Our Chicken Coop!!!

Hello Everyone,
I'm new to BYC and have just built our first chicken coop. My kids and I would love to share our pictures, videos, chicken coop plans and experience with you, and tell everyone how much fun we had building our coop. Building the coop was so much fun and was an awesome project for the entire family. We bought 12 chickens Isa Browns (Rhode Island Red & White Mix?) and 2 (Pekin) Ducks. I'm not sure how other chicken breeds are but these little guys are very friendly, playful they love to sit on our arms and fingers. I don't think we could have picked a better first breed of chickens for us. I spent a few weeks using a program called Google Sketchup building plans for Our Chicken Coop. Easy to use program plus it's free. Below are the links to the video of Our Chicken Coop and a Dropbox link to my Sketchup file for who ever would like to download it and use it. We would love to hear what everyone thinks of our video and chicken coop design.

Here is a small list of things I will be doing and or changing on the coop in the near future.
1. Changing the chicken wire over to Hardware Cloth. (My initial idea was to electrify the chicken wire at night while the chickens were locked inside the coop to keep predators out)
2. Adding a 25 gallon heated circulating automatic water system for the winter months.
3. Electrical outlets.
4. A sliding lock for the coop door. (As of right now I remove the ramp at night so predators cant walk up the ramp and get to the door and nose it open)
5. Possibly adding a large PVC automatic feeding system.
6. Webcam inside the coop to keep an eye on things.
7. Air ventilation that can be opened and closed as needed during summer and winter.
8. Decorations!!!
9. And a name for the chicken coop

Here are couple of things added since the video was made
1. Roosting bars inside and out (they love them)
2. A Swing for the chickens to play on (they absolutely love it!!!)

Here are some things I need help with.
1. Grit? What kind? How much? How often? What size? As I said before this is my first time with chickens and I just don't know.
2. Any advice is welcome.

Our Chicken Coop!!! Please Comment. The kids will love the feedback






If your interested in using my plans here are the links:

Google Sketchup: http://www.sketchup.com/

Our Chicken Coop Plans "Dropbox": https://www.dropbox.com/s/7t4amo07lr5bxla/Our Chicken Coop (Final).skp?dl=0


If any of those links do not work feel free to private message me and I will send you a direct link to my Dropbox file or video links.

Thanks again for taking the time to view my post

Please comment and be kind

Rimdozer said:

Hello Everyone,
I'm new to BYC and have just built our first chicken coop. My kids and I would love to share our pictures, videos, chicken coop plans and experience with you, and tell everyone how much fun we had building our coop. Building the coop was so much fun and was an awesome project for the entire family. We bought 12 chickens (ISA White & ISA Brown Mix) and 2 (Pekin) Ducks. I'm not sure how other chicken breeds are but these little guys are very friendly, playful they love to sit on our arms and fingers. I don't think we could have picked a better first breed of chickens for us. I spent a few weeks using a program called Google Sketchup building plans for Our Chicken Coop. Easy to use program plus it's free. Below are the links to the video of Our Chicken Coop and a Dropbox link to my Sketchup file for who ever would like to download it and use it. We would love to hear what everyone thinks of our video and chicken coop design.

Here is a small list of things I will be doing and or changing on the coop in the near future.
1. Changing the chicken wire over to Hardware Cloth. (My initial idea was to electrify the chicken wire at night while the chickens were locked inside the coop to keep predators out)
2. Adding a 25 gallon heated circulating automatic water system for the winter months.
3. Electrical outlets.
4. A sliding lock for the coop door. (As of right now I remove the ramp at night so predators cant walk up the ramp and get to the door and nose it open)
5. Possibly adding a large PVC automatic feeding system.
6. Webcam inside the coop to keep an eye on things.
7. Air ventilation that can be opened and closed as needed during summer and winter.
8. Decorations!!!
9. And a name for the chicken coop

Here are couple of things added since the video was made
1. Roosting bars inside and out (they love them)
2. A Swing for the chickens to play on (they absolutely love it!!!)

