Chicken addition

[Adkhunter1590]

i'm probably good i have a couple friends with laying hens and three of my cousins in the area also have them. this is interesting though. i don't really know of anyone doing the mobile setup.  my great great grandfather and great grandfather. had a chicken farm. three stories of birds in a barn. not sure how many at one time but it was a lot.

The mobile pasture coops aren’t as common up north here due to our weather and seasons. It’s not easy to do on a large scale here like it is down south where you can do it all year. Up here it requires you to have a winter coop for them. Which I already have and will be making a expansion on it before winter. The problem with big barns full of birds is the health concerns associated with them. If anyone has read the news lately, did anyone see the 20 million eggs being recalled for salmonella? They came from a large chicken farm in NC that produces 2.1 million eggs a day! That’s your traditional warehouse type chicken farm that free range pasture farms like ours warn people against. The eggs you buy at the store come from places like that. We won’t ever be on a large enough scale to sell millions of eggs, but in the coming years we plan to grow until we find the limit that doesn’t compromise our high standards on bird health, happiness and egg quality and safety.

[Doewhacker]

We added more hens and picked up better looking older roosters, just when I thought she was cutting back......

She couldn’t resist a Polish Roo with the crested head. Along with the Silver laced Wyandotte and another one I can’t remember that is blue/grey. 

Our egg sales went through the roof suddenly, thankfully the hens are laying at a good rate to keep up lol. 

[Doewhacker]

3 minutes ago, Adkhunter1590 said:

 

 

The mobile pasture coops aren’t as common up north here due to our weather and seasons. It’s not easy to do on a large scale here like it is down south where you can do it all year. Up here it requires you to have a winter coop for them. Which I already have and will be making a expansion on it before winter. The problem with big barns full of birds is the health concerns associated with them. If anyone has read the news lately, did anyone see the 20 million eggs being recalled for salmonella? They came from a large chicken farm in NC that produces 2.1 million eggs a day! That’s your traditional warehouse type chicken farm that free range pasture farms like ours warn people against. The eggs you buy at the store come from places like that. We won’t ever be on a large enough scale to sell millions of eggs, but in the coming years we plan to grow until we find the limit that doesn’t compromise our high standards on bird health, happiness and egg quality and safety.

 

 

True that! 

We treat for worms with vinegar in the water, even had to give antibiotics to each in the beak over the winter. Keeping the coop clean and providing Diatamatious earth to kill mites is another regular regimen. It never ends actually. Lol 

[Steve D]

I am a lot of things but Chicken Coop expert ain't one of them

[Adkhunter1590]

True that! 
We treat for worms with vinegar in the water, even had to give antibiotics to each in the beak over the winter. Keeping the coop clean and providing Diatamatious earth to kill mites is another regular regimen. It never ends actually. Lol 

Preach on brotha lol. Thankfully we haven’t had any worm problems or even mites for that matter. We’ve been lucky so far as far as health matters go. But we clean the coop and run on a regular basis which is what helps keep everyone healthy.

Glad your egg sales are up! Nothing better than pulling people away from the egg section at big box stores. It helps the local economy and has positive affects on the health of your friends and neighbors! I’m selling almost every egg we have lately. I keep the smallest ones from our smaller birds for ourselves but I can’t keep up with demand at the moment. It really sucks having to turn away customers! I keep apologizing and telling everyone that our flock expansion is growing and will be laying ASAP.
I went to a small animal auction Sunday morning to sell a few ducks that a guy I work with couldn’t keep and I couldn’t find a new home for. While there I won a nice incubator with egg turner. My wife has been wanting to try out hatching our own chicks. It’s a $140 incubator and I won the auction for $28. Pretty good deal I’d say. We will be experimenting with it and hopefully using it to grow our flock at a decent rate. Hoping it will help us have more birds laying at all times of the year so we can keep up with demand!

[NYBowhunter]

2 hours ago, Adkhunter1590 said:

 

Haha well that might be a pretty long haul but the next time I visit the city I will PM you and I can bring down a bunch of eggs for ya! Or if you ever venture north towards Albany let me know and I can stock you up!

 

Sounds good.

[Adkhunter1590]

I am a lot of things but Chicken Coop expert ain't one of them

Haha it’s all good. A lot of people have chickens, but most don’t really have a clue on what they are doing. Coop designs are clear indicators of such. It’s taken me a few years of lots of research to know what I know. The biggest mistake people make is not making them big enough. The more space each bird has the better. It keeps everything cleaner and healthier. Plus the birds will be happier and produce more. Unfortunately the larger you go in coops, it requires a lot more money to build. Most backyard flock owners aren’t interested in spending big chunks of money on their chickens which results in them living in smaller, cramped conditions. There’s a big chicken forum I go on and I think the most common thread title in the “coop and run build” section is “how to make a coop as cheap as possible”. Every time I see people asking how to make the smallest and cheapest coops it makes me wanna pound my head against the table.

