I'm actually in the process of designing a better coop for our chickens, with the intention of including all of the above.
I do have one question, how do you keep your mass waterer and the individual nipples from freezing in the dead of winter?
We have a large shed, half of which was used for poultry by the previous owners, and I've thought of housing our chickens and rabbits together (with the rabbit hutches elevated), so that their combined warmth would keep their water from freezing, but that would mean that I'm still entering the coop to feed and gather eggs.
The dimensions are roughly 12' x 16', and I use deep litter method in the winter, so unless we add a LOT more birds (since we currently have only six chickens), there won't be any real issues with ammonia. I also add lime between layers of straw.
We did come up with a great mass feeder a few years back, not being happy with the designs and prices of those readily available, so we wound up using a roof vent cap and vent pipe turned upside down and hung inside the coop, which gives them ample room for everyone to feed at once if they so desire.
I do give them additional soaked feed every other day as well, so one day I fill their dry feeder, and the next I give them soaked feed, while giving them ample scratch grains daily.
It works great for our girls, and for the eight chickens and ducks we have currently, a single filling lasts them for two days. I'm hoping to separate them, though, as the ducks do great in their current enclosure, but it's really too wet in the rainy season for our chickens.
Hey there! We had a coop with about 15 birds in it and the waterer was inside but we could open the door and stick a water hose in....we didnt have any issue with it freezing.
We have never done anything like soaked feed. We just did the regular feed that we bought, compost, and free range.
I started to do fermented feeds, but that somehow never quite worked out, so I gave up and just went with soaked feeds, which I typically soak the night before I feed them.
Part of it is my way of using up the chick starter crumbles, since soaking the high protein feed makes it okay for everyone, and it'd been a good way of helping to keep my birds hydrated during our ridiculously hot weather this summer.
I add a large scoop of chia seeds, and two or three heaping spoonsful of diatomaceous earth for added minerals, along with a generous swig of organic apple cider vinegar, before mixing it all well with clean filtered water. Our girls have been laying better, and everyone has been happier overall, since I started doing so.
I should note that we're in Zone 7a, though the previous three years our low temp each year was minus 3 degrees, which is pretty damned cold.
This last winter was far warmer, and our low temperature was 14 degrees, so pperhaps they really did revise our growing zone correctly..
Wow. That sounds like a well thought out process! I love it
Yeah, I'm pretty much a research junkie, and I started learning about natural foods when my dad bought a small health food store in the early seventies.
I have a fair amount of knowledge already, and keep adding to it, in the hopes that we can stave off any potential health issues.
The nicest thing is that everyone loves the soaked feed, including our rooster and our ducks, so there's little if any waste.
I make it in a 4-cup pyrex measuring cup, half fill it with chick crumbles, add the other ingredients, and fill it with filtered water.
The feed and chia seeds soak up the water overnight, so in the morning I scoop it out into two or three flat plastic food storage containers, which work well to feed our birds, as they are easy to clean.
I typically add more water before feeding them. The feed is usually gone within twenty minutes or so, so it seems to be the perfect amount for our eight birds.
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