Dust Bath

I thought that providing a spacious dust bath in the middle of the perch gym was a good idea, but apparently chickens have a mind of their own. One of the first things they did after drinking some water on arrival was to start their dust baths in the worst location in my opinion, right next to the coop where the hardware cloth wire is attached.

They have no interest at all in the brighter, sunnier spot by the perch gym.

The soil by the coop is newly delivered top soil while the dirt under the gym is our sandier drier soil.

Yesterday they were at it again, they seem to take prolonged baths every two days or so, laying about in and out of the bath like a day at the spa, indolent, eating, drinking and bathing.

The top soil has stones and other material in it, so while Ken was working on the gutters, I used my salad spinner to sift the soil into dust velvet. Once the chickens got over their spa space invasion, the added inches of glorious smooth soil made them so happy, they hung out in the Eastern corner all day.

East Wing Solarium

We hadn't gotten around to putting latches on the interior doors, didn't think we needed to, but apparently they were curious enough to push the door open and pile into the east wing, the west wing is in shade most of the day in December and apparently shade wasn't what they were after.

A few times a day they will all migrate into the east wing to sunbathe, sprawling about, stretching and sunning themselves. At first I thought they were dying, turning upside down and sideways, but they were just basking and preening themselves.

Perch Gym

It was fun to see the new chickens navigate the perch gym.
They have a schedule and seem to congregate at the gym four times a day, they give themselves recess. The boldest Barred Rock made it to the highest point. The Rocks are the most curious of the chickens, the biggest risk takers and the first to learn anything new. They are my go to girls to teach first, the rest will follow.

East Wing West Wing

Yesterday we completed enclosing both wings protecting the large ventilation cutouts.
They became the East wing and West wing, the doors go on today. It was a bit wonky as originally they were just under roof and not meant to be closed in, so we didn't  set the posts on the correct spacings for the wire and the beams overhung the posts so wiring it was a challenge.
We decided to attach the wire horizontally instead of adding more vertical posts, just adding 2x4's to nail into.



Framing for wire



We thought lattice was a good idea for the small passage doors, but they were a nightmare to make and paint.



West Wing



East Wing

Door to Run

Once we decided where to put the door, we left off the wire cloth and made the door frame.  We're making this up as we go along so it changes all the time.

The opening


We framed the door, attached the wire, then I realized I hadn't painted it yet, off with the wire, paint then reassemble.



I got carried away with the screws because the looked very industrial chic and I wanted to make a pattern. How many did I waste?  Not sure...

 

Next: building up the threshold and attaching the wirecloth.

The Run

We have begun the secure run. Because we made bigger overhangs which will be enclosed we changed the run adding 12 more feet and eliminating another proposed more open run. A lot of time was spent measuring and spacing the post holes. We put 4x4 every 12' and anchored in concrete. The we built 36" on center 2x4 posts and lifted them into place. Overhead we used 2x4's and joist hangers to nail the roof panels to.

Half the run has wire and under galvanized panel roofing.





2/3 under metal roof, 1/3 clear plastic



It's actually very nice inside the run now. The dust bath is at the end with clear panel roofing.
Hope the Chickens like it!

Overhangs

Overhangs, mini roof, awnings, we need to protect the openings from the elements, mostly torrential rains during the summer. We made the first one over the large door in front. It turned out ok, more support than needed for the flimsy corrugated metal roof. I plan the same for the front and a four foot cover over the two long ventilation cutouts on east and west sides.

After the cutouts were made and covered with cloth, Ken said "what's to stop raccoons and cats climbing up to where the chickens are roosting right behind the wire and terrorizing them?"
He wanted to fence in the four foot overhang for a second level of protection from predators.
So we compromised and made the four foot bump out an 8 foot one and roofed the whole thing on both sides.

That gives us three protected runs now instead of one and Ken feels better about safer chickens.

Wire-cloth installation

The ventilation openings have been covered with wire cloth, stapled and nailed in with more wood trim.  For the base of the shed/coop we are wrapping the wirecloth around the perimeter and screwing the wire into the base of the skid framing. I found these awesome little roofing screws that have the washer and rubber gasket on them already. Perfect! It's hard to work with and bend, but we finally merged to clip it and roll it around the corners.

Chicken Coop Ventilation

What I do know is that it's killer hot and humid down here in zone 9 Florida. Last year was the hottest ever. The coops we looked at had practically no ventilation and in danger of becoming an oven during the day, I cannot imagine a hen laying in those conditions.

Years ago I went to Hommosassa springs. We stayed in cabins that were all screened in but with no air-conditioning. It was very comfortable, of course the springs were bubbling icy water which cooled the surrounding air, but still, it was nice, slight breeze, hearing the wind and insects in the trees, very comforting.

Whats on our side:

• The future coop spot is mostly shaded during the day with the most shade cast in the afternoon from very mature trees.
• It's a relatively open space so air can move freely around it.
• It's mostly green ground cover (weeds) which is cooler than other ground material around here.
• The shed is a good size so hopefully will have more breathing room and interior air movement.

Whats not on our side:

• Humid, stifling, moist  heat.
• Record high temperatures.

I found this article which makes good sense to me by Patandchickens from Ontario: Cut more holes.
Also I found great info on fresh air housing in this little book: Fresh Air Poultry Houses.
It sounded about right to me.  I don't want to waste energy and hardware cloth on mistakes and have to re-panel the whole thing.

So, one square foot ventilation per chicken with a projected flock of 25 to 30 chickens will base my calculations on the number of openings Ken has to cut out.  I have to account for the roosting bar supports taking away space, but I want the northern exposure bigger because its so much cooler.

We cut the the full wall openings yesterday and stapled wire cloth on the openings. We also cut out the peaks of the shed which are the highest points. Now we have four direction ventilation. We screwed wood trim over the cloth to doubly secure it.  I love it inside now, very airy and light. It's coming along nicely, but we keep revising the plan as we go along.








More ventilation November 26th







I closed the door and worked in there the other day, it was nice breezy and comfortable. I will add more cut-outs in Spring when it warms up. Right now I think this is enough until the chickens get bigger and full-feathered.

Chicken Nest Project

Progress of nesting boxes project...

I painted before I did the cut-outs for ventilation. Once that was done it looked horrible from the outside.

This color way is long gone.

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