Backyard Chicken Setup

[ANIMLLOVRZZ66]

Hey check out my vids pllzzzz

[arkeljankushova]

the coop does not look good

[djbarryiii]

@arkeljankushova I agree...but it works fine!

[frogman604]

im not trying to be mean but whene u have a choice betwen wire mesh and astroterf of cors e they will really like astroterf. checkens dont like wire it cuts there feet up and herts them so that given u gave them what 2'x3' area to walk on in there coop?

[djbarryiii]

@frogman604 I have to agree that it's not really new or interesting...but it's cheap, simple to make and it works. On the plus side, a small box kept the ladies a lot warmer when it was10 below zero outside...which happens here once or twice every winter.

[frogman604]

man what r u thinkingh? mabe u should of done some reserch befor u got the chickens. your set up is all wrong. any person that knows any thing about chickens can see that they will not be happy. u said that this cost u $150.00 look at my vids and see what i made for $200.00.

[gracekennyblogg]

@frogman604 your a mean person, this setup has a lot of positives. Your is just a fancy box. Nothing interesting dude!

[arguewithanaithiest]

16 hours is perfect they loooooooove 16 hours

[djbarryiii]

In the winter I put it on top of the flower pot heater---which keeps it from freezing.

[littlepiaf]

Where's their water in the hen house?!!

[ddgrower]

I think your setup is really efficient, clean and low maintenance. Good work.

[djbarryiii]

@ddgrower Thanks == that was the idea. So many chicken coops are mini Hilton Hotels. I wanted to put together something for around $150 inclusive that could be built in a weekend and required minimal daily maintenance. This system is really basic, but it works...even in extremes of temperature.

[nicholasbhicks]

do you have any tips on preping mine for the outside cold and how to keep a 7' x 5' coop warm without catching it on fire

[djbarryiii]

I inuslated my box with styrofoam. You could look at my video: "Backyard chicken coop water heater" for some more specific information on the lightbulb heater. i suppose there's always a chance of fire, but the ceramic flower pot disperses the heat pretty well. Chickens can handle an amazing amount of cold--given the fact that they are the descendants of tropical birds.

[nicholasbhicks]

@djbarryiii yea i thought about that the other day its crazy how thousands of years of captive breeding has made a jungle species capable of living free range in alaska

[robertsmi2]

@nicholasbhicks look up solar thermal heater, the ones on here are for a house but you can c=scale it down for a chicken coop, It is what i am planning to do when i build mine.

[robertsmi2]

@nicholasbhicks look up solar ther mal heater, the ones on here are for a house but you can scale it down for a chicken coop, It is what i am planning to do when i build mine.

[wowhunter45]

Try putting a heating lamp/lightbulb to make it a little bit warmer so you don't need that pot or Change out that lightbulb in the pot to a heating lightbulb so it stays dark and they stay warm

[zimovjel]

Pretty chickens

[ImRoosterz]

I need to ask a stupid question put can u make a video of how to make or setup the heating and timing system and the supplies plz....I would really like for u to do that.

[honeyxbee18]

soooo cute I can't wait to have my own chickens some day :3

[azeem78601]

wtf whys there coop so small

[deathmarch5]

Just a suggestion, I would buy conduit and run the cable for the light through it. Bury it 1 foot under ground and for about 200 dollars keep the risk of electric shock down and can keep that light there for ever in theory.

[MsMagsamillion]

Thank you for your reply djbarryiii ... but when chickens can't roost, they need warm bedding in their nest, where they will huddle together anyway. My eight chickens have an 8'x12' coop, but they all sleep in the one nest box. As mine are rescue hens, they wont use the perch, being use to a tiny cage the first 17 months of their lives. Your lovely hens look like they would roost if they had the room. At least it is nice you put a little heater in there with them, Ireland has milder winters!

[MsMagsamillion]

That is the most uncomfortable coop I have ever seen and too small, they need cosy laying boxes. A rabbit hutch is for rabbits!

[djbarryiii]

Well, they were really only in there at night. They had a 4 x 10 foot open run all the rest of the time, and usually an even larger 8x16 zone, plus the tractor. Besides, when it's 15 below zero Fahrenheit they'd all huddle together around the water heater to keep warm anyway. Plus, the small, insulated box kept them warmer in general than a large drafty coop would have..

[djbarryiii]

Just google "backyard chicken coop water heater" to see how I did it. The timer was just a $7 manual timer that I got at the local hardware store. The timer plugs into the extension cord going back to the house and the heater plugs into the timer.

[thequado]

put a floor in they will freeze jut make so you can take it out easy

[gemmy207]

Great idea!

