providencechics
Hatching
- Aug 31, 2016
- 6
- 0
- 7
Hi folks, I'm a first time chicken owner, and trying to redesign a new coop+run and was hoping to get some feedback before I do anything totally wrong. This will also be my first carpentry project (if you don't count the badly put together coop I did first).
I have two hens, an orpington and a plymouth rock, and I'm thinking of eventually getting one more. They're probably 4 months old, and I refresh their water and give them a handful of grower feed + scraps twice a day.
Right now they're in a custom built coop out of old furniture, but it's really inconvenient to use. The coop is just 3 feet of chicken wire, and they often jump out and are really hard to catch.
I don't have spare cash or credit cards, as I recently had to file for bankruptcy due to a medical debt, so living paycheck to paycheck but I get to keep my house. I salvaged about 10 wooden pallets nearby to build the next coop+run. I also have a hammer, a box of 2-inch nails, 4 pieces of siding from old furniture, and the rest of the chicken wire (about 50 feet).
So here's my plan and I'd love to know what ya'll think:
1) nail 6 pallets together to form a rectangle (2 on a side, 1 on the other sides). so it's about 24 square feet and 4 feet high
2) use one pallet to raise the floor a bit (inside the run), and use the spare siding from the furniture to make a slanted roof on top, then one piece of siding with a large hole to allow chickens access to the run but mostly close it off.
3) place a small dresser shelf in there with a bunch of dead grass/sticks for nesting
4) nail a dead branch inside the coop for roosting
5) buy a deadbolt door hinge and put it on a siding as a door to make it easy to get into the run
6) wrap the whole thing in chicken wire, including the top of the chicken run
The floor will just be my backyard dirt. So to clean things out, I will crawl through the door, and replace the water/food inside the coop through the hole. And I'll use a trowel to scoop out the poop, and replace the dead grass / sticks.
Is that reasonable? Am I totally missing anything? I live in connecticut so it'll get cold in the water. Maybe I'll put a blanket on the coop when it's cold.
I have two hens, an orpington and a plymouth rock, and I'm thinking of eventually getting one more. They're probably 4 months old, and I refresh their water and give them a handful of grower feed + scraps twice a day.
Right now they're in a custom built coop out of old furniture, but it's really inconvenient to use. The coop is just 3 feet of chicken wire, and they often jump out and are really hard to catch.
I don't have spare cash or credit cards, as I recently had to file for bankruptcy due to a medical debt, so living paycheck to paycheck but I get to keep my house. I salvaged about 10 wooden pallets nearby to build the next coop+run. I also have a hammer, a box of 2-inch nails, 4 pieces of siding from old furniture, and the rest of the chicken wire (about 50 feet).
So here's my plan and I'd love to know what ya'll think:
1) nail 6 pallets together to form a rectangle (2 on a side, 1 on the other sides). so it's about 24 square feet and 4 feet high
2) use one pallet to raise the floor a bit (inside the run), and use the spare siding from the furniture to make a slanted roof on top, then one piece of siding with a large hole to allow chickens access to the run but mostly close it off.
3) place a small dresser shelf in there with a bunch of dead grass/sticks for nesting
4) nail a dead branch inside the coop for roosting
5) buy a deadbolt door hinge and put it on a siding as a door to make it easy to get into the run
6) wrap the whole thing in chicken wire, including the top of the chicken run
The floor will just be my backyard dirt. So to clean things out, I will crawl through the door, and replace the water/food inside the coop through the hole. And I'll use a trowel to scoop out the poop, and replace the dead grass / sticks.
Is that reasonable? Am I totally missing anything? I live in connecticut so it'll get cold in the water. Maybe I'll put a blanket on the coop when it's cold.