Here are some things I need help with.
1. Grit? What kind? How much? How often? What size? As I said before this is my first time with chickens and I just don't know.
2. Any advice is welcome.

Our Chicken Coop!!! Please Comment. The kids will love the feedback

If your interested in using my plans here are the links:

Google Sketchup: http://www.sketchup.com/

Our Chicken Coop Plans "Dropbox": https://www.dropbox.com/s/7t4amo07lr5bxla/Our Chicken Coop (Final).skp?dl=0


If any of those links do not work feel free to private message me and I will send you a direct link to my Dropbox file or video links.

Thanks again for taking the time to view my post

Please comment and be kind

Click to expand...

Very fun video!!!!

But I'd like to know how you got the grass to remove itself in that nice square?

Hardware cloth is a great idea, even up the sides 3 feet, if not the whole thing. You can add it as an 'apron' around the base for protection against digging predators.
Added ventilation is also a very, very good idea, for both winter and summer. Having the windows/vents up high will keep drafts off of the chickens, while allowing air circulation.

Everyone seems really happy in there. (Are you sure the chickens won't get into the swimming pool, they might not do as well)?

Great job, everyone!!!

@lynnehd That's a good idea maybe ill just do the bottom with the hardware cloth, that way I dont have to replace everything, thank you. And yes the chickens have slipped into the pool but they can stand up in the water and there are bricks inside to help the ducks get out. Eventually the pool will get removed and the ducks will make the pond their new home (hopefully in the next week or so). And I was thinking of keeping the vents/windows up high as well.
THANKS FOR THE FEEDBACK !!!

Rimdozer said:

@lynnehd That's a good idea maybe ill just do the bottom with the hardware cloth, that way I dont have to replace everything, thank you. And yes the chickens have slipped into the pool but they can stand up in the water and there are bricks inside to help the ducks get out. Eventually the pool will get removed and the ducks will make the pond their new home (hopefully in the next week or so). And I was thinking of keeping the vents/windows up high as well.
THANKS FOR THE FEEDBACK !!!

Click to expand...

Yes, you can just overlap the 1/2" hardware mesh right over the chicken wire. Then another 2 feet fanned out from the base, perhaps covered with pavers or rocks.

Definitely keep us posted!

Cool video! Good job! I love seeing that it was a family effort, very cool!

Thanks @duke84, I drug my girlfriend out of bed to show her your saloon coop, very cool!!

From Concept:




To Creation:

25 gallons is a LOT of water for a dozen chickens, don't know about 2 ducks but I imagine they can't use nipples anyway so they would need an open bucket of some sort. I have a 5 gallon insulated drink cooler for my 16 hens. I add water to it every couple of weeks in the winter. Given you are in Vancouver, your winter temps aren't too bad. You should be able to use a stock tank heater. They automatically go on and off based on the water temperature. I have to use a submersible aquarium heater in my recirculating system when the ambient temps get down to +15F. If the water is in an opaque container it won't grow algae. I clean mine once in the fall.

More than likely your chickens will be down at the pond drinking whenever they have the opportunity. If my girls are any indicator of "normal chicken", dirty pond, puddle, whatever water is MUCH tastier than clean water.

Hi and thanks for the reply @bruceha2000. I agree 25 gallons is way overkill. I tend to overdue everything, I picked up a clear/white 25 gallon barel for 10 bucks and figured it was a good deal. But do you think I will have an issue with keeping the water clean or free of funky stuff growing in the water? I'm also located south of Chicago Illinois and the temperatures get well below freezing here. I'm very interested in your heated circulating water system. I planned on using the same type of submersible heater you described, what type of pump did you use? I was thinking some sort of small fish tank pump just to circulate the water through the pvc which will have watering nipples. Unfortunately the ducks went into the pond and didn't want to come back in and something got to one of my ducks in the middle of the night and I'm looking to find a new home for the last duck. Any advice helps thanks again.