I've been thinking about getting some chickens myself and and found this site really useful:

th-goodlife.info

[edesir]

Ahh That's where brown eggs come from. :)

[tommagill]

To solve the problem of feed settling in the bottom of the feeder and not being accessible to the chooks, you could try modifying a funnel (or anything cone shaped, really) and putting in in the middle of your feeder. Gravity will send the seed toward the exit points of the feeder, rather than letting in out of reach. Cheers.

[1wolfgirl300]

when you put the light in it wears them out more and makes it so that when they get older they'll stop laying sooner. i think they start to slow the laying process around year three but they will still lay eggs ocationaly.

[dafrickinchicken]

This is cool!

[fancydnails]

Thank you for posting this. I have a few birds in my backyard, always somethig you can learn from others. Namaste

[djbarryiii]

Namaste to you, too. And cluck, cluck.

[arizonachristian]

awesome. very creative.

[llnichol3]

Awesome! I love your inventions!

[mygamebirds]

You did a great job, especially with automatic timers, etc. in a cold area. I wonder how they do in Winter when there is 5 ft of snow? :).

Anyhow, great job!

[djbarryiii]

Glad you like it..it worked fine, actually. We get a lot of snow here, too, and I just shovel and sweep it off of the roof with snowfalls, up to a foot at a time.

[mygamebirds]

@djbarryiii What ever works, but glad that it works for you during the winter. I know people that lives in Wisconsin and Minnesota, they keep their flock in a shed with heatlamps. But glad that this is working for you. You should post updates at mygamebirds . com. I'm not sure if it's the place for you, but worth a look. We have registrars from all parts of the world.

[nothernmonday]

good set up there. I keep chickens and ducks, and they've never had any problems with the cold. Minus 30 degrees C this winter in Austria.

Just want to add that the colour of the chicken has nothing to do with the colour of the egg. It's all down to the colour of the chickens ear lobes. Red ear lobe, brown eggs...white ear lobe, white eggs.

I have 12 hens, and even through winter I was getting about 7 or 8 eggs everyday, without needing extra lighting.

nice vid :)

[djbarryiii]

Thanks for the feedback. You're right about the ears, too. It's just hard to understand how these birds...which originally were tropical...can survive those temperatures, but I've heard other people report this, too. Amazing.

[Pujc]

nice , that maybie cheap, but looks wery okay :D:D csibeház :D:D:D

[MasasWife]

Thanks so much for posting this video. I've been racking my brain over how to take care of my hens because we are on SUCH a tight budget. Your video was very helpful. Thanks so much!!

[djbarryiii]

You're welcome...I think you'll like this approach. Lots of people build chicken Hiltons, and they're fun if you're into it, but if you just want a simple setup that works, this should do it for you....even in the coldest climate. At least it worked fine for me.

[1Bratwurst]

Simple design, but it works. Great video!

[krocodial]

good setup , nice

[annieoakleaves1]

Idont really understand why people like to post dumb mean comment. I think its great and thrifty! the chickens dont care what it looks like. it just needs to be functional. i got alot of good ideas from your video! thank you!

[amolhivorikatua]

Looks great!

[yves2013]

as you mentionned you setup is cheap, and looks even cheaper.

[djbarryiii]

Ouch. Oh well, I guess the truth hurts, but the bottom line is that even though it looks like junk, this setup worked like a charm!

[lucowlishaw]

@yves2013 Why be a jerk?

[Bostoncrocus]

Wow - I must try this to continue getting eggs all winter. My best layer stopped 5 days ago. I must install your system to get them started again, and I have read the Story's Guide to Raising Chickens. Either they mentioned it and I forgot it, or they didnt say how to increase day length using bulbs. HUGE help! Robin in NC

[djbarryiii]

So, did the light work?

[Deerslayin]

You like to say "uh" don`t you.

[djbarryiii]

Like, uh, what're you talking about?

[MonyMG1959]

I will eat my chicken eggs. If one day I let her hatch I will never kill her babies. She knows that. Thanks for sharing a nice video

[rfranklin707]

i have a black copper maran and if you think that those eggs were dark you should see hers. the black copper maran lays the darkest egg. almost looks like chocolate

[soothsayer0]

bet those eggs were planted there beforehand, thsoe chickens didn't lay them.

[djbarryiii]

No--they actually were there. I hadn't looked into the box yet that day. I really did get 3 eggs on most days for the first year.

[toglusid]

yes, chickens are notoriously frail - by the time you notice thay are a bit down, they can be right on the edge, Garlic (not too much - you don't want them not drinking cos it is too strong) and cider vinegar is a nice and effective home remedy - I keep forgetting to give it to them. I had one chook go down - an Harlequin Belgian D'Uccle, and her sister missed her so much she would sit in front of her reflection in the glass door. Eventually her sister died of misery.