[dbHunterNY]

4 hours ago, Adkhunter1590 said:

 

 

The mobile pasture coops aren’t as common up north here due to our weather and seasons. It’s not easy to do on a large scale here like it is down south where you can do it all year. Up here it requires you to have a winter coop for them. Which I already have and will be making a expansion on it before winter. The problem with big barns full of birds is the health concerns associated with them. If anyone has read the news lately, did anyone see the 20 million eggs being recalled for salmonella? They came from a large chicken farm in NC that produces 2.1 million eggs a day! That’s your traditional warehouse type chicken farm that free range pasture farms like ours warn people against. The eggs you buy at the store come from places like that. We won’t ever be on a large enough scale to sell millions of eggs, but in the coming years we plan to grow until we find the limit that doesn’t compromise our high standards on bird health, happiness and egg quality and safety.

 

 

don't know exactly how it was done. it was long before me. based on the current condition of the barn and everything being original i think the birds were allowed to roam and then brought or allowed in. the barn was the coop i think but it's been very clean. there where and portions still left of old wooden conveyor/transport systems that helped with feeding and cleaning. don't know how many they had but it was enough to sustain most of their living i think.

[phade]

I've had 7 hens and a roo for the past year. Most of mine are heritage breeds like SLWs, cochins, etc. with a few Americauna (not Americana) mixed in. Have six bantam Mille Fluer D'Uccle chicks we picked up yesterday...daughter wants some smaller birds she can call and raise her own. Have some copper marans and lavender orpingtons on the way and that'll be it for this year. Been swaying on growing out some meat birds but probably will end up trying that next year.

Got rid of the roo about a month or two ago. He was a good flock protector but got hyper aggressive with my wife and wasn't the best when mating the hens. After he left I had to deal with some of the hens re-sorting the hierarchy. I don't let mine free range.

I built a hoop coop (well, it's almost done), and I wish I did that from day 1. Those things are cheap, movable, and can be built up like Fort Knox if necessary.

I couldn't imagine having to take care of 100...build out looks nice. That's a short term pain long term gain set-up though.

[Doewhacker]

It’s fun getting different breeds and rare breeds, I can’t remember all of the different types we have or had. It’s also fun meeting fellow chicken nuts and buying or trading birds. 

I would be just as happy with 6 hens and a roo as I am with 30 something hens, 3 roo’s and three turkeys plus what ever number of meat birds we order this year. 

[Adkhunter1590]

don't know exactly how it was done. it was long before me. based on the current condition of the barn and everything being original i think the birds were allowed to roam and then brought or allowed in. the barn was the coop i think but it's been very clean. there where and portions still left of old wooden conveyor/transport systems that helped with feeding and cleaning. don't know how many they had but it was enough to sustain most of their living i think.

Old barns are awesome to check out. When we were looking for a house to buy we checked out one that had a old chicken barn on the property. It was pretty neat to see and would have been nice to have but unfortunately it wasn’t kept up that great and was suffering some serious foundation and structural problems. The House wasn’t big enough either so we passed on it.

[Adkhunter1590]

I've had 7 hens and a roo for the past year. Most of mine are heritage breeds like SLWs, cochins, etc. with a few Americauna (not Americana) mixed in. Have six bantam Mille Fluer D'Uccle chicks we picked up yesterday...daughter wants some smaller birds she can call and raise her own. Have some copper marans and lavender orpingtons on the way and that'll be it for this year. Been swaying on growing out some meat birds but probably will end up trying that next year.
Got rid of the roo about a month or two ago. He was a good flock protector but got hyper aggressive with my wife and wasn't the best when mating the hens. After he left I had to deal with some of the hens re-sorting the hierarchy. I don't let mine free range.
I built a hoop coop (well, it's almost done), and I wish I did that from day 1. Those things are cheap, movable, and can be built up like Fort Knox if necessary.
I couldn't imagine having to take care of 100...build out looks nice. That's a short term pain long term gain set-up though.

We’ve had some nasty Roos over the last couple years. I won’t keep mean ones around. Thankfully the one we have now is super nice and easy on the hens. He’s a good protector and it’s fun to watch him guide the hens around when they are roaming around.

Hoop coops are neat. I’m most likely going to make one to use as a run for the winter time this year. I wanted to build my mobile one on the hay wagon running gear so it was able to move around rough terrain. As all of us know, very little of this state is flat lol. I’ve seen hoop style pasture coops but they are mostly built on skids or with very small tires to be moved around. They use those types out west and stuff with the huge fields they have. With our smaller fields I’ll need to drive down the road to much to a new field. But a hoop style will work a permanent run for the winter and I look forward to building it later this summer.

