Little deuce coop

[Bryant Redhawk]

I worked as a master carpenter for years, now I sit at a desk too. but weekends and evenings, I am brutal to my body. LOL The only up side is that I sleep well, the next day I can barely move for a couple of hours.

 

[Mutt Farm]

I just noticed this thread. I enjoyed it so much. What a coop!

It looks great! Gave me some really good ideas. Deja' Vu for me! I chuckled at every progress post, especially the one project a year! You gave me great insight into what my hubby is really thinking! (especially buying more power tools, he's busted.) He just finished hand digging and plumbing a Koi pond for me. My hens are in the barn till he can start on a coop.
Love the name too. That's what caught my attention. My 28 year old mare "Lil' Deuce Coupe". I hope your "coop" provides safety and brings you as much joy as she has brought to me for as many years.

 

[thedigitale]

As soon as the coop was finished, we rushed out and got 6 pullets, and in all the excitement, I neglected to update this thread, so here are the last few pictures of the build, along with some pics of our chickens! Three side of the coop are open at the top (covered with hardware cloth) for ventilation, and I'll be attaching clear vinyl to them as needed to reduce wind during the colder months.

We've decided to name them all after musicians. I'm a big fan of country music, and my wife prefers rock, so you'll probably be able to figure out who named who.

Reba - Araucana
Adele - Araucana
Martina - Wyandotte
Lita - Barred Rock
Miranda - Buff Orpington
Cher - Australorp

So enough talk... Here are the pictures!!!

Nesting box and feed door. The food is hanging directly inside so we can easily feed through this door.



The big double door for cleaning.



Closeup of the cleat system for opening and closing the coop door from outside of the run.



The finished coop. (I've since added a couple of hanging plants, but otherwise that's how it looks finished.)



Some of our girls in the coop when we were initially trying to coax them outside with some scratch.



The chicken parade once one got up the courage to step outside.



They're slowly starting to go all the way in at night, but this is what we found the first night that they were out.



Lounging in the sun.



A very hot and sweaty me trying to figure out how to hold a chicken as I remove her from the boxes we got them in.



Our two chicken herders Jack and Conor. (Ok, so they don't actually herd them, but they run around the coop wagging their tails and watching the chickens run to the other side of the coop.)

 

[RonP]

In time, the birds will just ignore the dogs...

Nice job

 

[SunHwaKwon]

That looks amazing

 

[Mutt Farm]

Wonderful coop! I loved the pictures! The ladies look quite happy in their mansion. Thanks for posting!

 

[thedigitale]

Thanks everyone!

One more note... For those of you following along since the beginning, the wife has sketched up the logo, and as soon as we have time, I'll project a copy on to the wall so she can paint it.

I also have a quick question. The entire run is 12'x6' and the coop is 1/3 of that. When I did the math, it seemed like this was good for about 8 birds, but I've seen a coop identical in size claim it could house 14. I'd imagine that commercial coops advertise more than what's realistically comfortable for the chickens, but could I go as high as 10 chickens in my coop? (We're sticking with the 6 for now, but I'd like to know for future reference.)

 

[Mutt Farm]

That might be tight in a 4X6 coop and 12X6 run. General guideline is 4sq ft per hen coop space, 10 sq ft per for a run for full size hens. Keep those tools out! Chicken math!

Oh that's right, one project per year...

 

[thedigitale]

That might be tight in a 4X6 coop and 12X6 run. General guideline is 4sq ft per hen coop space, 10 sq ft per for a run for full size hens. Keep those tools out! Chicken math!

Oh that's right, one project per year...

Thanks. I had read 3' / bird in the coop, so I was originally figuring 8 max. (They really bump up those numbers when selling commercial coops.)

Yep, 1 major project per year. Next spring, I'll be building a chicken tractor so that we can move our girls around the yard for tick control and spring fertilizer. The tractor may or may not contain a small coop that can hold a few additional chickens...

 

[LarissaEsq]

Um... you mean winter. I want the tractor done by early spring so we can get crackin'!

(Hi, all, I'm the wife of whom he speaks.)