This is one of the best videoes we've seen in quite a while, for so many reason !! Really well thought out, tons of recycled materials and it looks good. Difficult to check all those boxes these days !! We saved it to a playlist. I can tell Dan is especially proud of the flashing :))))) Excellent Guys !! Cheers J&C 🌱👍🤜🤛🇦🇺🇺🇸
Great vid. Chickens are creatures of habit. They will lay in the same place every day. To encourage them to lay in the other boxes put a golf ball or plastic egg in them. They will think there are chickens laying in the other boxes and will do the same. Take care folks.
You've done nothing wrong with the dividers. Our chickens all started off with an old lawn mower catcher each to lay eggs in. Worked great and we got them off junk piles at the side of the road. Problem was they all migrated into one catcher and ignored the rest. Chickens will be chickens 😁
You've got plenty of room on top of your chicken pen for some solar panels to run some 12 volt fans to move the air through the chicken coop. Advantage of direct wiring to 12 volts is they start by them self in the morning and turn off late evening when the sun stops shining. Good job guys You're living the dream 🙏
We gave our 6 girls 2 layer boxes. They all lay in the one box. We have moved the boxes and they all still lay in the same box. They seem happy enough. Your Chicken run is the Taj Mahal. It is wonderful.
Thanks, we really enjoyed building this coop for the Chooks. We have made some minor changes since this video which we will share on an upcoming video. Hope it inspired you to go and build your own chook palace. Cheers D & D
Talk about flash!! Lol!! You did a brilliant job. Maybe try some ceramic eggs (or even golf balls) in the other boxes. It might encourage the ladies to lay there. Oh, the beautiful poplars in the background!! I miss those so much!! Xxx
Thanks Katie, Oh, I have some golf balls somewhere! I’ll try that! We love the poplars too. I’ve managed to propagate a heap of them. I say manage….. they seem to multiply on their own. Thanks for watching 💕
Wow,❤ wow,❤wow.❤ Firstly I'm saving this immediately! You have combined every single brilliant idea for the perfect coop EVER! I cant love this more. Secondly you haven't done anything wrong , the girls have chosen what they believe to be the "safe" nesting box ,away from predators, dry and dark to protect their eggs and a hens instinct is always geared towards hatching them even if they never go broody. Its their design. Even knowing this , i like to provide multiple nests and they can choose. If you find too many girls are always cramming in that box at once , you can use some curtains . It does work . Curtains can be rags or the cutest gingham. 😂❤i seriously love this. Yes, keep the videos up pleeeaaassee. Lol. You are creating awesome content on here for your own records too. Now off to talk Hubby into building me 1 .....or more of these 😊Thank you very much for sharing this ripper❤❤❤❤
Plant banana trees. Chickens love the leaves. They grow on neglect and you can cut the big fronds off and within a few days they regrow like weeds. Ours is near the tank overflow and our washing machine water soaker hose. We use soap nuts so the grey water is safe.
Anything that grows like a weed and doesn’t need too much water is ideal for us. We’ll look into where we can get some banana plants and give it a go. Thanks for the great idea. Cheers Dan & Deb
We found that when we removed the fake wooden eggs, they all of a sudden layed in only one box instead of all the boxes they had been laying in. So that same day, I placed a fake egg in the other 3 empty boxes and voila the remainder of the birds took to laying in the other three as well. I figured it was their “monkey see, monkey do” nature which had them choosing the same box after removing the fake eggs. They have been using all boxes since then. We keep a fake egg in each box now. We have 13 hens. This is our experience , I hope that helps…… love your chicken complex…….. it’s beautiful. Thank you for sharing!🐔💖
Thanks for the fantastic comment. Since making this video we have tried various options to encourage them to lay in the other boxes. So far the most success we have had is with Golf balls. They are now laying in 2 of the 4 boxes, and prefer laying in the box with the newest, cleanest golf ball. It’s funny you can swap the golf balls around and there will alway be more eggs with the cleanest ball. We have a small mod to make on the coup to improve it a little more. We hope to share that soon. Thanks for watching. Cheers D & D
G'day guys. I've been looking forward to this and it's fantastic. Good on you. Everything from water catchment to the tray underneath... Just really well thought out and executed. I have multiple girls in 2 main coops (2 yards) and they all lay in the one end too. Especially annoying when one goes broody, so I have to be quick to sent that one to the 3-4 day retreat and spa. 🙄 All the best Deb and Dan. Daz.
