New Hen House build

[G-Man]

Looking back I didn't document the construction of the nesting boxes very well.
I built the the boxes as a complete unit so I could slide it through the 2x4 wall in-between the human and poultry side of the coop.

I wanted to have access from the human side of the coop plus have the capability of a roll out type box if I had any egg eating issues.
This is just a pic of the clear coat drying. You can see the black sheets of plywood in front of the boxes. Those are are of the roll out system I'll try to explain later.






This is a shot with the black 8 degree angled boards that ramp towards the front of the nesting boxes.




This is the roof/ceiling of the the nesting boxes.



After the box was pushed through the hole in the wall and secured to the stud on either side of the wall.
The unit was pushed through until the back of the face-frame was flush to the wall on the human side.



She was my first visitor.. she didn't even wait for the roosting bar before she made herself comfortable.



This is the temporary roosting bar to help them get inside.
I had planned on fabricating some brackets (now that I have my welder) and making something a little fancier, but I haven't come up with a design just yet.



I don't have the roll out boards in place. I wanted to make sure they got use to using the boxes before I threw that curve ball at them.



The view from the collection side.



This is what it will look like with the roll out feature in place... minus the 1/4 board that's holding the nesting chips in place.
The black board ramps forward at 8 degrees. There is a 2-1/2" gap in front of the board so the eggs can drop down to the bottom
of the nesting box which has an 8 degree angled back towards the human side. (I wish I had removed that 1/4" board for this pic)



Here's what the cabinet doors look like... I'm so not happy with that finish. ugh.. be gentle.



This is where the human side of the coop stands as of tonight..
I still need to make the base board for this room, upper and lower cabinets, doors, counter-top and find a nice deep sink.



I added this 1x2 pine around the edge of both of the droppings boards.
I noticed the smaller birds were roosting on the 3/4" edge at night and I felt bad for them.
I just ran a 1/4" router bit around the edges where their feet would touch.

The added bonus to this is.. it keeps the 1x4 white face of the droppings boards poop free!
Keeps them much cleaner now.



I made a modification to the feed trough very early on.
I liked the beak guards I originally made but realized it was more difficult for the bigger birds to eat.
So I opened it up to three large openings which made it much easier.



This was taken mid-morning.



This was taken tonight when I went up to close the run door.



This was taken tonight as well.. I found some old bricks awhile back down by our old barn and used those at the bottom of the carriage door.
Plus this image shows the handles I fabricated.
Looks like I need to trim by Clematis back.



Thanks for looking.

 

[juststruttin]

Hi Deann,
That's a great idea!

I took a couple pics of the Welsummer chicks I bought from you last year.
They are both very sweet and very consistent layers.


This one was taken last September.. I thought she looked cute enough to share.




These two pics were taken tonight after a long day of free ranging.








Thanks again for the nice compliment. Hope to see you at the Stockton Poultry show.

Ill be there. We are meeting at the concession stand at 11. Looking forward to seeing you. Your ladies look lovely. Thats a gorgeous roo!

 

[juststruttin]

Just when I didn't think you coop could get any more impressive you post more pictures. Wow, is all that comes to mind.

 

[G-Man]

Ill be there.  We are meeting at the concession stand at 11.  Looking forward to seeing you.  Your ladies look lovely.  Thats a gorgeous roo!   

Ill be there.  We are meeting at the concession stand at 11.  Looking forward to seeing you.  Your ladies look lovely.  Thats a gorgeous roo!   

Thank you,
I love my girls.
That's the little splash Isbar I hatched out last year... Handsome Jack!
I'll try to get a better pic of him.

Thank you for the awesome response Deann.

See you Saturday.

 

[aart]

Thank you for the generous compliment aart. . . .I hope I answered all of your questions.

You're more than welcome, it was well deserved. . . . .Of course you answered them all, I knew you would. I'm a details person and can recognize one of my own when I read them

 

[Time-Out]

I have a question, I hope you don't mind... it's been driving me nuts trying to figure it out lol. How did you fasten the poop trays to the walls without any visible brackets or supports?

 

[Crazy4mypeeps]

Wow, This is the first I've seen this thread and I am just

. You have some wicked skills. Absolutely beautiful, and so functional.

 

[San]

This is just the most wonderfull hen house I've ever seen!!! Really you've impressed me very much. If I would live in your country I would ask you to make one for me!

And look at those gorgeous happy chickenfaces, they are so lucky!

 

[leghornfarm]

Excellent coop. Wish I had the skills to build something like that.

 

[G-Man]

I have a question, I hope you don't mind... it's been driving me nuts trying to figure it out lol. How did you fasten the poop trays to the walls without any visible brackets or supports?

Of course not I love the questions.. Sorry I'm getting back to this so late.. I was out of state last week visiting family.


This is pertaining to the roost/droppings board on the right side of the coop.
I started by securing with 4" long screws and a liberal amount of yellow glue a 5ft 1"x2" (1"x2" dimensions are actually 3/4"x1-1/2") into each of the studs through the plywood wall, and another approximately 2ft long 1"x2" on the right angled wall. Using a bubble level to make sure the cleats are mounted level.

From there I cut a 2'x5' 1/2" sheet of plywood for the top of the droppings boards and secured it to the 1"x2" cleats with several 1" screws and again with a liberal amount of yellow glue.

Then I cut a second piece of 2'x5' 1/2" plywood for the bottom side of the droppings boards and secured it to the bottom of the 1x2 cleat with 1-1/4" screws and yellow glue. This left a 3/4" gap in-between the two sheets of plywood.

At this point it's still pretty flimsy. To stiffen it up I cut another approximately 2ft and 5ft long 1"x2" pieces to sandwich in-between the two pieces of 1/2" plywood securing them in place with screws and glue again. This time taking extra care using two bubble levels to make certain when I screw everything together it was level. If I remember right I actually made sure the outside corner that appears to float was higher than level to compensate for the weight of the birds. Then to finish it off I mounted the 1"x4" poplar around the edge to retain the Sweet PDZ and conceal the sandwiched ends of the droppings board. I used screws and yellow glue to mount these as well.

As a note I secured the 1" edge of the 1"x2" pieces to the wall. So the stacked up pieces of 1/2" plywood sheets and 1"x2" measure 1-3/4" overall.

Oh and always pre-drill for your screws.

I hope this makes sense.. I tried my best. I'll see if I can draw something up tonight.

Okay, I know this isn't great, but I should help illustrate how I mounted the droppings boards to the coop wall.