Coops for quail and chickens.

[Admin]

How big are your coops and how many birds do you have in them? This questions extends to both chickens and quail.
I'm not sure if I'll have the time to build a coop this year but it is on agenda. First prject in line is my greenhouse and transplanting trees.

[muskrat24]

Well bossman it depends on the quail or chicken variety. The coturnix what Trapperbud has I believe is 1 sq foot per bird at a minimum. But more is always better. The rabbit hutch I have is 2.5'W x 6'L.

[trapperbud]

JC My quail video shows my hutches for quail it works good for about 30 quail . I'm planning on doing a video of my chicken coop but it my be the first of May before I can do it .

[patricimo54]

I am wondering if it would be feasible to raise quail in in an enclosed yard, say a 10'x10' and let them "free range" inside of the yard?

[trapperbud]

I've read that your are not supposed to raise them on the ground for diease purposes . If your only going to raise them up to butchering size I don't see where it would matter but I don't know .

[muskrat24]

Mar 26, 2012 19:01:02 GMT -5 trapperbud said:

I've read that your are not supposed to raise them on the ground for diease purposes . If your only going to raise them up to butchering size I don't see where it would matter but I don't know .

I remember hearing something like that a while ago. If you have an closed off barn or something you could get away with getting some 24"x24" or 36"x36" rabbit cages from tractor supply and keeping trios in those and just hang them off the barn walls.

[Admin]

Ok Gents, I'm clearing trees for where my coop is going and I'll be starting into it any day now. I'm thinking I might incorporate a small roofed outdoor pen along side of it as well. I think this will look pretty decent from the house. So seeing that I don't know diddly dick about birds, I'm leaning on ya'll to point me in the right direction.

OK, bunch of questions for yee: Chicken raising for Dummies

1. Is it ok to have a sand floor in a coop?

2. If the coop is insulated, does it need a heat source in the winter?

3. If the coop is good size, can I have quail in the same building if the quail are in a separate area and not loose with the chickens?

4. If I put nesting boxes along a wall, How high off the floor do you recommend? or does it matter?

5. WTF is a sex link?

6. How long do you keep baby chicks under a heat lamp?

Thank you in advance.

[trapperbud]

1- Sand floors should be fine , chickens love to take dust bath and sand works great for that .

2-I would think you need a heat source , your winters get mighty cold .

3-Yes . My chickens clean any feed that my quail drop under their hutches . Helps to cut down on waste .

4-Mine are 3 feet off the ground . you need 1 nest box for ever 4 hens you have .

5-They are a cross breed chicken . I have some red sex links which are a cross between a Rhode Island Red roster and a Delware hen . I think black sex links are a cross between a Rhode Island Red roster and a Barred rock hen . Sex links are good egg producers and can be sexed by color when hatched .

6-Normally 4 to 6 weeks or until fully feathered . After 3 weeks I start reducing the temps in their brooders by 10 degress to hget them ready to go outside .

Hope this helps .

[Admin]

Tbud, that helps tremendously. Thank you and karma to ya.

I'm on my way to chicken farming. ;D

[patricimo54]

TBud is a wealth of knowledge when it comes to birds. He has been very helpful with support for me with my issues.

JC one thing to keep in mind and a biggy, odor. Chicken crap has a strong odor especially when it gets wet. If it possible to have a floor in your coop and yard that is easy to clean this shouldn't be an issue.
I have an Amish style coop that I have covered the floor with a single piece of scrounged used Teflon. Easy clean up. I could see where sand would be duel purpose. Not only would it allow a place for the birds to dust bathe, as TBud mentioned, but it would also provide a barrier between the soil and the dung for easy removal.

I have considered in a future coop and yard to still utilize the Amish designed coop, but have a concrete floor in the yard and a metal roof over the entire yard.

This is what my set up looks like now.



Elevated coop on the right for chickens allows for weather proofing feeders. Quail coop is on the left.



This is a better view of how the feeders are protected from the elements. You can see the south side of the quail coop in the distance.