[djbarryiii]

It's thought provoking how all of us earthlings have individual personalities...certainly chickens do. It makes you feel sorry for all those personalities cooped up in chicken factories. Even insects seem to have feelings and moods by the way. I raised bees for a while, and different hives had different personalities and moods--often weather or season dependent.

[ToxRoxDu]

Nice set up you have.

I love a good chicken video!

I have chickens myself....excellent job.

[ToxRoxDu]

chickens are notoriously frail?

My experience, which is fairly extensive..my opinion is the exact opposite of yours... Chickens are hardy.

[toglusid]

Hey Tox, maybe Chickens are hardy..... but not in my back yard. The vet suggested maybe there is something in the soil. I suspect it may be baby canetoads they eat. Or all the contact with wild birds. My chickens are all bantams and always freerange. Are yours commercial and penned (ie larger and more contolled environment?) I'd love to know how to help their health (cheaply) so I have taken up the garlic and organic cider vinegar again.

[ToxRoxDu]

Interesting, Thanks for the reply.

Mine are penned, and they free range a few days a week until I get tired of them pooping on my deck lol

I have a large run for them. I should just make a video and show you my setup.

[djbarryiii]

Well, I wish I'd invented the idea, but I'd heard of some things like it before. Somebody in Madison here was using a metal coffee can with a light bulb in it as a coop heater, and I'd heard of folks putting a flower pot on a gas stove to use as a radiant heater in the old days, so I just put the two ideas together.  I'm sure others have thought of it, too.

[toglusid]

thanks for uploading barry. I like the pot warmer idea - was that something you came up with? We use a chicken tractor and rotate it over our veggie patches, but cold is not a consideration in Queensland, Australia. Also, I think theBuffalowChickens comments were aimed at Skankystupidbitch, not yourself, so no need to clean the crap off the eggs :P

[skankystupidbitch]

No way, BuffalowChickens' comments weren't directed at me. What did I do wrong?

[toglusid]

I thought they were directed at you because of the "dead chicken" link the conversation. Actually I can see nothing wrong that you said. I think

TheBuffaloChicken must just be a bit emotionally unstable. And yes they are dead buffalow - read back....

[TheBuffaloChicken]

You FUCK! The birds are alive. Treat them well,only take from them what is offered. You FUCKING SHIT EATING REDNECK FUCK!!!

[djbarryiii]

Actually, I usually cleaned the shit off the eggs before eating them.

[MrWaterdragon08]

lol i would say unfertile eggs are a gift the chickens give for taking care of them cuz if he didnt eat them and leave them in the cage they would rot and give major health issues to the chickens but go ahead and make youreself look retarded on youtube its the cool thing to do nowadays :P

[skankystupidbitch]

Some interesting ideas here. Odd that you didn't use nesting boxes, or at least straw / hay. My birds enjoy their privacy when laying. Um, strange that they died like that. Cider VINEGAR (or white) and GARLIC (clove) in their water prevents immune deficiency.

[djbarryiii]

Thanks for your comments. My chickens really seemed to like the astroturf and would lay on it. I had to hose it off every day or two because they also liked to poop on it! Hay would have dropped through the wire floor.

[bigboys1199]

thank you so much! i got grate ideas from this!!!

[avoidingjanedoh]

what a great idea for keeping their woddles from getting frost bit! I live in canada and it gets just as cold. I just got my first two hens in may and it will be my first winter with chickens soon. ahh I dont want to think about winter yet.

[djbarryiii]

Thanks for the comment. Yep, the little light bulb flower pot heater kept em pretty warm. It's getting harder to find incandescant bulbs nowadays, though, with the fluorescents taking over. During the coldest months of the year, I just kept it on day and night. The bulbs would burn out after about 2 months, though. Forty watts was enough, by the way...as long as the coop door was closed at night when it was below zero frequently. (Fahrenheit, that is, my northern metric friend!)

[djbarryiii]

Oh no! I know Caleb loved those chickens--I saw them one one of his previous videos. Give him my condolences.

[djbarryiii]

Truth be told, two of my three chickens died last March...one after 6 months of no eggs and gradual decline and one, Ovaraptor, was quite vigorous and yet I found her dead one morning on her perch. It wasn't the cold that killed them, but I'm not sure what it was. So, after two years of backkyard chicken farming, I sold my setup and gave my one remaining birdie, Henrietta (aka Henny-Penny) away to some wonderful folks on the east side of town. Farewell chickens!

[JosiahsBackpack]

Good stuff. Check out my chicken videos. I have even built a chicken tractor. That is pretty cool.

