Old Wooden Playhouse Coop Conversion in Progress- Picture Heavy and more to come!

[Pharm Girl]

As one who is sick of wet, dirty chickens after three years of trying to raise them in this beyond damp climate, I'm totally jealous! This is the perfect Oregon coop. Wish I had known better when I got started. If our next house allows them, I'm having something like this built! Um, yea. I said having it built. My husband and I aren't that crafty. The light is pure genius. I do have to agree with the above perch comment. I have closet rod in my run, which they sit on, but the flat surface is easier to balance and better for their feet.

 

[HouseMouseHens]

Love your recycled coop! Isn't it gratifying that you did it yourself - and out of reused materials? What really caught my eye was in your last post - the solar light. I have the exact same thing in my yard done with large pickle jars. Just popped in the top of the solar light without the stake and they glow so nicely! I may have to steal your idea and do one small one in a mason jar.

The one suggestion I would make is to make your roosts larger. Instead of the closet poles/dowels, use at least a 2x3 or a 2x4 turned wide side up. This way they can actually sit on it at night and squat their bodies down over their feet to cover their toes. With the poles/dowels, there isn't much to sit/balance on and they're doing a lot of gripping with their toes. I also HIGHLY recommend the poop board. I started with a vinyl covered one that I used to scrape with a taping knife. This summer I switched it out for a tray filled with Sweet Pdz and DE. I scoop it out like a cat's litter box. So much easier to clean and I love the change - as much as you can love dealing with animal poop that is...

Overall awesome job! Two thumbs up. And I can't wait to see your greenhouse project with all those windows you've been saving!

Aww, thanks! We're really proud of ourselves for building it, since it's the biggest building project we've ever taken on.

I like that you use the light idea too! I think my husband thought I was a weirdo when we were at Lowe's buying the lights and dryer hose clamps and I was trying to explain to him what I was doing with them. Haha! He likes them now though.

I do plan to move the lower roost up and put in a poop board, just haven't done that yet. And I have received a lot of feedback about my roosts saying that the round ones are a bad idea, so I'm thinking I'll switch those out when I move the other one up. I thought about using either two by fours, or large tree branches since we have a pile we took off our trees this summer.

 

[HouseMouseHens]

Just curios if you get snow where you are? If so I was wondering will the sow collect in the middle where the 2 roofs meet? Ive been trying to figure out how to cover my run but cant come up with an idea to prevent snow build up. Oh and I LOVE the mason jar solar lights! What did you cap the jar with, is it the actual top to the solar light?. If its ok Im going to steal that idea and put it on all 3 of my coops

Well, I have lived here (or within an hour of the city I'm in) for over six years and only twice have I ever seen snow accumulate more than about an inch or two. It's almost never snows here, we're always really shocked when it does.. so that wasn't a concern for me when planning this out. Our winters are really mild, with a LOT of rain.

And the jar is capped with the solar top of tone of those little stake pathway lights just set on top. I am going to super glue it down so it doesn't get blown off in the wind, but haven't done it yet. Steal away! I saw the idea on Pinterest, so I stole it too.

 

[HouseMouseHens]

As one who is sick of wet, dirty chickens after three years of trying to raise them in this beyond damp climate, I'm totally jealous! This is the perfect Oregon coop. Wish I had known better when I got started. If our next house allows them, I'm having something like this built! Um, yea. I said having it built. My husband and I aren't that crafty. The light is pure genius. I do have to agree with the above perch comment. I have closet rod in my run, which they sit on, but the flat surface is easier to balance and better for their feet.

Aww thanks! We didn't even think of the rain splash factor when we did it this way.. we just had the wood already and didn't want to spend the money on hardware cloth cause were cheap. With all the white trim, and our backyard being all dirt right now, I am finding myself hosing down the coop ever week to keep it looking nice though. It's probably a mute point thought since there is so much construction back there that keeping things clean isn't working. We are hoping to get the sod put in before the rain starts... but we're not sure if that is going to happen...

 

[HouseMouseHens]

We got the whole thing(or most of it, the back isn't getting painted since you cant see it anyway) and the rest of the boards up yesterday! The paint needs a second coat, and we have a couple more places we need to cover with fencing to make it TOTALLY predator proof, but the girls have officially been given the run, and they love it! And they are finally figuring out how to get out of the coop on thier own for the most part. The first few days we let them out there we had to bring each on up to the chicken door and let them out, but now 10 of the 13 are doing it on their own when we open the door in the morning. The other three will get it, I'm sure... Haha!
Here is what it looks like now. We're spending today doing the last few details and then cleaning up the yard for the company we're having over this afternoon.




I made a hand sanitizer jar for next to the door (down low so my three year old can use it by herself).




And here are the girls enjoying their new roost ladder in the run.


And each of the girls now.

Margo, a Gold Laced Wyandotte at 8 weeks.


Isadora, a Blue Andalusian at 7 weeks.


Harriet (the Spy!), a Silver Dorking, at 8 weeks.


Zoey Zebra, my daughter chicken, a Barred Rock at 7 weeks. She is the smallest of all of them though.


Cordelia, a Cuckoo Maran at 8 weeks.


Henrietta, a Buff Orpington, at 8 weeks.


Ginger, a Rhode Island Red at 7 weeks.


Sugar Magnolia, a Welsummer, at 5 weeks.


Stella Bella, a Silver Laced Wyandotte at 7 weeks.


Violet Brown, a Blue Laced Red Wyandotte at 7 weeks.


Petunia, a Speckled Sussex at 5 weeks.


Lucille, a Black Astralorpe at 6 weeks (and rather silly looking right now. haha!)


And I forgot to take a new picture of Nutmeg, my gimpy Ameracauna (my favorite!). With 13 it's hard to keep track! Haha!

 

[HouseMouseHens]

We got the patio put in today! I know this isn't really chicken related, but since I've been posting pictures of our backyard in it's terrible state, I thought I'd post one of an improvement.



And we moved the food and water out of the coop finally.

 

[Melabella]

Stunning, truly! Have so enjoyed the progression of photographs..

Blessings to you there!

MB

 

[Pharm Girl]

We got the patio put in today! I know this isn't really chicken related, but since I've been posting pictures of our backyard in it's terrible state, I thought I'd post one of an improvement.



And we moved the food and water out of the coop finally.

I was too cheap to buy the $8 lid for the feed, but Goodwill had the perfect pot lid for .99. It fits perfectly. When the rains come, I figure it's good to keep moisture out.

 

[Red Barn Farms]

Very nice and such great ideas. Thanks for posting all the progress!

 

[cknkids]

Specular!!! thank you for sharing your journey & the patio pic. Enjoy everything you've created and your girls. My 2 cents, for what it's worth, is try to get the sod in before the rain comes, you really don't want to deal with mud after all you've accomplished.