Fatjay picks up chicks!

[EddieWalker]

The chickens are going to really enjoy the grass. They will eat it and scratch at it. For a while it will look great, then it will start to open up and then one day, all of a sudden, it will be gone.

For landscape timbers, or any type of board, I drill a half inch hole though it and then hammer 3/8's rebar through it into the ground. A 2 foot piece of rebar, every 4 feet will lock it to the ground. If I'm doing more then one row of lumber, I used my Ground Rod attachment on my SDS Max to drive them in, and then finish them off with a hammer.

 

[bandc07]

Looks great we got chickens last year for our sons 4H project and we all still really enjoy them. We got an automatic door to open/close dawn/dusk. I would highly recomend one to make taking care of them a little easier. I also love gadgets and put a security camera in the coop and one in the run. So when we're at work we can still check on them.

 

[dodge man]

Sorry, no longer a chicken coop. It looks like a mother in law guest house now. It’s too nice for chickens.

 

[fatjay]

The chickens are going to really enjoy the grass. They will eat it and scratch at it. For a while it will look great, then it will start to open up and then one day, all of a sudden, it will be gone.

For landscape timbers, or any type of board, I drill a half inch hole though it and then hammer 3/8's rebar through it into the ground. A 2 foot piece of rebar, every 4 feet will lock it to the ground. If I'm doing more then one row of lumber, I used my Ground Rod attachment on my SDS Max to drive them in, and then finish them off with a hammer.

That's exactly what I did with the landscape timbers, drilled a slightly to small hole and hammered rebar through it. I wanted a nice edge I can mow and weedwack against as well. I just use a 3lb sledge, no fancy attachments

 

[fatjay]

Looks great we got chickens last year for our sons 4H project and we all still really enjoy them. We got an automatic door to open/close dawn/dusk. I would highly recomend one to make taking care of them a little easier. I also love gadgets and put a security camera in the coop and one in the run. So when we're at work we can still check on them.

I'll be running power and cat6 to it, I have a PoE camera system in place, so I think I'll run 3 wires, 2 inside the coop and 1 in the run.

I also have the automatic chicken door as well.

https://www.amazon.com/RUN-CHICKEN-T50-Special-Automatic-Aluminum/dp/B097CN7QSD/

 

[fatjay]

Dug the post holes and framed, got all the ground ties in, got the cage around the bottom of the coop. Got the doors on the egg boxes. I put a spring on the door so it wouldn't fall open, and it worked great. Got chicken wire cut for the eves.

https://imgur.com/N5hzKge

 

[EddieWalker]

Are you going to put a roof over the run? If they are happy, they will stay inside. If one of them starts to get bullied, it will fly out.

Inside the coop, you need branches for them to sleep on.

You'll find they usually lay their eggs in the same nesting box, or just a couple of the boxes. They will squish in with each other into one box while the other boxes are empty.

Make sure their water is off the ground so they cannot stand on it. They will poop in their water if they can. We used to hang our waterers from a wire from the roof to stop this, but it's such a pain that we stopped giving them water, and they all have to walk to the pond for water. It's not very far for them, but it sure did save us from a never ending issue.

They also like to poop in their food if they can stand on the feeder. We have one feeder hanging from a wire so it's about 6 inches off of the ground. The other is on a log that's about 8 inches tall. But most of their food is just spread in a line on the ground. This is what they go for first.

 

[fatjay]

I am lining the floor with linoleum flooring, i need to get that down before the perches. I have a few shepherds hooks that I'll use to hang food and water from. I'm putting welded wire above the pen closest to the coop, and bird netting on the other end.

 

[fatjay]

Started off the day with linoleum. Picked up a 8x12' roll for $45, lined up a 2x4 at 8', and cut it. Rolled it up and headed out to the coop. Spread it out and cut the studs out, glued the edges and put bricks on them.

Finished the fence around the bottom of the coop, put the trim on to secure it. Got the gate built and secured and mounted. Got 2 rows of the top cage secured.

