The Tiny Homestead
Songster
This is my coop's currrent spot in the yard. The people door has double hasps, plus a turn block. There is a single hasp on the pop door, and hasps on both sides of the nest box door. All have caribiners. I may add a turn block to the pop door as well.
All openings are covered completely with hardeware cloth. For the roof, I made a pattern so the hardware cloth wraps up over the rafters, and folds on all sides, and is stapled on before putting the plywood over the top. For the insides of the windows, it wraps around the joists and sill.
I was wondering how I would hold windows closed. They are old reused ones and are angled sparply on the bottom along with the sill for good runoff. I ended up bending some heavy stainless tig welding rod attached to eye hooks on the windows, and latch hooks inside. I can reach inside and unhook them, and when I pull the windows open, the latch hooks can catch on the screen to hold them in place. When closed, there is enough spring pressure to pull them tight.
I put in a couple of roosts with poop boards below. The lowest bar is just for hopping up to the higher ones.I found that the roosts were a little too close to the walls, so I moved them out a little, and I also lowered the high roost by 3 inches. It was just a matter of taking 2 screws out and adjusting, then screwing back in. The definitely spend the majority of time on the upper roost, but I will leave the long one in place for now.
I added some strips to the pop door for footholds, and put a nail just inside the door to hang a wide scraper. So first thing in the morning, I put a feeder out, open the pop door. While they are eating, I grab the poop bucket and clean off the poop board. The bedding on the floor has remained super clean.
I'm working on a large geodome structure. Right now we are using the smaller one in the photo if the chickens have to be left unattended. My sweetie wants to enclose the coop inside the geodome, but I'd prefer keeping it separate, with a walkway betweeen it and the coop. We'll see who prevails.
All openings are covered completely with hardeware cloth. For the roof, I made a pattern so the hardware cloth wraps up over the rafters, and folds on all sides, and is stapled on before putting the plywood over the top. For the insides of the windows, it wraps around the joists and sill.
I was wondering how I would hold windows closed. They are old reused ones and are angled sparply on the bottom along with the sill for good runoff. I ended up bending some heavy stainless tig welding rod attached to eye hooks on the windows, and latch hooks inside. I can reach inside and unhook them, and when I pull the windows open, the latch hooks can catch on the screen to hold them in place. When closed, there is enough spring pressure to pull them tight.
I put in a couple of roosts with poop boards below. The lowest bar is just for hopping up to the higher ones.I found that the roosts were a little too close to the walls, so I moved them out a little, and I also lowered the high roost by 3 inches. It was just a matter of taking 2 screws out and adjusting, then screwing back in. The definitely spend the majority of time on the upper roost, but I will leave the long one in place for now.
I added some strips to the pop door for footholds, and put a nail just inside the door to hang a wide scraper. So first thing in the morning, I put a feeder out, open the pop door. While they are eating, I grab the poop bucket and clean off the poop board. The bedding on the floor has remained super clean.
I'm working on a large geodome structure. Right now we are using the smaller one in the photo if the chickens have to be left unattended. My sweetie wants to enclose the coop inside the geodome, but I'd prefer keeping it separate, with a walkway betweeen it and the coop. We'll see who prevails.
