New Hen House build

[BigdaddySean]

WOW! That is awesome! I ordered the D20 also, and it should be in today!
Love the finish work, and attention to detail!

 

[G-Man]

holy smokes! that is amazing!

Thank you very much for the very generous compliment.
We are pretty excited about our cute little babies.. I'm looking forward to spoiling them.

When can I move in? Seriously, that space is prettier than my house.

I have an wall feeder too and it works wonderfully. I made it big enough to fit 50lbs of feed, so I just buy the bag and dump it is. Saves a ton of space.

Thanks Kaitie. The first time I saw the in-wall idea, I knew I had to implement it in my design. Assuming you used a standard 2x4 stud for your walls.. how wide and tall did you make your feeder to accommodate a 50 lb bag?

WOW! That is awesome! I ordered the D20 also, and it should be in today!
Love the finish work, and attention to detail!

Thanks Sean, that type of compliment makes it all worth it.
Looking forward to seeing your design in action. Keep me posted.

 

[Kaitie09]

Our's is about 1 1/2' wide, and 2ft tall. However, we made it about 8in deep, so it comes out of the wall about 4 inches. This was just so we could lift the bag up and dump the whole thing in.

I think you could use a simple volume math problem and be able to fine the amount of room that would be needed to have the entire thing in the wall.

 

[dennin7418]

When you set your posts how far down did you go and what was their overall length? Also how far were they spaced? I want to do something similar as far as the run goes....

 

[Dukeofhawg]

Maybe a dumb question, but why set posts? Coops are heavy, they aren't going anywhere. Not setting the posts give you options to move and grow and change. Just a thought.

 

[G-Man]

When you set your posts how far down did you go and what was their overall length? Also how far were they spaced? I want to do something similar as far as the run goes....

I used 10' 4x4 redwood posts and set them with concrete about 2'+ in the ground. The soffit on the building was almost exactly 8 foot tall from finish grade... The window trim is only about four inches below that.. I knew I wanted some kind of over head protection from aerial predators, so in my mind I had to get the outside posts up high enough so whatever I ended up using wouldn't be strung or mounted across the windows or the window trim.. I'm sure there are lots of other things that I could have done but this made the most sense to me. I ended up buying an aviary netting from Cutler Supply.
The posts are spaced about 8' apart so I could tie them together with 8' 2x4s at the top. I've built a lot of fences for myself, family and friends and this is how I've always done it.

I used 8' 1x8s as the skirt around the bottom to retain the sand I plan on adding to the run.
Also, I buried the hardware cloth about a foot down and about 12 - 18".

Hope that helps. Good luck with your project.

Maybe a dumb question, but why set posts? Coops are heavy, they aren't going anywhere. Not setting the posts give you options to move and grow and change. Just a thought.

That's a great question.

I was/am very concerned about the predators where I live. I knew I wanted to invest in quality birds and consider it my responsibility to keep them safe. I built it so they would be well protected.

I did think about expansion.. I couldn't grow the run any wider than the 12' that I have. I left room for planting vines and making walkways around the perimeter.
It's funny.. I actually already expanded the run twice right when I started digging the first post holes.. Originally the run was only going to be 12'x8' and house just a couple hens.
BYC is a bit addicting and there are just so many beautiful breeds available.. I figured while the string lines were up, I would just make it a bit bigger... and then bigger yet again. I even ran extra pvc (water) and conduit (electrical) out to the end when I buried the hardware cloth.. just in case.

Plus I can still set more posts at 8' intervals and expand it by going longer with the run... It will always be 12' wide, but I can go an additional 24' - 30' before the ground starts to slope downward. I even considered sectioning off at the 8' posts with chicken wire to build small breeding pens/runs that would be 8' x 12'. .. I hope my wife doesn't read this.

Hope that helps you understand where my head was with all this.

 

[Byugal]

We are planning on building a chicken house and run soon....so showed him your pictures. He said, "D...! that looks better than our house!" It does look super! Can't wait to see it with your chickens in it.

 

[G-Man]

Thank you for the very nice compliment..
I just received my chicks on Thursday! Such the cute little distractions.
I should be able to finish by the time they outgrow their Brooder.

Good luck with your coop n run project.
Be sure to post pics.

BTW, welcome to BYC!

 

[Dukeofhawg]

Well it's a beautiful coop, you really did a nice job!

 

[D'Angelo N Va.]

Ok, well I don't know about the chickens but I'm all set to move in. That is one Awesome hen town house.