[aunthill167]

It would be nice to have straw or chips down in the winter to help keep them warm, it would definately be much nicer then the metal floor.

[thaoguy559]

nice but hacth the eggs might be a male man tht well be badass!!

[stela2144]

i love how you made this beautiful chicken run, did u ever get more hens or just these three?

[djbarryiii]

Nope...only 3 chickens.  That's plenty of eggs for two people!

[stela2144]

well if you ever think of getting more hens or a rooster than send me a message and i'll be happy to provide you with some chicks.

i sell and raise chicks :)

[bagelboi66]

What a great cruelty-free way to get some eggs! I buy local farm grown free-range eggs which is the best I can do living in an apartment. They're much fresher and they sure taste better too. They poach beautifully.

If you had an enclosed yard would you be able to let the hens have the run of it?

Great job I envy you. I've heard that chickens can be very gentle and affectionate animals if they're cared for and happy. Have you found this to be true? Could they in any way be called pets?

[djbarryiii]

Sure, with an enclosed yard you can let them run around, but you have to be careful of hawks..we had one in our run last year once...and you definitely need to lock them in after they go to bed at night to keep the predators out.

I really didn't look at them as pets, but they

definitely had personalities.

Anyway, about 2 months ago 2 of them died: one of cancer and the other suddenly. I had to either get some more chickens or sell Henrietta. I did the latter. Chickens are a daily job.

[DusanPajic]

Five stars only for your passion and effort... :D But you should provide them more space.

[djbarryiii]

Dusan,  Actually I made some sections of portable fencing out of bamboo and chickenwire and could enclose different areas of my backyard easily. So the birdies actually had lots more room than just that little run in this video. Dan

[erbeeflower]

hey man really cool,i like it alot especially the electrics...sweet,thanks for posting. :-D

[DusanPajic]

I see now... much better :D.

[knappydanny]

tri-fecta !

[alistairchicken]

That house is crap. Thay dont evan like the astro turf becouse the eggs wurnt evan on them. I have 10 chickens which have a proper house and laying boxes and thay love it.

[djbarryiii]

I know the astroturf is fake, but the birds seemed to like it and it's easy to clean...I just hose it off every few days. The idea of this setup was to get something that required minimal work each day and was cheap and easy to make. It's not perfect but it scores on those points.

[critterkiller105]

wow thats the most shittyest hen house ever ha ha omg thats so lame i like how he thinks its good.

DUM ASSS

[Sabei0990]

I am sending a PM with questions please help!

[wickedthnkr]

Oh chicky baaaaaaaaaaby, they're luvly.

[mikeythevegan]

why are you interfearing with their natural laying cycle with that bulb...... and you dont have any laying boxes either.... or proper bedding....

[Sabei0990]

Its ALOT better then the way large chicken farms do it.

[mikeythevegan]

that doesnt mean its acceptable.....

exploitation is ALOT better than murder.... does that make it ok

[Sabei0990]

yes but Its better.

[djbarryiii]

I know..it's chicken abuse. But really, astro turf is pretty good fake bedding. I clean the poop off of it every day and hose it down every week or two it's cleaner than straw bedding...so my chickens don't have mites. As far as the light goes, I set it so that they get at least 8 hours of darkness every night...which is relatively natural, for an unnatural process. That way they get a good night's sleep and I get eggs all year long. Dang me!

[nags2bitches]

They will stop laying early. They only have so many eggs inside them, so if you use lights they will stop laying after about 2-3 years , and they live to be about 7 - 10 . Thats why battery hens are all killed after about a year of life in a cage . Not saying youre being cruel at all, as chicken keepers go, you've got it all worked out, except the mess, which will creep up on you lol.

[banjodan99]

The homemade heater is a great idea. I'll try that next winter. You might be interested in my video on raising chickens on deep litter: no manure cleanup, no work to make your compost, and your feed bill can be even lower, if you can believe it, because they eat so many bugs and worms out of the litter.

[sutherlandrobyn]

cheap isn't always the best

[csbarrett14]

This was a great and crazy video!

[djbarryiii]

Actually, I usually use organic chicken feed: "CFS Omega III Organic Peak Layer Ration" by

Cashton Farm Supply Ltd.

Cashton, WI, USA 54619

I get mine from:

Nutzy Mutz and Crazy Catz

330 W. Lakeside

Madison, WI 53715

Phone: 608-256-3647

They might ship it to you.

Dan

[djbarryiii]

Strikeard,

Sure, what I'm currently using is Agrimart "Layer Poultry Feed--16% Crulmbles" The address is

3507 E. Racine St.

PO Box 391

Janesville, Wisconsin, USA 53547

[strikeard]

can you tell me what kind of food is that is that egg producer? or the hens just lay the egg out of know where?

