K.I.S.S.

No, I'm not talking about Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley, but rather the acronym - Keep It Simple Stupid.  Why?  Chicken Coops.  They are either "crap" or "castle."  There doesn't seem to be anything that is simple, but effective and nice to look at.  First, let me explain a little bit about chicken coops.  The coop is where the chickens essentially go in at night, and it is where they find their source of food and water.  It is also where they lay their eggs.  There are a number of parameters that go into chicken coop design.  First, the size of the coop depends on how many chickens you have.  Finding information on this is like asking a group of people who the best football team is.  I cannot find any consistent information.  The lowest value I have found is that you need 1 ft² of space per chicken from some internet chicken raising site.  The highest value I've found is a whopping 9 ft² of space per chicken from some state extension site.  So, for me, since I would like to have about 15 chickens, I either have to build a 15 ft² (I figured about 3 × 5) building or a 135 ft² (probably 9 × 15) monstrosity.  However, most of the values I've found tend to be at the lower end of that spectrum, somewhere between 1-3 ft².  So, I'm thinking I might stick with a value of about 3 ft² per chicken.  That means, I would need about a 45 ft² coop at about 5 × 9 or 5 × 10 to be acceptable.

The second parameter that needs to be taken into consideration is the number of nesting boxes in the coop.  The nesting box is exactly what it sounds like it is.  It is the box in which a hen will lay her eggs.  Typically these are mounted to a wall and are accessible from a lid or panel from the outside of the coop.  That way, you can harvest the eggs without having to go into the coop without causing an uproar with the ladies.

Nesting boxes

Getting eggs from nesting boxes
(http://journeytosimple.wordpress.com/category/green-living/)

Luckily, my search on the number I need is turning out to be a little more consistent.  A coop should have about 1 nesting box per every 1-2 chickens.  So, I should probably plan on 7.5.  However, I'm going to plan on either 9 or 10.  If I go with 9, I will arrange them in a 3 × 3 pattern, or a 5 × 2 pattern if I decide to have 10 nesting boxes.  The size of the nesting boxes is important too.  Although I've only seen one website that says they should be at least 12 × 12 × 12, most of the pictures I've seen suggest that is probably a good assumption.  The website also suggested that the size of the nesting box is commensurate with the size of the chicken.  So, I will probably go with a 14 × 14 × 14 or a 15 × 15 × 15 size.  I'll have to do some more research on this to nail down a good value.

The third parameter in a chicken coop is the presence of roosts.  Roosts are simply an elevated area on which the chickens hang out and sleep.  Most of the designs I've seen are a large dowel rod that traverses one end of the coop a few feed above the floor of the coop.  I've seen some coops with 2-3 levels of, but the height at which the roosts should be is not very clear.  However, the one thing all the websites agree on is that the roosts should be arranged in a diagonal pattern.  That way the chickens on the roost above don't poop on the heads of the chickens on the roost below.

Chicken Roost
(http://buildachickencoopeasy.com/tag/chicken-roost/)

Lastly, chicken coops need a way to supply food, water, heat, and protection.  Food and water come from feeding and watering dishes, available commercially, that are suspended from the ceiling of the coop so that the chickens don't walk or crap in the food and water supply.  The heat is usually supplied by a bare light bulb that is hung at a specific height above the floor.  Protection is provided by a door that can be secured.  Although you might think of a hundred ways to secure the door of a chicken coop, the vast majority, if not all, that I've seen have a sliding door.  In this design, the door is raised or lowered between two channels.  The door is then attached to a rope and pulley that can be raised and lowered from the outside of the coop.

Feeders and Waterers
(http://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=31484)

Sliding Door
(http://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=31484)

So, what I have I resided to do, you ask.  I'm definitely not going to buy mine, and the plans that I've found are either too elaborate or unclear.  So, I guess I will be designing my own.  I'm currently using Google SketchUp to design the coop.  It's going to be a while, but I'll post a picture of it when it's finished.

If you want to get an idea of what kinds of chicken coops people have come up with, go to http://www.backyardchickens.com/coopdesigns.html to see what people have come up with.  Otherwise, enjoy the pics of the ones I have found in my searches.

Castle
(http://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=7562-Coop_building)

Crap
(http://www.neighborhoodnotes.com/news/2011/02/chicken_keeping_basics_a_chicken_in_every_yard/)

Yes!! - Part 1

Well, the offer was accepted today and we are moving in the right direction.  The only thing standing in our way right now is a bad home inspection.  I'm no construction work or architect, but the house looks very good to me.  So, barring any major problems, we should be able to move in the first weekend in February.  In the meantime, while we're waiting on things to move and papers to sign, I'm gathering information on the things I need to know to raise chickens, goats, bees, and as my wife reminded me today...worms.  Yes, worms.  So, let's start with the most simple critter and move up.

Why worms, you ask?  Composting...vermicomposting to be exact.  I looked into this a few years back and didn't really ever find the time to put something together.  So, since the farm is becoming more of a reality, I'm resurrecting the idea.  When I first looked into it, the main issue was building a vermicompostig bin and layering things correctly.  I'm not sure of the direction, but I was/am under the impression that the worms eat in one direction.  By the way, the worms eat pretty much anything but plastic and steel...cardboard, paper, kitchen scraps, etc..  Anyway, back to the point, the worms are supposed to eat...and crap, thus the compost...in one direction, leaving behind the compost which I am supposed to collect and add to the garden.  That's where the idea of layering is important.  You are supposed to layer the materials either above or below the most recently-composted level.  As they move out of the composted layer, they are supposed to start munching on the new layer.  I think the eat from the bottom up.  The other issue, is building an appropriate vermicomposting bin to accommodate the worms in their journey through the trash.  So, the first item on my vermicomposting To-Do-List is figuring out how to make VC bin and how to layer it correctly.

The next critter on the taxonomical list are the bees.  The idea of having bees is fairly new for me.  So, I'm not bring any previously found information into this project.  Anything I have learned has been collected only recently.  One of the big questions I have, as I think most people would, is "How long until I get honey?"  As for the answer, I'm not sure.  From the videos that I've watched and some of the literature I've read, it seems like it takes about a year.  The reason I say that is because one video series I watched was of a guy that did a video diary of his experience.  He set up his hives and received his bees in late spring/early summer.  Subsequent videos were added, indicating his activities in summer, fall, winter and early spring of the next year and he still hadn't collected any honey, although some of his plates (I think that's what he called them) were showing signs of honey production.  The other issue of beekeeping is keeping them from swarming.  I'm not definite on what this means, but I think this is not a good thing and that it will occur if the hive somehow develops a new queen.  I guess the get confused on who the boss is.  Anyway, from the videos I've seen, keeping bees looks pretty labor-intensive, but I'm up for that, especially if I get some honey.

As for the chickens and the goats, I'll have to get back to you on that.  I need to get some actual real work done.  The semester starts in about a week and I need to get somethings done.