new from kansas city

[Thomasolds]

Welcome to BYC, Thomas!

16 chickens, 10 dogs, 6 kids, 2 grandkids. always a full plate around here

 

[DobieLover]

I have 2) 12X18 and 2) 18X23 windows plus the corrugated roof panels are open top and bottom.

That's good but the design of those windows prevents them being able to be left open during inclement weather. Will you be installing awnings over them?

 

[007Sean]

Howdy, Thomas and Welcome to Backyard Chickens.

Happy to have you here with us. Enjoy your time here at BYC!

Thanks for joining our community!

 

[Debbie292d]

Hiya, Thomas, and welcome to BYC!

That's a gorgeous coop and run for your ladies!

We keep our food and nipple water bucket in the coop as we don't have a run, but sounds like you've got the predators covered how you're doing the HWC.

We have a couple of temp pens that wore down to the dirt and we just leave it that way. Once during a torrential rain, one pen got some puddles so hubby put a couple of bags of horse bedding pellets there and it turned to fluffy sawdust. It only took a month and they had that all scratched into the dirt and a couple more dust baths made.

 

[Thomasolds]

That's good but the design of those windows prevents them being able to be left open during inclement weather. Will you be installing awnings over them?

Yes, awnings will be installed along with hardware cloth. Thinking I want to hinge the awnings so in the winter I can keep the winds from blowing thru the coop but yet keeps some ventilation.

 

[Nomadicus]

Hello and Welcome to Backyard Chickens. Glad to have you here in this fun loving poultry community.

 

[TwoCrows]

Hello Thomas and welcome to BYC!

Nice coop build! If you have any further questions about this or anything else along the way, be sure to ask.

Welcome to our community!

 

[Thomasolds]

Made a little progress today. Still have a ways to go. Trim, awnings, hardware cloth over the window, roosting bars, nesting box mats (thinking just some nesting box turf) , automatic coop door (thinking run-chicken) backfill around the run, wood chips in the run, and some plants around any suggestions on plants either for or to avoid? and feeders and water?? Going to do gutters and a couple rain barrels for water, is this a good idea? Am I over looking anything?

 

[Debbie292d]

Made a little progress today. Still have a ways to go. Trim, awnings, hardware cloth over the window, roosting bars, nesting box mats (thinking just some nesting box turf) , automatic coop door (thinking run-chicken) backfill around the run, wood chips in the run, and some plants around any suggestions on plants either for or to avoid? and feeders and water?? Going to do gutters and a couple rain barrels for water, is this a good idea? Am I over looking anything?

Sure looks awesome!

We put our old gutters on the coop when they replaced ours on the house. A rain barrel is something I'm wanting to get!

When I researched automatic doors, Run Chicken was what I ended up liking the best. Here is a thread where someone asked for input, and got a lot!

We've planted a couple of things without checking first, only to find out later they were toxic to chickens, like the 4'Oclock flowers. Our chickens are dumb, but not that dumb. We have a forest behind us that they and the dogs made paths through, so surely there's poisonous or toxic things in there too, but nobody gets sick so they aren't touching it.

If you live where it gets humid like we do, we had to take steps to reduce the humidity in the coop. 1. horse bedding pellets on the floor and nest boxes absorb the poop, substantially reducing the ammonia as well. 2. 5-gallon DIY nipple bucket so they are always drinking fresh water, nothing to clean really, and there is no open water in the coop. The feeder and waterer stay in the coop. 3. Exhaust fan which runs anytime the humidity in the coop is higher than the humidity outside.

 

[chrissynemetz]

Welcome to BYC! We're very happy to have you with us!