We thought we had a broody hen last week. But she’s seems to of sorted her self out, thank goodness. We do have a retreat spa ready to go for when one of them head down that path. Thanks for the support Daz. Cheers D & D
Great Coop. As for the chickens all laying in one box... you aren't doing anything wrong, hens are 'communal' in that one hen usually will go broody and sit on a clutch of eggs. Out of those eggs maybe one or two might be hers while the others belong to other hens. It is just an instinct they have for safety. That said, if you have so many hens that multiple girls are laying at the same time that becomes an issue of over crowding in one spot so you should always have enough for them. The general thought is about one box for every 4 hens.
Thanks for your informative and inspiring comment😁 We have 10 lovely hens at the moment and we have put a division between the first 2 bays. Which they now seem to alternate between. The 3rd large bay… well, that’s a whole other issue! Our new pullets seem to huddle in this laybox. Thanks for watching. Cheers Deb & Dan
What an amazing chicken coop!! Those ladies are so lucky!! Chickens are notorious for laying in the one spot no matter how many lovely laying spots they have 🤣 The water capture spots are so clever!! It’s one of the down sides of moving our ladies around the property. Brilliant video you two!! Haha, Justin is the same Dan. He’ll do awesome things and not film them 🤣
Thanks Kat and Justin, Water is like gold isn’t it? Dan is always hatching plans on how to capture more water. I can see some more water tanks in our future. Aren’t our fellas funny!! I’m always saying “did you film that” the look is…. Do you have to ask? Thanks for the support guys🐓
Gorgeous coop you built! I love it. Nice to have family to help! 💕 Chickens trust their friends and when one chicken lays an egg in the box then they lay in the same box. I would put an egg or two in each of the other boxes and see if that encourages the use of the other boxes. Our boxes are a cozy size which I think helps them to feel safe. I can measure them if you’d like. Glen built them. Sometimes our hens have a favourite box though…. Take care, Annette 🌺
@@simplyoffgrid-australia Glen measured our boxes and the inside area is a one foot wide by one foot long. He has an 8” lip that is at the front of the box. I don’t know if yours has a lip because I think the chickens just walk right into the nesting box, correct?
@@TheCowEmporium Thank Glen for measuring that for us😁 we’ll have a look at altering the boxes with those measurements to make it nice and cozy for them. We do have a lip on the laying boxes but a lot shorter then your measurements. I think we’ll leave that as it is and see how they go with the cozier sides on the box. Thanks for all your help Annette and Glen.💕 Cheers Deb & Dan
It’s great that you can use so many recycled materials, I love old things being reused. Such a fancy chook house! The bucket feeder looks awesome. You guys are so organised.
Thanks Tina, This was in the planning stage for a long time. Then it was saving up for those things we needed to purchase, like wood for the post 🥵and the aviary wire. As always while the saving was happening the re-designing was also happening😂. The girls seem to love it!
Thanks Amanda and Corey 😁 It felt like it took forever. But I suppose that’s because we had been talking and planning this for so long. Then it’s the waiting game while you save up for the expensive materials like the posts.
This is really really nice guys! I hope we can build something comparable someday! We have a wood chipper that will help make the chips that you are using there... It seems like it's taken a lot of skill and care! Sooooo nice!
thank you sir for the knowledge is very useful ..greetings greetings of friendship from Indonesian laying hen breeders ..let's share knowledge of chicken farming
Great chook coop and run, do u think that the wormwood and dustbath will be enough to stop the mites? I hope so, I am starting to build coops/chicken tractors from recycled steel and mesh as in the moist irish conditions the mites always seem bother some of the weaker birds. Also using wood ash, sand and sulfur in the dust bath. On the nest box question, I worked on a large free range commercial chhicken farm, there was always competition for the favoured nest boxes, the front ones, they literally were piled up on top of each other jostling for the favoured nest boxes. The back of the shed nest boxes were empty. I wonder is it a pecking order thing. The alpha hens dictate which is the 'cool' chooks nest box. Solution, make one of the other boxes different and cool. I always find a smaller lower box is more popular. Thanks for sharing, inspiring, lots of great features/designs/recycling!
Hi David, thank you for watching our video. So far we haven’t had any problems with mites in the coop and are hoping by putting these measures in place we will continue to do so. We did consider recycled steel aswell. Our issue here in Rural NSW Australia is it gets so hot in Summer and we didn’t want to over heat the chickens. It sounds like you have it sorted for your climate with the coop/tractor design and using ash,sand and Sulfur in the dust baths. Great idea with making another lay box a bit different to encourage to “cool” chicks to lay there☺️.
This is one of the best videoes we've seen in quite a while, for so many reason !!
