 am. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Thank you Mr. Emrich!

Liz-

Beau Coop vs. Flying Egg Farm

By now almost everyone has seen or heard about the Beau Coop From Neiman Marcus Christmas Book, 2012 Fantasy Gifts.

Beau Coop

"Dawn breaks. The hens descend from their bespoke Versailles-inspired Le Petit Trianon house to their playground below for a morning wing stretch. Slipping on your wellies, you start for the coop and are greeted by the pleasant clucking of your specially chosen flock and the site of the poshest hen house ever imagined. Your custom-made multilevel dwelling features a nesting area, a "living room" for nighttime roosting, a broody room, a library filled with chicken and gardening books for visitors of the human kind, and, of course, an elegant chandelier. The environment suits them well as you notice the fresh eggs awaiting morning collection. Nearby, you pick fresh vegetables or herbs from your custom-built raised gardens. You've always fancied yourself a farmer—now thanks to Heritage Hen Farm, you're doing it in the fanciest way possible!"  

         Heritage Mini Farm
        Price      $100,000

 For every Heritage Hen Mini Farm purchase, NM will donate $3,000 to    The American Livestock Breeds Conservancy  a nonprofit organization that protects genetic diversity through the conservation and promotion of endangered breeds.

Reality from our kitchen window:

Dawn. I stand at the window in our brightly lit kitchen looking out at the hen house. The early dawn  makes it easy for the chickens to see me from their run. I hold up my cup of coffee and do a little wave. Having know idea what I'm really doing they just know that's a signal I will be out soon. Carmen's silhouette is easy to make out because of her crest and light coloring. The other five chickens are lined up alongside her but their individuality is harder to make out...just five fluffy shadows. Yes, I know you're waiting.  I can almost telepathically hear them calling me to come out (or maybe it's their loud squawking I'm actually hearing). I'm coming, I'm coming!

Okay, on go the boots (NOT Wellies) and jacket. I grab a bucket and food and whatever else I might need. Just to get out the back door I have to herd two big, goofy dogs into the house (they want to help me with the chickens) and that makes  pretty interesting morning entertainment! Once past the dogs and other obstacles I head across the yard to the hen house. The chickens have run around to the side where the door is and they're clucking and looking at me like I'm delivering the worlds largest slices of watermelon!  Nope ladies just feed and water. Treats later...maybe.

Great Playground

 I think they are pretty happy in their made-from-love coop!

Carmen Miranda

I just won't tell them about the N M Beau Coop.

I let them out to forage while I change water, add feed and do various other chicken related chores. They have a nice area to stay in while I work. Not a huge area, but safe, and when I'm through with my chores I can sit and watch them. For a few minutes my 'pretend' reality is that they're are running around in a huge grassy area and I can sit there watching for as long as I want!

I'm learning  that chickens, ours anyway, are a 'flocking' bunch (can't think of a better term). It makes me feel good to see them keep their eyes on each other.  They may try to slip past me and get into the rest of the yard but they don't go far before looking back at me and the others to see who is following. I've also noticed when they try to make a big escape into the rest of the yard they're not hard for me to catch and carry back to the others. You can almost see the mental fight between pride and safety...run, show-off, maybe get swooped up by a hawk or let her catch me and take me back to safety.

Living in the city presents different sets of predators and we are on the look-out for all. The chickens have their own cluck or squawk if they see or hear something that might present danger. This is great until it comes to airplanes flying over. So how do you explain planes to them? We don't live anywhere near the airport. We are in a corridor if airspace that's used depending on the weather. We are also a hub for  FedEx.  When we do have air traffic it's disconcerting for the chickens - they're looking or some huge prehistoric monster hawk in the sky. The have a goofy dance they do and it's the same dance for every plane that comes over. They're on guard till absolutely every plane engine sound is gone. Same thing when sanitation trucks come down the street. They don't do a dance for the trucks but they definitely grumble and cluck and do weird noises back and for to each other. I don't know if they will ever get used to these city noises. Do any of you have unusual sights or sounds your chickens have to deal with?

Liz-

Safe to come out now?

Planning And Building The Chicken Coop

The Coop

In the beginning……….As we started planning the chicken coop I had no idea what I was building in regards to size and functional requirements for chickens. So we looked on line at images, plans and other blogs to get an idea what was needed for your average chicken. A lot of folks have been down this path and we are fortunate that they shared this information. Simply go to YOUTUBE and there is a wealth of information on chicken coops. I hope sharing our adventure of what we did will help someone else.

We decided on a basic chicken coop and run configuration approximately 6’ x 10’. The chicken coop is the raised shelter where the chicks sleep at night. The run is the closed protected playground, like a screened in porch for chickens. The actual chicken coop is 32” wide and 72” deep.  I roughed it out in Illustrator to get an idea of scale.

 

For the foundation it appeared that 8” by 16” concrete blocks were the most popular material to use. I roughed in the location in our backyard and let Teddy pretend he was a chicken to see if it was big enough. 

Some folks put two levels of blocks around the perimeter however we chose only one level. Besides saving money we were located on pretty firm ground. Starting at one corner we dug down past the grass level then used sand to level out the blocks. Basically we checked the blocks by a straight edge, square and a level as we laid down each block.  Being square and level is important in this case.

After the foundation was in place we were not sure of the scale of the structure by simply looking at the screen. So we nailed together 2 x 4’s to get an idea how tall we should go.  The roof was at a approximately 20 degree angle facing south. 