Wire over the top of the yard keeps the hawks and owls from getting a free meal.



These are pics. from about 3 years ago and we were still in the construction stages of the project. I hope they help and inspire you.

Here is a link to a web site that you should find interesting.

www.backyardchickens.com/f/

[cam]

Apr 3, 2012 22:57:47 GMT -5 downhome said:

I don't mean to contradict TBud but you don't need a heat source JC.

you will cause more issue then solve.

insulation may be helpful but not necessary.
make sure its covered.

Big thing is draft and ventilation.

maintain ventilation with out a draft on the birds.

Agreed. Chickens will puff up and huddle in tight to each other and keep themselves warm. As long as they are out of the wind and rain, they'll be fine. I remember winters in south dakota that got down -20, and all the chickens were fine...but if one got caught outside the coop, it wasnt uncommon for it to succumb to the cold, or in the very least its toes would freeze and break off. Saw several hens back then that walked around on nubs, or roosters without combs because of frostbite cause they got locked outside the coop.

Cam

[Nutso]

Are you looking for meat breeds or laying hens?

My 2 cents in regards to heating the coop, is if you are going to keep chicken over the winter, you also have to keep in mind that the water will freeze.

I am not an expert, but don't layers need some warmth and extra light in the winter or they stop producing eggs?

[Admin]

Thanks for the info ya'll, keep it coming.

Pat, it looks like you have a well thought out setup. Looks great and I will take some of your ideas into consideration. ;D

Tbud, you mentioned reducing the heat on the chicks a little at a time. Do you do this but pulling the heat lamp back a bit or reducing the wattage?

What wattage lamp do you usually use?

Now since I'm starting from the bottom up, which would you think would be best? Building it with a sand floor or a wood floor? I can go either way. Of course a sand floor would be the cheapest route and I could always scoop up and replace sand as needed. What would you do and why?

[muskrat24]

As far as watts it depends on where the brooder is located, and the temps of the area it is located at. With my quail chicks I had kept them in the garage which had a pretty constant temperature. With the temps in the garage I was able to just use a 75 watt incandescent bulb. In colder or larger areas a 125 watt heat bulb can be used. As far as lowering the temps I just raised it up. And I raised it up so it deceased about 5 degrees per week with the quail as they feathered out pretty quickly.

As far as raising up the chicks you gotta watch for drafts when they are young. Also if you can have rounded corners in the brooding area that is ideal as it prevents them from piling up in a corner, and potentially suffocating one another.

One thing about chick JC is they will tell you if your heating is adequate. If they are all dispersed evenly in the brooder the temps are right. Huddled under the heat lamp you need to drop it down. Huddled to one side of the brooder or another there is a draft going through.

Another thing is chicks are attracted to the color red. That is why chick feeders/waterers are almost always red. But occasionally you will have an incident with picking. Whether its towards the comb or something else that is red on the chicks being picked on. If that ever happens try switching over to a red heat bulb. That should help as everything will be red and the chicks cant single one another out. It had worked for me when I had broilers for our county fair.

I also provided a heat bulb for chickens and quail. Didn't have much of a winter but a heat bulb has been in the quail pen. I just want the birds to be as comfortable as possible and I know I wouldn't want to be huddled up next to someone in a shed all winter when I had the opportunity to be under a heat source

As far as the floor I've had both a wood floor and a dirt floor in the chicken coops at my old houses. The wood id hose out ever now and then. The dirt one I just put down straw or wood shavings from the local saw mill to absorb their waste. And I replaced that as needed. My one neighbor had a coop that had linoleum on the floor. That was slicker than snot to clean.