Really well thought out, tons of recycled materials and it looks good. Difficult to check all those boxes these days !!
We saved it to a playlist.
I can tell Dan is especially proud of the flashing :)))))
Excellent Guys !!
Cheers J&C 🌱👍🤜🤛🇦🇺🇺🇸
Thanks Jason and Colleen😊
We really appreciate you guys!
Great vid. Chickens are creatures of habit. They will lay in the same place every day. To encourage them to lay in the other boxes put a golf ball or plastic egg in them. They will think there are chickens laying in the other boxes and will do the same. Take care folks.
You've done nothing wrong with the dividers. Our chickens all started off with an old lawn mower catcher each to lay eggs in. Worked great and we got them off junk piles at the side of the road. Problem was they all migrated into one catcher and ignored the rest. Chickens will be chickens 😁
well...all couped up now! nice comfortable girls - yummy googs
You've got plenty of room on top of your chicken pen for some solar panels to run some 12 volt fans to move the air through the chicken coop. Advantage of direct wiring to 12 volts is they start by them self in the morning and turn off late evening when the sun stops shining. Good job guys
You're living the dream 🙏
Now that is a brilliant idea. We are definitely going to implement that. Thanks for the advice. Cheers Dan & Deb
Yes first class coop here my friends well done
Great channel see you again stay safe cheers
Thanks for watching.
We gave our 6 girls 2 layer boxes. They all lay in the one box. We have moved the boxes and they all still lay in the same box. They seem happy enough. Your Chicken run is the Taj Mahal. It is wonderful.
Thanks Jane, it seems like everyone has the same problem. I suppose if they are happy, what does it matter.
Great video and fantastic chicken coop, it's very well thought out and built. Thanks for sharing
Thanks, we really enjoyed building this coop for the Chooks. We have made some minor changes since this video which we will share on an upcoming video. Hope it inspired you to go and build your own chook palace. Cheers D & D
Super nice, chicks will love it!😊
Thanks, It was a great project and the chickens seem really content.
Talk about flash!! Lol!! You did a brilliant job.
Maybe try some ceramic eggs (or even golf balls) in the other boxes. It might encourage the ladies to lay there.
Oh, the beautiful poplars in the background!! I miss those so much!!
Xxx
Thanks Katie,
Oh, I have some golf balls somewhere! I’ll try that!
We love the poplars too. I’ve managed to propagate a heap of them. I say manage….. they seem to multiply on their own.
Thanks for watching 💕
Beautiful coop and hens. I wish I could find a friend to share in my love for chickens.❤
Thanks Winnie, We love our chickens and are always looking for new ways to keep them happy and healthy.
Thanks for watching.
Cheers Deb & Dan
We use wormwood and Diatomaceous Earth to help get rid of mites and flees.
Looks great very tidy
Thanks Lance.
Wow,❤ wow,❤wow.❤ Firstly I'm saving this immediately! You have combined every single brilliant idea for the perfect coop EVER! I cant love this more. Secondly you haven't done anything wrong , the girls have chosen what they believe to be the "safe" nesting box ,away from predators, dry and dark to protect their eggs and a hens instinct is always geared towards hatching them even if they never go broody. Its their design. Even knowing this , i like to provide multiple nests and they can choose. If you find too many girls are always cramming in that box at once , you can use some curtains . It does work . Curtains can be rags or the cutest gingham. 😂❤i seriously love this. Yes, keep the videos up pleeeaaassee. Lol. You are creating awesome content on here for your own records too. Now off to talk Hubby into building me 1 .....or more of these 😊Thank you very much for sharing this ripper❤❤❤❤
I’m blown away by your very kind comment Naomi❤️Thank you so much.
Thanks for sharing your coop with us. I love some of your ideas which I plan to incorporate.
Thanks Dennis, it makes us very happy that we have helped with some ideas for future coops.
Cheers Deb & Dan
Well done 👍🏻 your going to have some very happy chickens
Thank you, I think they’re pretty happy😁
Great coop! Thank you for sharing
Thanks for watching.
We’re glad you enjoyed it.
Cheers Deb & Dan
Plant banana trees. Chickens love the leaves. They grow on neglect and you can cut the big fronds off and within a few days they regrow like weeds. Ours is near the tank overflow and our washing machine water soaker hose. We use soap nuts so the grey water is safe.
Anything that grows like a weed and doesn’t need too much water is ideal for us. We’ll look into where we can get some banana plants and give it a go. Thanks for the great idea. Cheers Dan & Deb
Haven't seen you guys in a long time. Here to support
Thanks Charlie,
How was Italy?