After confirming the profile I decided to build flat frames out of 2 x 4’s. These were the basic ribs of the structure. These defined the roof line and the chicken coop floor height and one run end. Two frames for the run did not have the lower cross frame, however I nailed a temporary board in place until they were in positioned. There were five frames in total.

I used lap-joints which help to make a strong frame. So if you have carpenter skills, you will have your favorite way to make these whether by hand tools or power tools. And remember to always think safety when using tools…

Since these five frames are the core of the structure, I coated the ends with water sealer and cover the bottom with flashing. They will sit directly on to the concrete blocks so I wanted a little extra protection. I might note that the frames were also pressure treated lumber. However, we did use about 40% reclaimed wood I had from various sources in the total structure. So what is reclaimed wood? I hate to throw out any wood from old structures that have been torn down.  Taking time and pulling out nails or hardware, a lot of old lumber is just as good as new.

We framed up both ends first then connected the two with the fifth frame in the middle. They were spaced 32”, 24”, 32”, 24” on center. The 32 “ sections were the width of the coop and the doorway for the run. The floor frame of the coop was 24” of the bottom and the framing continued across the run. The rafters were slightly under 96” in order to allow 8 foot corrugated metal roofing.

After we got the main frame up, I made up the design as I went. I equally spaced out the uprights at the end of the run and nailed into place. I continued the rafters across the top at the same spacing. I used 1 x 6 decking boards for the baseboards.

Next, I framed out the floor of the nesting box from the side of the chicken coop framed floor. Furniture clamps really come in handy when you are trying to hold something in place.

  When looking at chicken coop designs on line, most of them where just sitting on blocks with no anchor to the ground. In Memphis we get a lot of freaky storms with wind so I had the fear of the whole structure blowing over. So I dropped two, 4 x 4’s three feet into the ground on each end. I bolted them to the structure and mixed concrete and filled the hole. May not be needed but I sleep better knowing there in an anchor.

At this point we went ahead and stained the structure. Besides looking good, it gave the new and used wood a common look.

The corrugated metal roof was added. This was somewhat exciting because it was taking on the shape of the complete structure. The floor of the chicken coop came from the shelving I reclaimed out of an old butler pantry we tore out.  

Everything I read was to allow a 12’ cube space for the nesting boxes, I guess most chickens are 12 x 12 x 12. We built space for three. At this stage of construction, I was truly designing as I went. I started framing in the coop. Looking at the pictures now I think the nesting box frame was a little over built but it worked. I placed up right frames for the coop chicken door to the run using the 12” square rule.

Planning the next step is important. I started to put the siding on then realized that that the outside, siding needs to over lap the hardware cloth. So I went ahead and attached half inch square hardware cloth around the lower section of the structure. I used Romex wiring staples. You simply drive them in with a hammer. In the lower sections where it was hard to reach (mainly under the coop) I used small screws and washers.

I used fence boards as my siding. Note to use a level to keep them vertical as you go. 

To make a cleaner look, I added a bevel on the sides with my homemade router table 

I constructed the door frames for the chicken coop and the chicken run out of 2 x 4’s using lapped joints for strengths. Remember to use that square….

Again I covered the frame with fence boards and used a glass door from our butler’s pantry for the window in the chicken coop door.

The chicken run door was covered with the hardware cloth. Note the hinges.  

I had a box of old hinges from my Dad’s shop, I cleaned the rust off, primed them and painted them black and they were good as new. I had to go buy one extra hinge for the coop door and my old hinges were more heavy duty than the new.

Inside the chicken coop I first installed the sliding run door. I made a door out of ¼”masonite, rounded the corner to prevent it from catching and added a 1 x 2 at the top with a screw eye. I made the track with a ¾” dado cut. Attached to the screw eye is a small rope that goes to another screw eye at the top then goes through the rafter to the outside. The end of the rope has a carabinerattached that hooks to another screw eye when the door is in the open position. For the chicken nesting boxes, I used 1 x 2’s with a 1” space and which create slots for panels to separated the nesting area. For easy cleaning we applied some medium priced 12 x 12 self-adhesive linoleum tiles floorboards. 

I made the top of the chicken nesting box out of a reused piece of ¾” plywood and hinged to to the coop. I cut a piece of metal corrugated roof and attached to the plywood. To hold open, I attached a small rope to hook to a screw eye on the rafter above.  

For the ramp from the chicken coop to the run I used a 1 x 12 that came from some old shelving. I attached 1 x 2’s for the ramp steps. I made the ramp removable for cleaning. I have a U-bracket on the chicken coop entrance and two L-brackets on the end of the ramp that simply hook on.

The first night in the chicken coop for the girls, I ran out of time making the perches. So I used an old ladder for them to roost on. I added perches later. This worked out well, the only problem was that all 6 girls wanted to be on the top step.

For the perches I ripped some 2 x 4 to 1½” wide and beveled the edges. On each end I notched out a board and nailed onto the wall to slide the perch into. They were a little loose in the notch and they wobbled when the chicks were on them. So I cut our a few wooded wedges to tap into the joint to make them stable. I have three perches in the coop. Again, they all want to be on one so, they seem to push one or two to the alternate perches after they settle in.

I can’t say it is completely finished but…… here we are to date. We still need to plan for winter, like heat and lights plus all the other stuff we didn’t think about.

It’s time for a break to just sit back and watch the chicks….

Harry-