future coop and run

One long deck screw thru the center 2x6 up into the 2x4 at an angle would keep those roosts from getting knocked down, and poop free, easy to remove if needed.
Drill a clearance hole thru the 2x6 so it doesn't split and no need to over tighten.

The roosts seem awfully high, how till they fly down without crashing into the wall? I'd drop them down a foot.
Bottom of my nests are 24" off floor, bottom of the roost board is about 36", roost is 8" above the board.
Even at 36" in a 6' wide coop, they were crashing....why I added a ramp.
They were new (and large adults) to the coop tho when they crashed.... most use the ramp, some fly down.

good idea for attaching with a screw from the bottom. easy enough to take out when needed, and won't be all poopy and gummed up to have to deal with!

As for the height of the roosts, I am going to install a poop board 6 or 8 inches below them, and I am going to build a platform and a ramp up to them for easy up and down, at least I hope they'll use it. i didn't measure up from the floor, but, thinking about it, my walls are only 6 feet high inside, and I was standing on the ground outside when I took the pics, so I was looking up. I don't think they're more than 36 - 40 inches off the floor.

I appreciate the insight! tomorrow I'll measure. I do plan on building a 'break down' brooder that I can put under the roosts and poop board that will also have access to one of the pop doors. Easy enough to section off' some of the run with fence to allow babies to go out but be protected. I wanted the roost high enough to be far enough above the poop board, and still have enough room to get under to put in the brooder when needed.

ok, editing to add. The windows are 24" tall, and they're 4" from the top of the wall to the top of window frame. That makes the bottom of the window 29 1/2" from the top of the wall, and that's even with the bottom roost, so that should be 42 1/2 inches above the floor.....Now I'm thinking I need to go lower them some, easy enough to do. Thanks aart!

Yeah, the roosts only need to be maybe a 8-12" higher than the nests...so they don't roost in the nests.

I've taken a few days away from working on the coop. Today, we moved the younger chicks out of the kitchen. I tore the quick up brooder box apart, and used some of the components for a few more steps.

First we tore out the roost bars that I had put too high, framed up the poop board. The sheet is just laying there for now:


I still have to frame out the 'tray' part of it, and the lower roost will be mounted above it, much like the ones aart's coop has.

I also got a small platform built, and the ramp up to it. The 4 year old grand daughter was very curious about how they're going to get up to the nest box and the roosts. Of course, she was planning who was going to sit where, and which chicks would use which nest to lay eggs.......typical four year old, HA


and of course, while Papa is working, it's hard to beat a new pair of rubber boots and a mudhole:


tomorrow I plan on finishing the poop tray and roost bars. A little touch up paint and I'll be finished. then it will be time to start doing some landscaping!

here's a pic of the 'between the studs' feeder I built. I used some left over osb sheeting, I lined the inside, made the bottom and the lid out of some of the galvanized metal pieces leftover from the roof.

It's mounted temporarily at a height where the bigger kids can get to it. Once they're all full sized, I'll figure out what height to mount it permanently. This thing is 30" tall, !2" wide at the top and goes down to 3 1/2" at the bottom. I may wind up cutting a small board and hitting it with a hole saw and covering the tray to keep them from raking back and forth and spilling so much feed on the floor:


I put the 3 white leghorns (4 weeks old) and the 3 black australorps (3 weeks old) out in the coop and run today. No more brooder box in the kitchen! yay!

anyway, they'd been in the brooder with the blue americaunas for a few days when we first got them. They didn't play well together. Today was no different. Hard to believe the six week olds are that much bigger than the 3 week olds, but they wouldn't let them eat or drink. I had to PUT the babies in the coop when I got home from church this evening. set up the heat lamp for the babies, and sure enough, the big (fully feathered) kids were under it and the babies were all cuddled over in the corner.......So after being meanies all day, then hogging all the heat? nah.....I fixed their tail feathers, I took one of the chicken wire lids and one of the ends from the brooder box and fixed a 'safe house" for them. I was thinking of doing a brooder box under the roosts anyway, so now tomorrow I'll go finish that out. It will have access to one of the pop doors, and I'll fence off part of the run for them as well until they get big enough to defend themselves and eat when they want to:


the big kids do NOT like that they can't get to them, or eat from those feeders, HA but they have the big feeder. Greedy bitties...........

PapaChaz said:

here's a pic of the 'between the studs' feeder I built. I used some left over osb sheeting, I lined the inside, made the bottom and the lid out of some of the galvanized metal pieces leftover from the roof.

It's mounted temporarily at a height where the bigger kids can get to it. Once they're all full sized, I'll figure out what height to mount it permanently. This thing is 30" tall, !2" wide at the top and goes down to 3 1/2" at the bottom.

I may wind up cutting a small board and hitting it with a hole saw and covering the tray to keep them from raking back and forth and spilling so much feed on the floor:

Click to expand...

Definitely do this, worked wonders on my mini bin feeder.

Also helps to have the front board of the bin extend down into the trough an inch or so below the top edge of the trough to keep the level of the feed below the top edge of the trough.......did that make sense? I had to add a piece to achieve this.

Did you place your trusses 16" or 24" on center?

aart said:

Definitely do this, worked wonders on my mini bin feeder.

Also helps to have the front board of the bin extend down into the trough an inch or so below the top edge of the trough to keep the level of the feed below the top edge of the trough.......did that make sense? I had to add a piece to achieve this.

Click to expand...

yes that made perfect sense! I played around with how to make it work, I was afraid if I went below the top of the front of the trough, it wouldn't feed into the trough. I can definitely extend it down from the inside, thanks again for the wonder tip!

Steve P said:

Did you place your trusses 16" or 24" on center?

Click to expand...

I put them on 24". Doing a metal roof and 1x4 perlins it's plenty strong enough. I also cut some OSB pentagons and screwed to each side of the trusses except for the end ones, they have them on the inside and of course the siding on the outside.

It was strong enough to hold my 220lbs while I was crawling around up there putting on the roof


instead of weakening the 2x4 by cutting a 'birds mouth' I attached them to the top of the walls with hurricane clips, they were .84 each at home depot.

PapaChaz said:

yes that made perfect sense! I played around with how to make it work, I was afraid if I went below the top of the front of the trough, it wouldn't feed into the trough. I can definitely extend it down from the inside, thanks again for the wonder tip! I put them on 24". Doing a metal roof and 1x4 perlins it's plenty strong enough. I also cut some OSB pentagons and screwed to each side of the trusses except for the end ones, they have them on the inside and of course the siding on the outside. It was strong enough to hold my 220lbs while I was crawling around up there putting on the roof instead of weakening the 2x4 by cutting a 'birds mouth' I attached them to the top of the walls with hurricane clips, they were .84 each at home depot.

Click to expand...

Ok I also have hurricane ties but I'm also putting osb then tin. Only doing the osb for extra insulation from the cold in winter

Steve P said:

Ok I also have hurricane ties but I'm also putting osb then tin. Only doing the osb for extra insulation from the cold in winter

Click to expand...

Cool, no need for perlins then.

I'd suggest felt on the osb before the metal, simply because the metal will sweat and the osb will soak it right up and rot