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  • From: "Karen L. Black" <karen AT plamondon.com>
  • To: <homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Homestead] 1860s chicken coop
  • Date: Thu, 31 Aug 2006 21:24:50 -0700

Gene writes:

> Hey, Don, I like that 1860s chicken coop pictured on your travel
journal! Looks like the roosts were cantilevered and had sloping
floors beneath the roosts so the poop would slide down. Hm, how would
one keep straw up there? Maybe they just let the poop dry. Not a bad
idea, actually. Less likely to burn plants.

Most likely the perches have droppings boards under them. These would have
been scraped off daily, which would reduce the buildup of manure in this
type of house. (Personally, I dislike making more work for myself; the
buildings I brood chicks in -- the only fixed chicken houses on our farm --
have sufficiently deep litter that it no longer needs to be completely
cleaned out.)

I'm not a big fan of immobile chicken houses anyway, because chickens are
very hard on plants. What they don't eat, they scratch up and dust in.
Moving their house periodically gives the old area a rest, and the birds new
pasture to work on. Modern electric netting is a real boon to chicken
farmers.

Cheers,
Karen Black
Norton Creek Farm
Blodgett, OR





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