[killthemonkey4evr]

what you do with the food feeder at 2:06 is you take your finger and sweep out the bottom from like old feed that has like disentergrated (proably not spelled right) because it clogs up the food that is supposed to come down we have 10 chickens.......... looks good great vid

[banjoboyjared]

i herd that its not realy the chickens color that make the egg color they say its their ear lobs if their dark u get brown if its light you get white just thought id tell ya about it

[djbarryiii]

I've heard that too...but usually white chickens have white ears and colorful chickens have brown ears----and brown eggs.

[djbarryiii]

You're welcome!

[JustPeasandCarrots]

thanks for this i got lots of ideas

[djbarryiii]

Error: Latitude is 43 degrees north.

[djbarryiii]

Wisconsin---about 150 miles north of Chicago....Latitude 44 degrees north.

[ozmanbro]

wow! i think this is the 1st hen house i have seen with central heating! lol :)

its looks mighty cold though, r u in russia?

[djbarryiii]

Wounded: Check out my youtube thing on an even more portable, light and cheap setup: "Chicken Tractor 1: light, cheap and easy." And also "Chicken Tracter 2: (etc.)" Bamboo, cable ties, chicken wire (or even garden deer-proof netting) and tyvek do a pretty good job in making cheap, strong and light stuff. Dan B.

[WoundedEgo]

I've been watching Youtube chicken coop videos all day and evening, trying to find something I can use in my situation. I can't believe some of the mansions some people build for their chickens - much nicer than my trailer! Yours was thoroughly practical and I'm sure I'll use some of the ideas, such as the zip ties, the heat lamp and maybe the turf-over-wire. I recently got my 3 birds and I have them in an 18x18 run but have plastic trash cans for their nesting boxes. I see I need an enclosure.

[trucklover9]

hey this is trucklover9, i know u u use the wire screen to put their droppings in but, heres a suggestion and its a little harder to clean but maybe u could put hay in there. and around the claypot heater. i bet they would love it. your coop is inspiring. i like your coop so much i made plans of it and how you could make it better, not thats its cool already. if you want the plans i can describe them as best i can to u.let me know

[djbarryiii]

Actually what I do now is to put rug material or astroturf over the wire on the floor. Then I just lift the rug bits out and dump out the droppings every morning into the compost box. It's a bit less smelly there than on the ground under the coop and the ladies love the soft floor. In the winter it keeps out the cold, too.

[bekka55]

Very nice! Thanks!

[rmarisco]

thanks for your video - really informative and user friendly. i'm thinking of getting chickens but am pretty useless at building anything involved like a coop - your setup is inspiring! and i really love the claypot heater

[trucklover9]

you need to get nestboxes and they will lay more eggs a day. i have 5 chickens and a medium sized coop. need nest boxes if you want more eggs.

[djbarryiii]

Trucklover, Thanks for your suggestion, but there's not a lot of room in the hutch...so I just put some astroturf on the bottom and they lay right on it. For the first 9 months I got 3 eggs every day from my 3 chickens. Their night light switched on at 3 am through the winter to keep their laying hormones flowing. Only 2 eggs for the last month, for some unknown reason. Dan

[squirrelkiller247]

nest boxes dosent make them lay more.

[Kevinlovestexas]

I am also from Green Bay, do you know if they are legal here?

[Lodestone1968]

Regards from Green Bay. Thanks for posting!

[beefnliver]

Do you have any roosters? If so, do your neighbors complain about the crowing? I want to buy some chickens and I am curious.

[djbarryiii]

Thanks for your comments. I do have 2 lengths of wooden handrailing material screwed into the coop walls just above the floor so they ladies can roost without standing on the wire...but in the winter they seem to like to huddle down on the astroturf at night because it's WARM! The coop is only about 2 feet high so putting roosing poles higher is pretty impossible.

[djbarryiii]

Beefnliver, Nope, no roosters. They're illegal in Madison. The rules are 4 hens, max, no hen houses within 25 feet of a neighbor's house, no slaughtering in the city, and NO ROOSTERS! Go figure.

[WoundedEgo]

Well, some roosters can provoke a neighbor to murder the rooster or the rooster owner even faster than a chihauhua.

[Tarodin1980]

I like your set-up very much. I especially admire your ingenuity in setting up the homemade flower-pot heater and moveable fence panels. (I think they'd like a little roosting pole in the coop. It's better for their feet to grab onto a roost while sleeping, I've heard. They can keep their toes warmer on cold nights that way.) Super set up!