Our little chicken coop in Progress!

Hello everyone! I've been keeping a running commentary on our build in progress - with pics - over in the "New Member Introduction" forum. I thought it best to move the coop Design & Construction thread over here!
For anyone who may have been following along over in the New Member forum, sorry for the double posts!
Please feel free to post any questions, comments, and especially criticism where warranted - I've never built a chicken coop before, and I don't know much about raising chickens either, so the feedback would be most appreciated!

Coop build in progress:



First, had to cut/clear all of this to make room for the build. Still in the process of clearing - lots of poison ivy in the area - but making good progress.
The coop/run sits along the treeline near the middle of the property with the back of coop facing south.



Here we have all of the posts set, 4x4's sunk 24" and set in 18" of concrete. I don't have a plan drawn up, but I do have a plan.
The run is going to be 8' wide by 24' long, 6' tall, covered by a lean-to style roof.
The hen-house is on the east end of the run(where the two tallest posts are set,) and is going to be 10' wide by 4' long, for a coop that's a little L shaped, 28' long in total.
The hen-house will "face" west, into the run.
So far, I've spent about $90 on lumber, and $100 on hardware cloth, garden fabric and chicken-wire. I don't necessarily have a budget, but am looking to be as cost effective as possible.



This angle faces into the coop from just outside. I've trenched the exterior to 12", using standard chicken-wire for the trench.
Planning to lay down some weed-killer and Preen garden fabric along the interior of the run(to try and prevent that stubborn poison-ivy from popping up in the run) then top with sand/dirt.



Here I've placed the "underwire," in kind of a "U" shape, approximately 12" vertical and 8~10" horizontal because of the bend.





After laying the underwire, I sprayed aggressively with an herbicide all along the interior floor of the run, then covered with garden fabric. The objective is to prevent weeds and the poison ivy from returning in the future.
The herbicide will be "pet-safe" in 48 hours according to the label, and we won't have the girls in the run for at least another four to six weeks, so I don't think there is a long term concern for their health.





Not sure if it was evident from the photos, but the washers attaching the underwire to the frame boards are along the bottom of the boards once they are attached.
Here, I've attached and leveled the lower frame boards and filled the trenches back in. For what it's worth, it seems easier to hang the board level and fill in the dirt rather than fill in the dirt and then try to level the board.
I figure I have two to three more hours of work before the trenches are all filled back in - then it's time to level the top of all of the poles and start framing out the hen-house.
Weather permitting, I'll be working on the coop throughout the week; and the Girls will be here Saturday!

Hey Guys!

Just a quick update - I had a chance to get some more work done on the coop - all of the posts are now cut to level along the tops, and the underwire is fully buried with all of the lower frame boards set and level! Tomorrow, I start framing on the hen-house!



A view of the build facing west. You can see the "L" shape thanks to the black garden fabric - the elongate portion at the end is where the hen-house will be. The pop-door will face west, with a fully opening rear for easy cleaning.

Also - The Girls Have Arrived!



They are soooooooooo cute! Sue and I already are in love! We're fairly sure from the folks we purchased them from that they are all Araucana's! We ended up with more than we planned on, starting at 17!! I'm glad I decided to extend the hen-house by that two feet now!
We already had them eating out of(and climbing around all over) our hands! Can't wait to spend more time with the girls!




Will definitely be posting more pics in the next several days; and for those that wondered, yes, that is a box for a brand new Miter Saw - my wife bought it for me because she was so happy with the work I've been doing(though I think she has some more things in mind once this build is finish ... the back porch could use some ... I digress!)

Looking good!

Looks nice!

Thanks for the feedback, guys! I think we've decided to expand the size of the hen-house, from the original 4x10 to 5x10, doesn't sound like a lot, but the extra 10 sq ft will be nice for the girls, since we ended up getting more chicks than originally planned.

If you have the room, use it. Some call it chicken math, I call it reality. You start with four, and stop when you run out of room on your property. LOL

@Bradfordj - Sue got a laugh out of the idea of starting with 4 and stopping when you run out of land. We were thinking along those same lines - better to build in the extra space now than to wait until later and try and expand.



So here I've framed in the floor for the hen-house, sits elevated 24" - we decided to make the hen-house 6x10 instead of 4x10 - this will give the girls plenty of space, even if we stay at 17~19 chickens.
Decided to add some storage underneath, that's the OSB you can see on the ground - it's tall enough to hold 5 gallon buckets, feed, etc.
Will update as we go, and again, thanks all for the kind words and encouragement!

Thanks,
T&S

Nice!! Good luck with the build!

Awesome! Can't wait to see more!

And I agree with the chicken math/reality, lol. We are maxed out with our 9 chickens for our property, and I have to seriously use my self control to not get more chicks. It's so hard not to!!