Hope you had a great time!
Thanks Dan. Great work as usual. Stop setting the benchmark so high for the rest of us that now have to copy this 😂
Gday mate. I understand Mrs B might have just been in your ear. Sorry bud. The coop was my HJ47. I need to find another project now.
Such a beautiful result ❤
Thanks Sarah💕
Nice job, the chickens have a nice looking home. 😊
Thanks Jeanette and Dean.
I think they like it.
We found that when we removed the fake wooden eggs, they all of a sudden layed in only one box instead of all the boxes they had been laying in. So that same day, I placed a fake egg in the other 3 empty boxes and voila the remainder of the birds took to laying in the other three as well. I figured it was their “monkey see, monkey do” nature which had them choosing the same box after removing the fake eggs. They have been using all boxes since then. We keep a fake egg in each box now. We have 13 hens. This is our experience , I hope that helps…… love your chicken complex…….. it’s beautiful. Thank you for sharing!🐔💖
Thanks for the fantastic comment. Since making this video we have tried various options to encourage them to lay in the other boxes. So far the most success we have had is with Golf balls. They are now laying in 2 of the 4 boxes, and prefer laying in the box with the newest, cleanest golf ball. It’s funny you can swap the golf balls around and there will alway be more eggs with the cleanest ball. We have a small mod to make on the coup to improve it a little more. We hope to share that soon. Thanks for watching. Cheers D & D
G'day guys.
I've been looking forward to this and it's fantastic. Good on you. Everything from water catchment to the tray underneath... Just really well thought out and executed.
I have multiple girls in 2 main coops (2 yards) and they all lay in the one end too. Especially annoying when one goes broody, so I have to be quick to sent that one to the 3-4 day retreat and spa. 🙄
All the best Deb and Dan.
Daz.
We thought we had a broody hen last week. But she’s seems to of sorted her self out, thank goodness. We do have a retreat spa ready to go for when one of them head down that path.
Thanks for the support Daz.
Cheers D & D
Great Coop. As for the chickens all laying in one box... you aren't doing anything wrong, hens are 'communal' in that one hen usually will go broody and sit on a clutch of eggs. Out of those eggs maybe one or two might be hers while the others belong to other hens. It is just an instinct they have for safety. That said, if you have so many hens that multiple girls are laying at the same time that becomes an issue of over crowding in one spot so you should always have enough for them. The general thought is about one box for every 4 hens.
Thanks for your informative and inspiring comment😁
We have 10 lovely hens at the moment and we have put a division between the first 2 bays. Which they now seem to alternate between. The 3rd large bay… well, that’s a whole other issue! Our new pullets seem to huddle in this laybox.
Thanks for watching.
Cheers Deb & Dan
What an amazing chicken coop!! Those ladies are so lucky!!
Chickens are notorious for laying in the one spot no matter how many lovely laying spots they have 🤣
The water capture spots are so clever!! It’s one of the down sides of moving our ladies around the property.
Brilliant video you two!! Haha, Justin is the same Dan. He’ll do awesome things and not film them 🤣
Thanks Kat and Justin,
Water is like gold isn’t it?
Dan is always hatching plans on how to capture more water.
I can see some more water tanks in our future.
Aren’t our fellas funny!! I’m always saying “did you film that” the look is…. Do you have to ask?
Thanks for the support guys🐓
You guys have created an amazing home for your girls they are very lucky indeed.
Thanks Catherine🐓
Great job 😊
Thanks Trent
Gorgeous coop you built! I love it.
Nice to have family to help! 💕
Chickens trust their friends and when one chicken lays an egg in the box then they lay in the same box. I would put an egg or two in each of the other boxes and see if that encourages the use of the other boxes.
Our boxes are a cozy size which I think helps them to feel safe. I can measure them if you’d like. Glen built them.
Sometimes our hens have a favourite box though….
Take care,
Annette 🌺
That would be great Annette.
Maybe they are just to roomy for them and not cosy enough.
@@simplyoffgrid-australia Glen measured our boxes and the inside area is a one foot wide by one foot long. He has an 8” lip that is at the front of the box. I don’t know if yours has a lip because I think the chickens just walk right into the nesting box, correct?
@@TheCowEmporium Thank Glen for measuring that for us😁 we’ll have a look at altering the boxes with those measurements to make it nice and cozy for them. We do have a lip on the laying boxes but a lot shorter then your measurements. I think we’ll leave that as it is and see how they go with the cozier sides on the box.
