All Cooped Up~the coop and run thread

It was in the single digits last night but is currently 22* here....but at roost level in the coop today it's 32*. Been snowing since 4 am, looks like it will snow all day.

Since adding that big bucket of water under the roosts and turning it a little back there(what I could...those vines are messing up that move), it has started cooking very well. I turned a piece under the main roost this morning and a plume of steam rose out....I put my hand down in that pocket left behind by the fork full of mass and it was like laying your hand on the top of a heater. Actual warmth there, warm enough to warm my hand and then some. Hurried and capped that moisture with some dry leaves...don't want to lose that heat or humidity.

Finally....my mass is cooking!!!! No wonder the chickens spend their time in the coop standing back on that hill of litter. Like standing on a heated floor. I've got extra ventilation open above the mass and also an extra window open in the front of the coop, besides the normal open areas, to remove all this excess humidity in the air.

Beekissed said:

My birds don't seem to mind the snow if they think there is food to be had out there. The WRs will even break trail for me if they think food is coming! They find any exposed grass under benches and such and graze there.

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After the dogs break trail, then they are out there every day.

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Ha, ha -- those pix of your chickens and dogs in the snow just made my day! (Imagining the flock members saying, "Hey, Henrietta, what's the deal with the ground this morning, anyway?")

We use a paddock setup I found in an old issue of Backwoods Home:



http://www.backwoodshome.com/save-time-and-energy-with-the-fenced-chicken-coopgarden/

Along with the deep litter method, it's worked out great. I'd like to free-range but there's simply too many critters around here that love the taste of chicken.

Mine had pretty much stopped laying. Well I collected 56 eggs this morning. Notice I said "had".

Calista said:

We use a paddock setup I found in an old issue of Backwoods Home:

http://www.backwoodshome.com/save-time-and-energy-with-the-fenced-chicken-coopgarden/

Along with the deep litter method, it's worked out great. I'd like to free-range but there's simply too many critters around here that love the taste of chicken.

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Errr... I've had that picture in my mind for a long time. I knew I wasn't the first to think it up. Thank you for posting that

I can now compare the cattle panel hooped roof to the metal pole roof that came with the dog kennels. Both types have been through the same crap the last few months. It's no contest which is better. Hooped wins.

The fabric roofs are old and wearing out on the metal poles and expensive to order. I'm taking them down one at a time and putting up cattle panels. The tarps on the hooped roof barely moved in the worst wind which is what makes the wear out fast. It shrugged off the snow with no problems. The old roofs have to have it removed or they will collapse.

I love the hoops as well. They let the wind just slip right over them and they never even give a tremble and, like you said, the snow just falls off when you give the wires a shake or two.

My chickens have gotten so used to the shaking and sliding off of the snow that they don't even startle any longer when I do it.

Being able to stretch the plastics and tarps tightly to the arched panels keeps them from moving and wearing out so quickly.