This is our second year with the Delvin Farms CSA. CSA is an acronym for Community Supported Agriculture. Basically, we “buy in” to the Delvin’s farm in exchange for an incredible box of veggies each week. This week’s farm newsletter featured their chicken tractor. You see 110 chicks inside, fertilizing the orchard. If you’re considering a using a tractor with chicks, be sure it is very warm outside, consistently. Chicks cannot keep themselves warm until their feathers grow in. If they get chilled, especially in conjunction with a cold rain or dew, they will die. Chicks need a mom chicken to sit under, or a heat lamp that gives them access to a 95 degree spot plus an area to cool down. It’s warm enough now that the Delvin birds should be just fine outside in their tractor.

My friend Rob is turning into an amazing source for chicken coop design ideas. Check out this beautiful design. From a practical standpoint, it would be a nightmare to clean but it could certainly be used for inspiration.

If you’re looking for a quick start-up for a coop, you might consider the chicken ark. We made one from scratch, but if you’re not comfortable with saws and hammers you can just buy one. Here’s a pretty option, available at http://handcraftedcoops.com/.

Be warned, my personal experience was that the ark was difficult to clean (poop and chips get stuck in the corners.) I actually had a family of mice move in one year!  Also, they are HEAVY so it will take 2 strong people to move it. But, they are cute and trendy and the chickens will be safe from most predators. Here’s my peanut in the foreground, homemade ark in the background:

Thanks to my buddy Rob for passing this one along!

I spent a full winter dealing with ice in the chicken water container coop. Twice a day, I would fetch the plastic water containers, bring them to the house and de-ice under hot water. I got tired of this, and then tried using a hammer to smash the ice out. The problem with that approach is that chickens need water, and if it’s too cold they won’t drink it. The next winter I finally spent cash on a heated dog bowl — it’s up there on my list of “the best $25 I’ve ever spent.” This is the model I use, available at Amazon.com: Farm Innovators 1-1/2-Gallon Round Heated Pet Bowl – Green Model P-60, 60-Watt

Now I change water once a day, and they have ice-free liquid all day. Definitely worth the $25.99!

Just as I thought I knew as much as I could about chicken keeping, I learned an important lesson, the hard way: Good drainage is critical for your coop location.

Our yard is quite small. We have a couple of acres, but it’s mostly a steep hill. The coop is built at the edge of the back hill. 2009 was a relatively rainy year, and the water flowed down the hill, directly into the coop. Every time it rains the water collects in the coop and creates a mushy, muddy, stinky mess. Good thing for my gals that I don’t mind some hard labor. Every time it gets muddy I don my muck boots and shovel out a layer of stinky mud. Chickens are notoriously wasteful of their food, so all the layer ration gets flung out on the ground and mixed into the mud. It smells awful when it’s wet, just a cloying, sickly smell. So, I have to shovel it into a wheelbarrow and haul it to my compost pile, and bury it.

If you’re considering a coop, keep drainage in mind. I am looking at my options, maybe digging some drainage tunnels behind the coop. Unfortunately it mostly rock and shale, so it’s going to be some hard digging!