Battening down the hatches and taking stock..

Ontario Chick · Post by **Ontario Chick** » Thu Dec 15, 2016 10:37 pm

Ready for winter, or as ready as we will ever be...

Checking the pens this morning after few days away from the barn, made me think it's time to take stock,
as inspired by Jan's post

14 Wyandotte hens going in to winter not finished molt yet, not too happy about that..

14 Ameraucana hens and pullets combined going in to winter in good shape just starting to lay...

accept for few laying box argument the hens and pullets combined without much fuss..

Wyandotte pullets, my hope for next year just starting to lay everywhere else accept in the boxes

and the bachelor pen, not much improvement over last month

ross · Post by **ross** » Fri Dec 16, 2016 12:16 am

Looks all comfy to me . Nice birds OC .

kenya · Post by **kenya** » Fri Dec 16, 2016 2:10 am

They look great, happy and healthy!

Happy · Post by **Happy** » Fri Dec 16, 2016 9:59 am

OC your coops and birds are beautiful. I don't know how you keep everything so clean. I would sleep in there! I aspire to that kind of cleanliness and try as I might they

on the walls, perches...I even find

on the ceiling occasionally!

Ontario Chick · Post by **Ontario Chick** » Fri Dec 16, 2016 10:47 am

It's not all that clean once you look close up

BUT, I have had the "luxury" to do it all first, completely wrong, then do it again and fix all (or most ) of the original mistakes and then one more time build one last pen applying all that I learned and fine tuning for elderly keepers

my theory being that if I get it right I can keep chickens in to a ripe old age, (mine not the chickens) whatever that might be.:)
The Ameraucana pen and the bachelor pen in the actual barn were originally two horse stalls lined with hemlock boards, and nothing sticks to that :)

KimChick · Post by **KimChick** » Fri Dec 16, 2016 7:42 pm

Nice pictures!
Looking at the Wyandotte pic - How do you like your diamond-shaped laying boxes? It looks like they would really prevent any eggs from being kicked out.
And I see you also have a pull string on the coop door. It it manual or automated?
One more question: What is your idea of clean?
I know, lots of questions.

Ontario Chick · Post by **Ontario Chick** » Fri Dec 16, 2016 11:05 pm

Very happy with the diamond laying boxes, the hens are too, very easy to clean there is no back they just hang on an angle shelf support.
The door pul is manual (clothes line) controlled from the outside in the summer and inside in the winter.
My idea of clean? it's a movable target

I don't like the coop to smell, but with the drop bins under the roosts most droppings end up in the bins, so not a major problem, the deep bedding helps too.
I am not obsessive about it, but if the birds were dirty, I would consider the coop too dirty, so I guess as long as the birds can keep themselves clean, the coop is clean enough.

Post by **Home Grown Poultry** » Fri Dec 16, 2016 11:31 pm

thats the best description of a clean coop right there. the way I do deep litter I only really clean it out once a year and then I leave mabey one tenth of it in. this is to seed the good bacteria that break crap down into the new litter I just added and keep it from stinking. I clean out under the roosts way more often than that though.

everything OC does comes from years of experience, thats the stuff you cant read in books. OC.... you should write a book!

Ontario Chick · Post by **Ontario Chick** » Sat Dec 17, 2016 9:56 am

thegawd wrote:QR_BBPOST everything OC does comes from years of experience, thats the stuff you cant read in books. OC.... you should write a book!

Funny story, we were going thru that stage where you read everything you can get your hands on on homesteading about 20 years ago with my youngest son, who was heavily in to horses at that time, and eventually we start to realize we were either doing or have done most of those things, and my son at that time precocious teenager said; "I guess some people write books about it and some people just do it "

I am pretty sure I am the second kind

Post by **Home Grown Poultry** » Sat Dec 17, 2016 10:26 am

HAHA I hear ya! and I love your philosophy! I can definitly relate. we have a whole bunch of homesteading books.