Looking forward to some pics ;D

[ninedeer]

some very good info as for insulation and heating the coop not recommended would get to humid ad create moisture in the coop.my coop is 8x12 enough roost for 30 hens and Randy(rooster) gets cold in Wisconsin they do just fine.as far as the water freezing I use a electric dog water dish set up on cinder blocks.in the winter the girls go out as long as the snow isn't to deep.JC when reducing heat on your chicks just raise the e heat lamp up alitlle bit each week until temp gets to bout 70.I have mine a concrete floor that I keep wood shaving and chopped up straw.draft is a bad thing for the chickens.in the summer time its a good idea to have a exhaust fan in the coop helps get rid of ammonia smell and moisture,my nest boxes are bout 2 feet off the bottom of my coop.I also aquired a couple nice wood dog houses that I put in the chicken yard that the girls like to lay eggs in ;D

[muskrat24]

Nice coop Pat. ;D Do you have a barrier underneath the fence to prevent predators from digging under?

[Admin]

I have heard that you shouldn't use a white heat lamp for chicks and only use red. Is there thruth to this? I think you summed it up pretty good Luke with the attraction to red, but just wondering if there was more to it.

The only RED heat lamps I'm finding are 250 watt. Holy crap that's probably more than my house burns in a day.
It seems silly to me (since I'm such a tight wadd) to burn 250 watts and raise it up to lower the temp when I can burn less watts to acheive the same thing. I just can't find a lower wattage red lamp.

I was talking with a neighbor about picking up a scrap piece of linoleum for the floor because I thought that would make for easy cleanup, but he said NOT to use it because the chickens will break thier legs or some s**t like that. I laughed like hell over this but they swore by it. They were building their coop at the time and they must have been serious because they didn't use the lino. Has your neighbor had any broken leg issues? LMFAO Just the thought of a chicken slipping on lino cracks me up something wicked.

I'm learning a lot on here so keep the info coming.

Thanks fellas

[muskrat24]

You can try getting red infared bulbs at your local pet store. I know people that keep reptiles use them. I remember getting a 75 watt one a couple years ago, and I've seen them at my local pet shop recently.

There is truth to using red. The main reason because of that chicks have a higher tendency to pick in a white light. Especially if there is red on any of the other chicks. They can and will gang up on it. So if you make every thing a red color it helps to cut that out.

I had used a white light the entire time with my quail. No problems but have had to use red bulbs with chicken chicks in the past.

As far as the broken legs no he hadn't at the time. Its been a few years since I've last seen him since I've moved though. So he may have had.

[trapperbud]

When I said you might need a heat source for your coop I'm going by how cold your winters get . Ours are mild compared to yours . I like to keep my coop temps above 40 degress . It helps to keep my egg production up during the winter .

My brooder boxes are keep in the same building with my incubator . The building is well insulated and with the incubator running it stays about 70 inside it . If I remember right a heat lamp bulb cost about a buck a day to run . I use a 60 watt light bulb the first 2 weeks , a 40 watt bulb the 3rd and 4th week , and a engery efficent bulb the 5th and 6th week . after that they are moved outside .

This is what works for me .

Pat you got a cool looking set up there . ;D

[patricimo54]

Apr 4, 2012 6:48:02 GMT -5 Admin said:

What wattage lamp do you usually use?

I have 125 watt Brooder lamps that I bought at Lowes. They are a white light. What is being said about the red lights make since, but I have had good luck with the 125's.

I have two clamp on fixtures with these quail chick. One has the brooder bulb, the other an incandescent 75w. The cool of the night I run the 125w. During the day I am running 75w.

[Admin]

Thanks again guys. Great info here.

I use epdm on
to in my poultry buildings,

Downhome, What's epdm?

I been thinking a lot about the floor. I want something that is easy to clean and not get saturated. If I put a wood floor in it I would like something from keeping the wood from getting saturated over time and rotting. The Misses mentioned cement board and I thought that would work. It's what they put down before they install ceramic tile. It's not slippery and is water proof. The sand floor would be the cheapest but I can see issues with that, saturation, critter and draft possibilities and a super dusty environment when cleaning or gathering eggs and stuff. I really like the linoleum idea and got to thinking about the slippery surface. If I used lino, I could possibly make wire frames (mesh) that laid flat over the lino and throw some shaving over it. This would eliminate the slippery floor issue and when i wanted to clean it I could just lift the frames out, shavings and all - and then sweep out the remainder of the litter and then lay the mesh flat on the lino again and start over.

