10x6 roofed with a 8x20 run

[David61]

Coop is just about done. I need to finish the nesting boxes and add 4" of sandy dirt on the floor. I have been keeping the birds in the coop during the day while i work on it after the hawk made a pass at them in the temporary pin. They don't seem to be bothered by power tools. I'll get some pics up soon. I have until Tuesday to get it finished. Going to the hospital cath lab Wednesday. I might be on light duty for a few days or so.
Tomorrow will be their first night in the coop. I got back from Lowes about 3pm today and didn't see any little chickens running around. I ran in the back yard to see where they were and everyone of them had their little backsides up high on the roost out of sight. Six of the ten birds will be 5 weeks old Wednesday and the others 4 weeks old. Its 90°-75° the next ten days so. My baby chick days in a dog kennel are over. They will have to coop with it now.

 

[David61]

Tomorrow I'll get the chick cup water system going and work on a 5gal bucket feeder. The nesting boxes can wait. I'll get to them when it cools off in a few weeks. It was 96° with 85% humidity today.

 

[David61]

I got the nesting boxes finished. They are screened off from the coop. I'm 55-70 days to POL.
It just stopped raining a heavy down pour of few inches that flooded the back yard. The nesting boxes are dry and the coop floor is dry. My drainage works well. I had an issue with putting in the run, Poison ivy . I cleaned out my scrap pile of metal pipe, PVC and brick that was over grown with vine. Not all of the vines were honeysuckle. I had a few pea size spots on each arm i missed when i cleaned off with gasoline. It took 10 days to clear up.
I turned and raked the ground . I'll get the bird net and chicken wire run up soon. It won't take a day. They get to free range when i'm working in the yard now. That's a few hours every other day.
I put in a nice swing and a few toys. I made the feeder and waterer out of five gal. buckets.
I added a wind break to the roost box and the coop now that it's cooling off and the north wind is going to prevail. It also keeps the floor dry as blowing rain is cut down as well. I ran a sheet of tin down the coop back side wall at ground level. I added 24" of plywood down the face of the open roost from the top. It covers the top two roost boards and they can still fly in or out. I extended the outside tin down one side of the roost box by a foot and the plywood on the other side down to the poop board to damper whipping wind. (I still need to trim the corners off that plywood.) The tin siding is heavy channel corrugated so plenty of ventilation at the top of the roost. I added a spring to the coop door, No more jailbreaks.
I'm ready for winter winds.
Over all i'm happy with the coop. It has repel coons and opossums nightly.

 

[Just Don]

Great job David I did like the roof you picked that was a sweet find,

 

[David61]

I need to post pics of the finished project and give a summary of the journey. My baby chicks are starting to lay eggs now. I'm getting two eggs a day.

And thank you Don. Yes i have I had carpentry training in high school vo-tech and a marine construction back ground. I know building codes. I following my nose on keeping square and level along with general construction technics allowed me to move along with my consept without plans. I'm going to say it, I winged it. That's a chicken joke.

 

[David61]

I started with the idea of 10x6 with 8x20 run.
I ended up with a 14x6 with a 10x30 run.
I wanted to line the he bottom of the 14x6 with chain link so nothing could dig in. but after reading how deep chickens dig i only used chain link for a two foot apron and an HW cloth on top.
I figured the run would be easy but didn't account for hawks.
I was luck to have on hand what i needed to make netting the run cost nothing but the price of the net.
Two sections of three leg antenna tower and long antenna pole.
It took some PVC and wood to get the top of the towers to play nice but worked out. I can walk the run with out hitting my head on the net and the birds can fly up to the roosting bar in between the towers.
This forum saved me a lot of headaches and was a great help.
I hope this adds to the forum.

 

[Just Don]

Great job David

 

[BuckBuckCluck]

What is the attached tray looking part on the exterior of the coop?

 

[David61]

The roof panel is flush with the sides so i added a drip edge over hang. It keeps water from collecting at the bottom of the HW cloth. The roof panel is only 6' wide so no over hang on the sides. The ends over hang, over 1 and 2 feet.
My scrap metal inventory was low so it only 8". I would have liked 12-14 inches

 

[David61]

The coop is coming up on 4 years old. About the only changes i have made is screening roof vents and I have replace the run fence but for the most part , its still the same.
I couldn't be happier and its holding up very well.