Last year I posted about raising the day old chicks we got from the local feed store without a heat lamp or chick starter. As soon as we dared get them outside we set up a compost pile to which the chicks always had access but we had to move their small coop around it and then move the run which was on the other side of the coop from the compost. Even with a small coop it was hard to move and the compost area was smaller than ideal.
This winter the chicks, now grown up and laying, moved into a new winter coop that was part of the new barn we built last year. We just moved them yesterday into new summer quarters. (Spring is arriving early here in mid-state NY this year after a very late start last year.) This time we have an 8 foot by 8 foot compost area. I wove the panels to cover the top out of old sunflower stalks and pliant whips I cut out of a thicket growing up in an area where large trees were recently cut. The coop is the old 8 foot by 6 foot shed that housed our rabbit cages from when we started in 2014 until last summer when they moved into a section of the new barn (much larger--room for more cages
) The shed is predator proof for the chickens overnight and should have adequate ventilation even though the door that was left open during daylight for the rabbits has to be kept shut for the hens. As soon as the grass starts to grow we'll put the 5' by 10' run on by one of the doors from the compost area and they'll have access to that too. There are doors to open for 7 different positions for the run--then I hope the grass will have recovered in the first section. And the run is very lightweight, easy to move, even for one whose back is old and often tired
The hens seem happy and I hope we won't have to build anything else for them for a few years.
This winter the chicks, now grown up and laying, moved into a new winter coop that was part of the new barn we built last year. We just moved them yesterday into new summer quarters. (Spring is arriving early here in mid-state NY this year after a very late start last year.) This time we have an 8 foot by 8 foot compost area. I wove the panels to cover the top out of old sunflower stalks and pliant whips I cut out of a thicket growing up in an area where large trees were recently cut. The coop is the old 8 foot by 6 foot shed that housed our rabbit cages from when we started in 2014 until last summer when they moved into a section of the new barn (much larger--room for more cages
) The shed is predator proof for the chickens overnight and should have adequate ventilation even though the door that was left open during daylight for the rabbits has to be kept shut for the hens. As soon as the grass starts to grow we'll put the 5' by 10' run on by one of the doors from the compost area and they'll have access to that too. There are doors to open for 7 different positions for the run--then I hope the grass will have recovered in the first section. And the run is very lightweight, easy to move, even for one whose back is old and often tired The hens seem happy and I hope we won't have to build anything else for them for a few years.