Finished stapling the chicken wire over the eaves. At the end of the day, the electric stapler was about all I could hold in my hands.

All that's left is the latch on the gate door, the perches inside, and the bird netting over the rest.

 

[fatjay]

Move in day! Not quite complete but everything needed for the chicks are good. They need to be locked in the new coop for 3 days to become familiar and learn where home is.

Still have a bit of work to do but wanted to get them out there.

https://imgur.com/qvuYsZd

 

[EddieWalker]

Congrats. Now you will be tested in ways you never imagined!!!

I would raise the roosting boards to at least 4 feet at the lowest one.

 

[fatjay]

It was a bit dark last night so hard to get pictures. Everyone managed to survive the night. It's 90f in the coop and a bit muggy, so I put a fan in the window. It's full sun until about 2pm then in the shade.

I couldn't figure out how to get them from the old coop to the new coop, so I turned the old coop into a chicken rickshaw and wheeled it out and parked it by the door and passed the chickens into the new coop.

https://imgur.com/qvuYsZd

 

[fatjay]

Congrats. Now you will be tested in ways you never imagined!!!

I would raise the roosting boards to at least 4 feet at the lowest one.

4 feet? any reason why? That sounds high.

 

[ljjhouser]

I will have to say - your pictures are great. Watching your progress seems to have taught me several things about chickens. Very interesting.

 

[EddieWalker]

4 feet would be the minimum. All my roosts are 6 to 8 feet up. Their natural instinct is to be high enough to be safe. If I could go higher, I would. I also like being able to walk under the roosting branches. Usually there are chickens on them when I gather eggs.

4 feet? any reason why? That sounds high.

 

[fatjay]

4 feet would be the minimum. All my roosts are 6 to 8 feet up. Their natural instinct is to be high enough to be safe. If I could go higher, I would. I also like being able to walk under the roosting branches. Usually there are chickens on them when I gather eggs.

Interesting, I'll take that under consideration.

Right now they're all roosted on the first and second bar, but they're still tiny. I don't think they could get up to a 4' high bar.

 

[fatjay]

Opened the doors after I finished the rest of the top netting. Chickens wouldn't come out. So I picked one up and carried it around outside for a while. Then she crapped on me so i put her down. She went back into the coop. I left the doors open and came in to shower, hopefully they'll venture outside where it's at least 10 degrees cooler under the tree.

 

[fatjay]

Came out this evening to see if the chickens went in. Nope. Instead they were running around crying, they were lost and didn't know where to go. So I grabbed them one by one and put them in the chicken door. I would put 2 in, one would come back out, put another 2 in, another one out. Eventually I got them all in and they were huddling by the window on the perch next to where I was standing. Eventually, they went to sleep. Man, chickens are dumb.

https://imgur.com/34HMQDY

 

[fatjay]

We had a wounded warrior today. 6am and there was a fox circiling the run. One chicken got to close and he reached in and grabbed her wing and ripped it right off. I washed the wound real good and treated her with antiseptic and antibiotics throughout the day and she seems ok. The other chickens aren't bothering her either, so that's a plus. I will get the other coop set up tomorrow and put her there for her hopeful recovery. If she seems to be suffering, I have a hatchet.

So on the hottest day of the year, I spent 5 hours bent over installing ground fence. It's hot and awful out, 99f and 70% humidity. It's since dropped to 80f and 85% humidity. These hot days suck.

I got 24" chicken wire, and stapled it to the outside of the timbers, so there would be a 4" gap at the bottom, then tied it to the top. Smaller holes, and a gap, hopefully will give chickens the sense to get away instead of standing inches from the fence where something can get it.

Warning, graphic photo's at the bottom.

 

[EddieWalker]

Sorry to hear about your hens wing. Seems like the learning curve with chickens is always life or death. I had a similar experience, except it was with a Guinea's head, and a raccoon. Hopefully it recovers and isn't picked on by the other birds.