# Our coop



## grampsjim (May 18, 2015)

It's not very pretty, but it's extremely functional and safe.


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## grampsjim (May 18, 2015)

The small pen in the corner serves as a grow out pen or an area of separation for any reason we may need. It was getting too dark to send a pix of the inside, so I'll post that tomorrow.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

I've seen a lot of coops that were fantastic looking but they were neither functional and only marginally safe. I like that big run a lot. 

You should have seen my Guinea coop, talk about something that had nothing pretty looking about it at all.


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## rosco47 (Jul 6, 2015)

Wow that's awesome. Check out that big run! Great looking rig


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## grampsjim (May 18, 2015)

Thx! We do let them out to run most days as long as we're around and haven't seen any predators close by. We have caught a bob cat recently and he's been relocated far away, a ****, skunk, and opossum which are no longer threats. But being close to the woods we keep a close eye out....


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## zamora (May 26, 2015)

Functional and safe are the priorities, yours looks to have both. Pretty can always come later on...have you seen mine? LOL, nothing pretty about it...yet.


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## rosco47 (Jul 6, 2015)

zamora said:


> Functional and safe are the priorities


oh how true this is...sound wisdom here


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## grampsjim (May 18, 2015)

Zamora, I did see a picture of your coop. It just looked like it hadn't been used for awhile, but functional and safe.


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## grampsjim (May 18, 2015)

A few more pictures of our set with me and hubby. Just got through cleaning a little extra on the coop and run then resting a bit while its still a little cooler. The tank setting up high is our water tank because we don't have running water or electric to our coop. The tank makes it so much easier on us than hauling it.


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## grampsjim (May 18, 2015)

The last pix is inside the coop. I had just cleaned it so it won't look like that for long!


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

How do you keep algae from developing in the tank?


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## grampsjim (May 18, 2015)

We have talked about that but so far haven't seen any algae. The plastic is very heavy and opaque. It was a soap container from a car wash that we found for $50. If we see any development of algae, we have a swimming pool place that we will see if they have anything to use that won't harm the chickens. We watch pretty close for it. We bring the waterers tonthe house occasionally and bleach them when tney get bad.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

They will probably recommend chlorine for killing it. The question is, how much without hurting them? 

I was surprised that even my waterers inside the coop turned green very rapidly. I think the fluorescent lights caused it.


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## grampsjim (May 18, 2015)

It maybe because the area is shaded somewhat . The waterers don't get bad but do have a little algae in them. They are shaded as well . We bathe with about a quarter cup of bleach when we've been out in the woods to make sure we don'thave chiggers (red bugs) &dont have a problem. The sun will m neutralize the chlorine within a few hours. With out knowing for sure that's about what would use or maybe a half cup in our tank which is 350 gallons.


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## zamora (May 26, 2015)

I LOVE your coop, it's very roomy and your run is nice and clean. We tried to make ours so my husband didn't have to duck but in some areas, he keeps bonking his head. I'm only 5'2" and shrinking so I have nothing to worry about.


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## rosco47 (Jul 6, 2015)

paint the tank black. 2-3 coats. will cut down on algae. 
I love the walk-in mattress spring, I mean door.  that is good thinkin right there.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Rosco, leave it to you to spot that. I completely missed it. Would have never noticed its original function had you not pointed it out.


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## rosco47 (Jul 6, 2015)

I am only ashamed that I did not think of that first!


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Are you saying you have one laying around some place with weeds growing through it?

Hmm, now that I think about it, I bet if I go back in our woods I'd find one. I've found half of a car back there so far.


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## rosco47 (Jul 6, 2015)

no but you always see them at the dump leaned up against the "metal only" containers


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

We're not allowed any where near ours here so we have no opportunity to pick up neat stuff. You have to cruise all the back roads instead.


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## rosco47 (Jul 6, 2015)

well hat works out well bc I love cruising backroads. cruise and pickup up mattress springs, I mean doors lol


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

When the hubs had me held hostage since he was driving he decided to cruise down this road he hadn't been on yet. We didn't get a quarter mile when three of the most pitiful looking puppies scrambled off the road in to a ditch. I didn't have to tell him to stop and go back because he he was already doing it.

This was almost ten years ago. One was nearly bald with mange, they were all dehydrated and starving and loaded with worms. The bald one became Fuzzie, the alpha puppy (the biggest one) became Alf and the littlest brother became Freddie. 

I refused to ever go down that road again.


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## grampsjim (May 18, 2015)

Ya'll are so funny! We actually do have bed spring doors. They were off an old futon frame that our son put in our "private" dump. When the hubs was building our coop , we salvaged everything we could. The futon was not locking correctly so it was trashed. Hence the doors to the coop and small pen. The sheet iron was odds and ends from various building job that our sons friend gave to us. The chicken wire and weld wire was about the only thing we paid new prices for. My hubs and I are neither very tall ( 5x8 & 5'5)so everything fits about right.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

My hubs was trained as a union carpenter back in the late 60's early 70's. If I want to accomplish something like you did I have to do it myself while he's not around. I've driven him absolutely nuts over the years for hanging on to pieces of 2X4's. Then surprise surprise those pieces turned in to something useful. It only took him about 15 years to start automatically asking me if I had something stashed that he needed. Chances were, yes I did. He finally figured out the stuff he considered waste save both time and money and worked just fine once applied.

