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Our old chicken coop was already here when we moved in. Excellent construction techniques had been used throughout, but it had been built directly on wet ground. Eventually, it was unusable and not practically reparable. So, we tore it down and saved the wood we could to build a new coop.
 I admit the design is a tad unorthodox -- the entire structure is made of triangles and pentagons; but the design reduced overall cost of materials by 15% compared to a rectangular structure with similar square footage and volume. The floor has 6" of fiberglass insulation. The bottom of the floor frame is covered with metal (to keep out rats) and the top of the floor frame is ordinary 3/4" plywood coated heavily with polyurethane. We live up in New Hampshire where winters can be brutal, so insulation is important for keeping a flock over the winter. This structure is 14' high at the center, and will be topped with a cupola to aid ventilation. Poultry manure is high in ammonia, and ammonia can irritate the lungs of chickens, making them more susceptible to disease -- so adequate ventilation, even in winter, is important. The structure is also big enough to keep broilers and layers separately. Broiler birds and laying birds have different food requirements; and they have very different dispositions. In order to avoid cannibalism, keeping them separated is a good idea. Broilers come out of the brooder at 4 weeks old, and are processed for the freezer at anywhere from 7 to 10 weeks of age; so they don't use the coop for long. The rest of the year, the layers can have the whole coop to themselves. Speaking of layers, our new laying birds are of two types: Rhode Island Red and Araucana. We only have two of the latter. They have a distinctive appearance and lay green eggs. My daughter Hannah has named the two Araucanas Princess and Brittany respectively. Needless to say, these two birds being pets, they will never be turned into food and will get to live to a ripe old age.  In the photo on the right you can easily tell the Araucana from the Rhode Island Reds. Rhode Island Reds are dual-purpose birds. They lay brown eggs, but are also good for meat. These won't be processed for food until they give up laying eggs -- and by that time they will be tough. The best bet for tough old laying hens is to can them because the long processing time in a pressure canner will tenderize the meat thoroughly, which will then be useful for homemade chicken soup. Most laying hens quit laying after about 16 months; but if you allow them to moult naturally and provide a natural amount of light rather than artificially lengthening the day to stimulate laying; it isn't unusual for them to keep laying for three or four years. When contemplating future chicken soup, you can check whether or not a hen is laying by looking at her comb to see if it is shiny and red, looking at her vent to see if it is moist or puckered and checking the width of the pelvic girdle. Also, over time, laying birds will exhaust their supply of zeaxanthin, a natural pigment that gives egg yolks their yellow color. I supplement their feed with yellow corn and marigold petals to prevent this. As a mini-farmer, perhaps the best part about chickens is their manure. Chicken manure is high quality, and unlike the manure of horses seldom contains weed seeds. It is extremely high in nitrogen so shouldn't be placed on crops directly; but if composted with coop litter or tree leaves to preserve the nitrogen content; it will make incredible fertilizer. |
