Hello all!
My chicken adventure started with a small coop that I knew would have to be changed out.
DH decided that they needed room to roam and that he was going to build a predator proof run for his little darlings - the ones he didn't want!
Of course, then they needed to be protected from the rain, so he added a corrugated plastic roof with UV protection!
and even more run space, so the space was extended to the garden fence and forward about 10 feet.
My DH and I decided to use a Resin Storage shed to build our coop – no time to build from scratch, and no money for an Amish shed. My son came home just in time to help!
You can see the small coop here behind the window box, but it is now in the outer run area and has an enclosed run which has been modified so that the chicks can run in and out but the adults cannot get in.
November 2016 after my foot surgery. The run extension has begun!
So far, I have changed the floor plan 4 times and it has only been up since late August 2015!
This is the second or third incarnation. The crate on the right was to accomodate one of my Bielefelder hens. She used it for two weeks and then crammed herself into the plastic nest box next to it. My other Biel insists on laying her eggs under the "step" by the automatic door.
The original shed has been modified with an automatic chicken door on the back wall which opens into a covered run. There is also an additional window at floor level that the girls like to look out of when it gets too breezy, or they just don’t feel like coming outside.
The run is 15’ square and fully predator proof. There is a second run surrounding two sides that adds 10 feet in each direction. That is contained within a fenced are approx. 30 ‘ x 20’ which has bird netting over it.
I have tried deep litter, but it is so dry inside the coop, that nothing is composting and I am worried about the flies during the hot months. I think that I would like to switch to having droppings boards under the roosts.
At the moment to the left there is an 3' square area where I had the chicks isolated, now there is food and water hanging there.
I now have 7 hens, 8 chicks (aged 7 weeks) and 27 eggs in the incubator! I am planning on selling at least ½ of those.
I know that I will need more roost space and have plans to build a smaller coop with some salvaged hardwood flooring.
I would really appreciate any suggestions about the best way to set this coop up in terms of roosts, nest boxes, etc.
Thanks!
My chicken adventure started with a small coop that I knew would have to be changed out.
DH decided that they needed room to roam and that he was going to build a predator proof run for his little darlings - the ones he didn't want!
Of course, then they needed to be protected from the rain, so he added a corrugated plastic roof with UV protection!
and even more run space, so the space was extended to the garden fence and forward about 10 feet.
My DH and I decided to use a Resin Storage shed to build our coop – no time to build from scratch, and no money for an Amish shed. My son came home just in time to help!
November 2016 after my foot surgery. The run extension has begun!
So far, I have changed the floor plan 4 times and it has only been up since late August 2015!
This is the second or third incarnation. The crate on the right was to accomodate one of my Bielefelder hens. She used it for two weeks and then crammed herself into the plastic nest box next to it. My other Biel insists on laying her eggs under the "step" by the automatic door.
The original shed has been modified with an automatic chicken door on the back wall which opens into a covered run. There is also an additional window at floor level that the girls like to look out of when it gets too breezy, or they just don’t feel like coming outside.
The run is 15’ square and fully predator proof. There is a second run surrounding two sides that adds 10 feet in each direction. That is contained within a fenced are approx. 30 ‘ x 20’ which has bird netting over it.
I have tried deep litter, but it is so dry inside the coop, that nothing is composting and I am worried about the flies during the hot months. I think that I would like to switch to having droppings boards under the roosts.
At the moment to the left there is an 3' square area where I had the chicks isolated, now there is food and water hanging there.
I now have 7 hens, 8 chicks (aged 7 weeks) and 27 eggs in the incubator! I am planning on selling at least ½ of those.
I know that I will need more roost space and have plans to build a smaller coop with some salvaged hardwood flooring.
I would really appreciate any suggestions about the best way to set this coop up in terms of roosts, nest boxes, etc.
Thanks!
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