Am I over thinking things?

I don't like to do stuff half assed or build something and then wish I had done differently. With the sharing of ideas here I'd like to start off on the right foot.

I've got a few more trees to drop and some earth to move and I'll be starting to build.

Thanks again guys

[mike692]

I'm going to chime in here on floors. I've built 3 chicken coops over the years. Two with wood floors and one with a dirt floor. I will never have another coop with anything but a dirt floor.
Several years ago, I started practicing the 'deep bedding method' of keeping poultry. This means that I clean my coop once a year (if that. In fact, Gene Logsdon stated in one of his books that he NEVER cleans his coop. Just takes out what he wants for the garden). I just keep adding bedding to the inside. A can of scratch grain keeps it stirred up and working. The bedding composts and heats the coop in the winter time. If you smell ammonia, add bedding. If there's lots of manure, add bedding. If it's wet and clumpy add bedding. Anything from straw, to hay, to wood shavings, to dry leaves, to shredder paper works great. Any kind of carbonaceous material. You don't even need to spread it around. I like nothing more than to see my chickens tearing up a bale of straw in the dead of winter.
Keep in mind my chickens aren't confined to the coop except in the coldest weather. Two winters ago they were confined for two months, but that's rare. They have a large fenced yard and when there is no garden, they get to free range.

On heat;
I've not ever had supplemental heating other than a 60 watt light bulb set on a timer. If this concerns you, buy breeds that are cold hardy. This means orpingtons, rhode island reds, barred rocks, etc. Heavy breeds. Avoid Mediterranian breeds like leghorns. A few of the poultry catalogs will tell you in bird descriptions if they are cold hardy. It gets cold here and the worst I've ever had happen was some frostbitten combs on roosters. I wouldn't insulate a coop again either. If you do decide to, don't use foam board. The chickens will eat it. They love the stuff!

Predator/rodent issues with dirts floors;
I bury welded wire fencing around the perimeter to prevent dig ins. My next coop will be built on a concrete footer. With that you could still have dig ins, but it wouldn't happen in one night. That would give you the opportunity to trap whatever was doing the digging.
As far as rodents, I've just resigned myself to the fact that I'll always have to deal with rats. I'm not a fan of poison, but that's what I use. It's the only way to kill large numbers of rats in a short amount of time.

[Admin]

Interesting concept Mike. It does make sense though and thanks for chiming in. Lots of different opinions and ideas here and I'm getting an education. My birds will be cooped in the fur shed temporarily I think cause the more trees I cut down, them more trees I want to cut down.
I've got one hawg of a pine that'll make some serious lumber. All this tree cutting will postpone my building plans but thats alraight. The fur shed is dormant all summer anyway.

[stickbowhntr]

Maybe its all this talk about Coops and chicken/quail but I am seeing more coops at places for sale. The industry must be growing...lol..Maybe I am just more noticing as we are talking about them???

[Admin]

Can you guys post some pics of your quail coops please?

Thank ya kindly

[trapperbud]

downhome
I like your coop . I'm planning on fixing something close to that but I want mine to be moveable . Planning on having 2 chicken yards and swapping them between the two every couple of weeks . ;D

[Admin]

Well it's a start fellas. They seem pretty cozy and content so far.
Thanks for all your advice. I think I'm going to enjoy this and very anxious for the coop construction. Gotta get my saw back from the shop though before I can proceed with my tree cutting.

[muskrat24]

Congrats on the additions to your homestead. ;D

[Admin]

Does anybody know what an average cost would be to run this 250 watt heat lamp per day?

[patricimo54]

Apr 6, 2012 16:06:08 GMT -5 Admin said:

Can you guys post some pics of your quail coops please?

Thank ya kindly

The camera I use is at work. I'll try to slip by there tomorrow and pick it up. My hutch or coop for quail is 3' x 8' open bottom 1/2" hardware cloth. Open front to the south with two doors, enclosed with 1" chicken wire.