Now the new torx screws are a whole different kettle of fish. He hates them, he wants phillips. Well, if he wants phillips he needs to go buy them because all I've got here are torx in every size imaginable.


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## nannypattyrn (Aug 23, 2015)

Ok, this is nannypatty AKA "grampsjim " on this post. We are doing a complete clean out of our coop, roosts, nesting boxes, because we have a might infestation. I was wondering if we can use liquid Seven on the walls and roosts? I don't want to put it in the nesting boxes. Or, should we just stick to bleach?


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Yes, but let it dry before letting the birds back in to the coop. Also spray around the outside of the coop on the ground, that will help knock them back even more.

Charlie Echo managed to convince me that adding Sevin dust to the shavings was a very effective way to keep mites under control. So far, it appears he's right. 

side note: I don't like Sevin, never have but it's gotten so I have to leave my dislike behind if I don't want to keep having mite issues. There are premise sprays but they are not nearly as effective.


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## nannypattyrn (Aug 23, 2015)

Thx! I have done organic gardening for years now, but same as you, I'm having go to all out warfare with some of the more potent stuff although sparingly. We've got the whole coop, roosts,walls and nesting boxes cleaned and bleached. New pine chips in the boxes and DE under new sand under the roosts. Also all mouse and rat evidence done away with and Tom Cat in places where the girls won't be pecking around . Now on to the run!


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Here is the issue with using bleach, it is not addressing your mite problems. Yes, it might kill a few that it contacts but the others? Not so much. Then when eggs hatch the mite issue is right back again.

There is also the issue of respiratory irritation if the coop is not thoroughly aired out before the birds go back in.


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## nannypattyrn (Aug 23, 2015)

Ok, thx! Sure smells better down here though.The coop is pretty open for air circulation and we rinsed and dried the boxes good. We had good respirators on esp, because of the dust and poo. everywhere . The girls have been curious but most are outside under the shade tree. The mommies are back on their eggs and their nest is right by the big door. All we have right now is liquid Sevin and we'll use that on the roosts and walls then we'll find some Sevin dust for the rest.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

High praise for the use of masks. It's one of those things I've done from the beginning. I read about a mother and daughter that contracted mycoplasma or aspergillosis (I forget which) from cleaning out their coops without them when I first started. After that first big clean out and seeing how much dust could have been in my lungs, I'm glad I read that because I wouldn't have thought about it.


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## nannypattyrn (Aug 23, 2015)

Well I'm a nurse by profession, so I should have thought about it much earlier than I did for both me and gramps who, though long quit, was a smoker for many years. I have worked with folks with lung conditions for almost 30 years so I have seen a lot, but very few fungal diseases like the ones you mention. But, they can be fatal , so precaution is necessary. I have friend whose little grandson contracted leukemia. She wants so much to have chickens for the grands to see and be around, but with the little man's compromised immune system , I told her wouldn't be wise to have them until his therapy was done and his immunity was normal again just because of the various diseases they can carry, even healthy birds.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Former RT here, way former. So, I get respiratory diseases and how devastating they can be for living a normal life.

There is a store owner here who suffered for months with some respiratory illness. She spent as much time at a doc's office as she did running her business. None of them ever did any blood tests, she finally insisted it be done and found she was suffering from mycoplasma. She has no idea how she contracted it, no chickens, no farm animals at all. 

The story was pretty much the same for the first two, no one could find the problem. They suffered with months before they finally got a diagnosis.

I worried about contracting farmer's lung when I still had horses and handled so much hay. When you think about it it doesn't take much to get a fungal growth going full bore.

I'm glad you brought up the use of masks, everyone should be aware that they are one of the vital tools they should be using whenever dust from farm animals is possible.


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## nannypattyrn (Aug 23, 2015)

I never worried too much around my horeses but I just had 2 when I was growing up. I never have been able to convince gramps to get me one since we've been married because he's afraid that I would do something stupid, rightly so, and get myself hurt.
Thx for all the info!!


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

LOL I had to promise my hubs I wouldn't fill our last property up with horses when we moved there. Talk about an ideal spot, fenced, 20 acres mostly cleared, two ponds a building that could have been converted in to nice stable. I kept that promise, I filled the place up with chickens and guineas. He thought having horses was hard work. He didn't think that so much after the birds.


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## nannypattyrn (Aug 23, 2015)

That's too funny! It took me several years to convince him about the chickens but he loves them now. We have a smaller acerage ( 8 ) which would be good but no ponds so no ready source of water. Not enough rescoures to pipe it in so he would had to haul it. We did find a 350 gallon container that was used to hold soap from a carwash that once we finally got it cleaned out enough is perfect for the chicken waterers. Hopefully, in the next year or so, we'll be able to run electricity ( 300 ft) to the coop. We use solar lamps for the winter lightning right now.


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## nannypattyrn (Aug 23, 2015)

Not sure how Mr smiley got there!


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

We're on seven now, mostly heavily treed. No chance of adding horses here without a ton of work. But I've gotten to a point in my life that horses are not even a thought any more. 

I've got a messed up rhomboid muscle that is causing me fits. Probably from all the hay I unloaded and put in the barn and the hundreds of pounds of feed I would get at at time. 

I don't see mr. smiley.


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## nannypattyrn (Aug 23, 2015)

Ok, Mr smiley was because I didn't have enough spaces with my parentheses and the 8. I guess I was the only one who could see it. I fixed it though. 
Off to find someone to do my nails which are in great need since cleaning this morning. Back in a bit...


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