My new 6x8 "cottage" coop

I thought I'd start this thread to log the progress in my new coop...

We bought a 'Victorian Playhouse' from local Amish builders and it was delivered today. The only customization we made over the base product was to use 16" vents on the sides. I still have to build the roosts, nesting boxes and chicken door, and will be looking for some tips along the way.

Ok now that is super cute!!

Very nice! Mary

Nice find. It is super cute looking and the colors are nice!!!!!!

The mods should be bad but I bet for a good price they could have made it a coop. Our local amish make some great stuff. Top quality for this area. Of course besides my stuff


Scott

That's lovely and I'm sure your chickens will enjoy it!

I don't usually go for 'too cute' stuff, but that is an attractive little building.
Too bad they didn't paint the vent with the brown trim color.

How many birds you plan on keeping in there?

My Coop is 6 feet wide, poop/roost boards, ramps and nests(well, my nests are halfway out of coop wall) fit nice in there.

Thanks everyone. The Amish builders did a fine job. The vents are plastic but I'm really glad they had that option because it was vitally important to get better airflow. I'll have eleven birds by summer (six are chicks now), plus I wanted some room to grow to a max of maybe 18.

I just got back from Home Depot with my wood. Here's my plan:

ROOSTING BARS:
I'm going to use three 6ft long 2x3's for the roosts and just attach them to the walls similar to the picture, except I'll make it so I can easily lift them out to remove them for cleaning. Under that I plan on putting a poop deck eventually. There will be a ramp running along the wall like in the picture.

Example:


NESTING BOXES:
I'm making four 12x12 nest boxes as one unit to hang on the wall. If I get more chickens then I'll add another four. Right now I'm thinking that I'll put the nesting boxes adjacent to the lowest roosting bar, opposite the ramp, so I don't need a second ramp for them.

Example:


That's where I'm at. With any luck I should have some of it done this weekend. As always, input is appreciated, especially if you think I'm making a mistake! My main goal though is to keep everything removable so I could rearrange them if it isn't working.

aart said:

I don't usually go for 'too cute' stuff, but that is an attractive little building.
...

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It came with a heart shaped cutout over the front door, but I asked them to do something--anything--else, and they did the barn door cross thing instead. These playhouses also come with a frilly sophet thing that makes it look like a ginger bread house, and I told them to leave that off completely.

The thing we liked about this, asides from it being the size we wanted, was that it has windows for extra summer venting and it has two doors. Even though the front door is a pain for a tall people to get through, it allows us quick access from outside the run. The big side door will be fenced in soon.

Removable for cleaning is a great idea. I really like your little coop. So many people get sucked into the prefab poor quality ones. It is nice to see a good one.

Many many people have no access to anything near the quality of a good Amish coop.

21hens-incharge said:

Removable for cleaning is a great idea. I really like your little coop. So many people get sucked into the prefab poor quality ones. It is nice to see a good one.

Many many people have no access to anything near the quality of a good Amish coop.

Click to expand...

The decision to invest in a coop like this for the chickens was not something we took lightly. It's been three years that I've been talking about it, and when we got our tax returns this year we just decided to go for it and eat the cost because we enjoy our birds so much. We justified it partly as a shed, not that we can really use it as a regular shed, but because it will free up space in our main garage and shed. You know, food, scratch, straw, pine shavings, and stuff like that take up a lot of area. But the bottom line is that it is a hobby my wife and I enjoy just like our dogs, and hobbies are something you do for fun no matter what the cost.