Thanks for all your help Annette and Glen.💕
Cheers Deb & Dan
It’s great that you can use so many recycled materials, I love old things being reused. Such a fancy chook house! The bucket feeder looks awesome. You guys are so organised.
Thanks Tina,
This was in the planning stage for a long time. Then it was saving up for those things we needed to purchase, like wood for the post 🥵and the aviary wire.
As always while the saving was happening the re-designing was also happening😂.
The girls seem to love it!
@@simplyoffgrid-australia it definitely looks like you planned it for a long time! It must feel pretty satisfying to get it all done!
@@Tinachimneycreekfarm Yeah it does!
I love watching your videos ❤
You always put our very professional stories.
Keep up the great job 👍
❤Peggy❤
Thanks Peggy❤️you’re so sweet.
Happy Belated 73rd Birthday 🎂
@Simply Off Grid - Australia thanks for the belated wishes. I'm happy to celebrate all year long 👍
Best ❤
🙌🙌🙌 incredible work guys! Been waiting fir the big reveal and it was 💯 worth it!
Thanks Amanda and Corey 😁
It felt like it took forever. But I suppose that’s because we had been talking and planning this for so long. Then it’s the waiting game while you save up for the expensive materials like the posts.
That was a lovely video and those chickens are super lucky. It's gorgeous and very well thought out. ❤
Thanks Mel,
Thanks Mel❤️
Absolutely lovely!!!
Thanks, The chicken are quite content hanging around the coop. It’s now time for us to rework the Veggie patch around the coop. Egg-citing!!
This is really really nice guys! I hope we can build something comparable someday! We have a wood chipper that will help make the chips that you are using there... It seems like it's taken a lot of skill and care! Sooooo nice!
Thanks Ryan and Melodi,
After seeing your amazing cabin coming together I’m sure you can master a cute coop.
Thanks for the support guys.
It was definitely worth the wait! Such a wonderful coop and love the integration of recycled materials.
And our chooks do the same.
Thanks Rachel,
I’m so glad that it’s not something we have done wrong and that it seems like everyone’s chickens all lay in the same box.
@@simplyoffgrid-australia They all like the warm spot 🤣
Let them lay where they want to. It's good there are many options cause sometimes they change their habits.
Thank you
I'm sure someone thought of this but seems like maybe that side of the box is north facing and cooler than the southern wall?
Ours all lay at one end too so no answers here 😂😂
Aren’t they funny creatures.
Rose Cottage has suggested that we use golf balls to encourage them to lay in difference spots.
I’m going to try that.
Great job, the chooks resort ( as mum calls it lol) looks amazing. So much talent from you both sis
Thanks Shell,
It’s been long coming and we couldn’t of done it without that last push with Mick and Dad.
That's a chicken palace. If you ever name it (and I think you should) my vote is either Chookdominium or Chateau de Chook.
Maybe we should take a vote for the naming of the new coop.
Thanks for the idea Lea.
@@simplyoffgrid-australia welcome. I've given you two options to start with
thank you sir for the knowledge is very useful ..greetings greetings of friendship from Indonesian laying hen breeders ..let's share knowledge of chicken farming
Thanks you for you lovely comment.
I hope you enjoyed our video.
Cheers Deb & Dan
What a wonderful place for your chooks to live and I'll bet they couldn't be happier.🐓🐣🐤🐔
Great chook coop and run, do u think that the wormwood and dustbath will be enough to stop the mites? I hope so, I am starting to build coops/chicken tractors from recycled steel and mesh as in the moist irish conditions the mites always seem bother some of the weaker birds. Also using wood ash, sand and sulfur in the dust bath. On the nest box question, I worked on a large free range commercial chhicken farm, there was always competition for the favoured nest boxes, the front ones, they literally were piled up on top of each other jostling for the favoured nest boxes. The back of the shed nest boxes were empty. I wonder is it a pecking order thing. The alpha hens dictate which is the 'cool' chooks nest box. Solution, make one of the other boxes different and cool. I always find a smaller lower box is more popular. Thanks for sharing, inspiring, lots of great features/designs/recycling!
Hi David, thank you for watching our video.
So far we haven’t had any problems with mites in the coop and are hoping by putting these measures in place we will continue to do so.
We did consider recycled steel aswell. Our issue here in Rural NSW Australia is it gets so hot in Summer and we didn’t want to over heat the chickens.
It sounds like you have it sorted for your climate with the coop/tractor design and using ash,sand and Sulfur in the dust baths.
Great idea with making another lay box a bit different to encourage to “cool” chicks to lay there☺️.