Finally finished the coop! *PICS*

[Who922]

I finally finished the coop side of the barn and got the girls moved over this weekend! They really seem to be enjoying it. I think I might be able to have 10-15 more in the coop without a problem. I have pictures, although not the best because they are from my phone. I threw in a couple of pictures of the brooder side as well. It is the door on the right. It's been a lot of work, but fun.

Before we started. It probably hadn't been used for anything in 6 or 7 years as best we can tell.

My son helped me pour a concrete floor on the brooder side.

A before picture from inside.

After Inside and out

Between the crazy expensive hardware cloth (that you can't see, but is all the way round the bottom), paint, the concrete floor and feeders, etc. I am at about $180 for both sides. 80 bucks for chickens. I am happy with the way it turned out, and the kids really enjoy it. They will really like it in a coule of months when they start laying eggs! I hope it lasts a long time!

 

[ladyride]

Looks like you had some great & very cute helpers

nice coop love that brooder area

 

[Who922]

Here is a little better pic from inside the brooder. The area for chicks is about 6' X 6'

 

[Going Quackers]

Looks really nice! should be a great home, good job.

 

[bryan99705]

Looks great but needs a skirt for the diggers.

 

[ccshambhala]

nice - and BIG! (I'm jealous

) (It looks like an old run in shed for horses?) My only word of advice is that in our coop my highest nesting boxes are just below the height of the lowest roost - and we often have problems - at least with newbies that aren't yet laying - trying to roost in the nesting boxes (which makes a yucky mess) Hopefully you won't have that problem - but if I redid mine I would make the height difference between roost & nesting boxes more dramatic.

 

[Who922]

I was worried about that, but they seem much more interested in roosting on the ledges around the coop (which is equally as messy on the walls) they aren't roosting inside the boxes. I'm wondering if I need to try to make them move to the roosts by raising them and making the ledge inaccessible.

For the diggers, I ran the hardware cloth to the ground. then I put fence posts at the bottom. then I put dirt angled down from the top of the post and soaked it. If that's not enough, I'm not proud, Let me know!

From talking to the neighbor, I think at some point there have been, horses, chickens, goats and cattle out there. I don't think much of anything recently until I got my goats to keep the weeds down.

Thanks for the comments. I am always ready to learn! Do you think 15 more would work in the space?