Frequently asked question
Can chickens be kept in a coop all day?
From our experience raising laying hens, I can say chickens can stay in their coop all day on occasion, but not for days on end. This will also depend on the size of your coop and the number of chickens housed in it. This also assumes you have food and water available for them inside the coop.
Why are chicken coops off the ground?
If your chicken house is raised off the ground, even if predators are able to breach the walls, they don’t get very far as the chickens are up above their heads. Also, this allows for better air circulation when a chicken house is raised above the ground and prevents a buildup of droppings, dust mites and more.
How cold is too cold for chickens?
Chickens are quite hardy and can tolerate temperatures below freezing, but they prefer a warmer climate. The ideal temperature for chickens is about 70-75 degrees Fahrenheit.
Easy Coop Cleanup
Instead of cleaning the bedding about once a week, it is better to add new bedding to the old one. Bedding will be partially composted when it is piled up. As long as it is kept dry from time to time and covered with fresh water, ammonia will not pile up. It is cleaned once a year and can be added to compost or garden beds. We put a trap door on the floor of the live shed, so we can shovel the old bedding from the hole onto the tarp under the live shed, and then drag it to the garden. The perfect system for lazy chicken farmers!
Keeping The Chicken Yard Attractive
One problem with fixed chicken coops is that the chickens will eventually eat up all the grass, making them muddy. This year, we added a fence between the corner of the chicken coop and the running side. This will close half of the chicken farms. After three years of chicken farming, this is really a shipwreck. Chickens will be confined to half of the chicken farm, and we will plant a special mixture of grass and weeds (or “chicken cracks”) in the other half. This is one of their favorite food foraging. Once the new growth method is determined, we can move the fence to the other side of their door, and when we plant the other half, they can forage in the new grass.
Automatic Watering System
Don’t want to bring water to the bowl filled with water every day or even every few days, we designed a rain barrel system to collect the water, and added parts to make it an automatic filling, almost no work equipment.
First, we built a sturdy platform so that the water in the bucket can flow into the chicken coop by gravity. We connected a flexible downpipe at the end of the gutter on the roof, and made the end of it through the shed wall at an angle to the black plastic bucket and rain barrel. We fixed the downpipe to the south wall with screws and wires. This direction will help capture as much winter sunlight as possible to prevent water from freezing in the black bucket. We cut a hole in the top of the barrel and glued a screen to the barrel to prevent debris from entering. The end of the downpipe fits the hole. At the bottom of the drum, we installed the brass faucet by drilling holes and using waterproof caulk.
Next, we designed an automatic watering system from the rain barrel to the chicken house. We connected the long hot water hose of the washing machine to the socket of the barrel. Then, we drilled a hole in the wall of the chicken house and passed the hose through it. Inside the chicken house, we connect the hose to the automatic pet watering bowl, which is a stainless steel bowl with a float. Once the faucet is turned on and the float is adjusted, the urinal will be filled with water to the set height under the action of gravity, eliminating the need for manual water injection.
