Well it's official, the homestead no longer has chickens... Went to the coop this morning, and I guess the door didn't latch when I shut it last night, and something killed the last 5 of our girls 4 in the coop, and 1 MIA. Thinking it was one of the neighbors cats, because of how the chickens are basically plucked, and their backs chewed on. If it was a coyote there's usually no bodies left behind, and with a weasel the heads are usually gone, with very little body damage.
With finding out the chickens had Coccidiosis earlier this year, we got them treated quickly, but we still do not feel that comfortable about the coop. My husband, and I did come up with an idea of how to reuse "most" of the coop. We want to have our quail outside, and love the idea of doing an open pen outside with a small coop built inside the pen for shelter, and a place to lay eggs. At first we thought about using the old outdoor dog kennel for the quail. The frame would be strong, and all we would need to do is dig up the bottom, wrap it in wire, and rebury it, then build a coop for the inside of it.
We played with that idea for a while, but that still left the matter of the coop since we decided it would be best to relocate the chickens, and future chickens. So we're going to build a simple A frame tractor coop for the next batch of chickens. (We're getting 20 free from the place that sold us the infected chickens, and a free bag of Corid.) We've gotten a lot of information from a bunch of different people about how to kill Cocci in the ground. We've been told bleach works, but ammonia doesn't, ammonia works, but bleach doesn't, you could drench that area in ammonia let it sit a few days then flood it out with water, we've heard you could dump lime in that area, and let it set. You can cover the ground in that area, and so on. So we came up with an idea. We want to basically tear off the coop, and most of the wood that they could have pooped on, and pretty much burn it. (It's going to suck since we spent so much time, and effort into building it, but we both feel with being as soiled it is between the Cocci, and blood from something killing them it's just took much to disinfect the wood.) Then we would be soaking the ground in ammonia, letting it sit, then flooding it out. We have a few big thick rubber mats that we will be putting on the ground, and moving the dog kennel to the chicken run, attaching it into an even bigger quail pen, and rebuilding a smaller coop that will go inside the pen.
After we treated the chickens, and all signs of Cocci was gone we did let run in the yard, but I am worried still since at some point I want to make an outdoor enclosed play area for the rabbits, but they would also have a rubber mat covering the ground.
So I am basically looking for advice on our idea about turning the old chicken run into a quail coop, and if you guys think it would "safe" for them. I also wanted to know that by covering the ground for a rabbit play area would keep the rabbits from contracting any Cocci.
Here is a picture of the chicken coop shortly after we built it.
With finding out the chickens had Coccidiosis earlier this year, we got them treated quickly, but we still do not feel that comfortable about the coop. My husband, and I did come up with an idea of how to reuse "most" of the coop. We want to have our quail outside, and love the idea of doing an open pen outside with a small coop built inside the pen for shelter, and a place to lay eggs. At first we thought about using the old outdoor dog kennel for the quail. The frame would be strong, and all we would need to do is dig up the bottom, wrap it in wire, and rebury it, then build a coop for the inside of it.
We played with that idea for a while, but that still left the matter of the coop since we decided it would be best to relocate the chickens, and future chickens. So we're going to build a simple A frame tractor coop for the next batch of chickens. (We're getting 20 free from the place that sold us the infected chickens, and a free bag of Corid.) We've gotten a lot of information from a bunch of different people about how to kill Cocci in the ground. We've been told bleach works, but ammonia doesn't, ammonia works, but bleach doesn't, you could drench that area in ammonia let it sit a few days then flood it out with water, we've heard you could dump lime in that area, and let it set. You can cover the ground in that area, and so on. So we came up with an idea. We want to basically tear off the coop, and most of the wood that they could have pooped on, and pretty much burn it. (It's going to suck since we spent so much time, and effort into building it, but we both feel with being as soiled it is between the Cocci, and blood from something killing them it's just took much to disinfect the wood.) Then we would be soaking the ground in ammonia, letting it sit, then flooding it out. We have a few big thick rubber mats that we will be putting on the ground, and moving the dog kennel to the chicken run, attaching it into an even bigger quail pen, and rebuilding a smaller coop that will go inside the pen.
After we treated the chickens, and all signs of Cocci was gone we did let run in the yard, but I am worried still since at some point I want to make an outdoor enclosed play area for the rabbits, but they would also have a rubber mat covering the ground.
So I am basically looking for advice on our idea about turning the old chicken run into a quail coop, and if you guys think it would "safe" for them. I also wanted to know that by covering the ground for a rabbit play area would keep the rabbits from contracting any Cocci.
Here is a picture of the chicken coop shortly after we built it.