[Doewhacker]

I used long smaller diameter trees for the structure of my runs then attached fencing etc. Works great, is free and if one rots I toss in the fire and cut down a new one. 

Old trampolines make good hoop house frames too fyi. Easy to come by by surfing craigs list. 

[Doewhacker]

11 minutes ago, Adkhunter1590 said:

We’ve had some nasty Roos over the last couple years. I won’t keep mean ones around.

Same here, their either good or bad with no in between. 

How many Roos are you going to have with 100 hens? Seems like the guy would be wore out lol 

[Adkhunter1590]

Same here, their either good or bad with no in between. 
How many Roos are you going to have with 100 hens? Seems like the guy would be wore out lol 

Planning on no Roos with my pasture flock. I bought all pullets. Any that turn out to be Roos will be taken down to the auction. I’ll keep the one roo I have now with the current flock. The pasture coop will be pretty much full up space wise, and I want to maximize egg production so I don’t need any Roos taking up space that could be used for layers.

[Adkhunter1590]

I used long smaller diameter trees for the structure of my runs then attached fencing etc. Works great, is free and if one rots I toss in the fire and cut down a new one. 
Old trampolines make good hoop house frames too fyi. Easy to come by by surfing craigs list. 

At our last house I ran wire around standing trees instead of pounding posts all over the place. I didn’t feel like taking down trees all over so I decided to just utilize the landscape. I plan on doing this again at our new house along with a hoop run so I can have an area that will be snow free. I already have a 10x16 covered run off the side of my current coop which was just barely enough for the current flock over winter. When I park the pasture coop for winter I planned on parking it like 40-60ft away from current coop and putting a hoop run in between connecting them.

[Adkhunter1590]

Productive weekend on the coop. Got the rest of the siding put up minus the battens. Roof is on and the rafters were boxed out. Just need to put up the soffit board tomorrow and I can start screwing on the battens. That will complete the main structure. Also planning on getting the water tank deck built off the back tomorrow as well. Then I can drag it home and get to work on painting the inside and outside. Going with barn red and will finish it off with white trim all around the windows and door to make it look nice. The inside will be painted white to make it brighter and help protect the wood. I’m happy to see it all coming together finally. It’s been a long process but I think we did a good job. While working on it this weekend 4 people stopped by to take pictures and gawk at it haha.

[Adkhunter1590]

All finished up on the soffits


Working on the battens now. Should have it done by tomorrow. Water tank deck 4x4s were bolted to main frame rails. Just need to trim those up and make the decking.


Picked up 10 gallons of paint tonight so now the wifey can get her hands dirty on this project too.

Getting there!

[Adkhunter1590]

Almost done. Ran out of drill batteries and screws lol. Neighbor is going to build a set of steps that will flip up on a hinge for me while I finish the battens and water tank deck. Installed a door chain to keep the wind from ripping the door off to. Planning on having it pulled over to my house this weekend to start the painting. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel

[philoshop]

I took the easy way out and bought a house near a a couple who raises chickens. They're nice people and they give me free eggs and the occasional chicken dinner. In exchange I keep their tractors running and their barn doors working. Psst, the IRS doesn't know about this arrangement, so please don't tell anyone. :-]

[Steve D]

$1.49/lb.                                                                        $1.79       

   

Nice Work Though

Edited April 27, 2018 by Steve D

[Adkhunter1590]

$1.49/lb.                                                                        $1.79       
   
Nice Work Though

It’s ironic isn’t it. We will pay top dollar for gear to shoot a deer to “eat good” but won’t pay a few dollars more to truly eat good on a regular basis.

Support local small farms and truly eat healthy!

[Adkhunter1590]

Tomorrow the coop comes home! Will be headed over in the morning to button up some final things but the plan is to have it parked in my driveway by mid afternoon to begin inside painting.


O and this showed up today. Can’t wait to install this bad boy tomorrow. Always wanted one of these slick auto doors since we first got chickens.

[Bionic]

Nice camper, I like it. 

Nice job, I would sleep in that.

[Adkhunter1590]

Had a little difficulty on the way home. Thank god it’s a short trip lol. The one tire I was unsure about bit the dust and went flat. Making it almost impossible for me to get it backed into the driveway along with the front steer axle. Had to call the neighbor and get the tractor over to finish pushing it in.

Tomorrow I’ll take the flat off and swap it with another spare and that should take care of that problem. Going to clean out the inside and get to work on painting. At least it’s finally home!