Our Island Chicken Coop

[SuperK]

This is georgouse! Did you build it to withstand tropical storms and such? We live in south Florida, and because we rent I'm trying to find a balance between awesomeness for chickens, and something that can be moved in and secured for tropical storms and hurricanes.

We accidentally wound up with 14 chicks...really, I only bought 6. The only solution I've found is keep them kind of small, then attach them with tunnels.sort of like having different rooms in a house. We haven't made it that far yet. Right now the family flock is in one enclosure and the surprise flock in the other. I hesitate to call it a coop because it's hardware cloth not solid sides.
I'm super impressed by your coop, and the strategic way you've approached it. Any advice or guidance would be greatly appreciated.

Wendy

Wendy,
Thank you, to an extent I did. To make it truly hurricane proof would make this a bit more expensive than the money we already put into it. With the strapping to keep the roof to the walls and the wall to the floor, the thing would weigh a ton more than it does. I did use 3" screws for the studs, and 2" screws for the siding, as well as roofing screws so they should hold up better than the common box nails.The weakest points are going to be the posts to the ground. They are sitting flush, not dug in nor cemented in place. JoAnn and I discussed this at length and though we do live in a hurricane zone (lava[3] and earthquake too) we felt it wasn't going to be an issue. This is because 90+% of the hurricanes in the pacific seem to have missed the Big Island of Hawaii in the last 100 years. We do get a lot of extra rain and some stronger winds, but not over gale force.
What we did want building this way to accomplish was an easily expandable easily moved unit in case we decide to get more chickens(a given!) sell and move to another lot. We plan on making improvements to our place then perhaps sell it so we wanted it to survive the lift, move and resetting on the new spot.

I am currently trying to organize the photos into a less helter skelter format so those that want to can see how we put it together.
Sounds like you are well on your way to a bigger coop! share picts as you go too- I know I loved looking through every ones journey to coop nirvana when I was looking for a good design.

Ken

 

[SuperK]

Thanks Dontae!

 

[SuperK]

Okay, the gravity feeding system is in. We used our old water pressure tank to hold the feed, added a fitting on the bottom to fit PVC and used the ideas circulating here on BYC to pipe the feed station under the coop so they can always have a dry shady and hopefully cooler place to eat.
The Plan

The Parts

Piped and done!

This will hold two 40 pound sacks of feed at a time. It is gravity fed to the end. I thought it would dump the entire bin without a metering valve, but it doesn't. I will need to add one however, since the scratching action of the the girls tends to vibrate the feed down faster. I may add a section that meters the daily amount the 6 of them can get for the day or set it on a timer so it drops the amount twice or three times a day, we'll see.
While they have feed free access right now, they still plod around scratching up the pen looking for the insects that are a part of Hawaii life.

A better view of the build process is on my blog: http://bigislandchickens.blogspot.com/ everyone is welcome to go by and see how I built this and all the systems I am adding to the coop.

 

[aart]

Was there a bladder in that tank?
Is it water tight so all the feed does not get wet and mold?

 

[SuperK]

Was there a bladder in that tank?
Is it water tight so all the feed does not get wet and mold?

Yes there was. I took that out and wire brushed the entire thing, inside and out. Hit it with three coats of a sealer, then two coats of paint. Let it dry then did the other mods.

 

[SuperK]

And I welding a ring on the inside of the lid to center it on the tank, but it is leaking a bit so I need to add a similar one to the outside to cover the joint. I will then seal the upper edge with a good outdoor caulking.

 

[SuperK]

And I welding a ring on the inside of the lid to center it on the tank, but it is leaking a bit so I need to add a similar one to the outside to cover the joint. I will then seal the upper edge with a good outdoor caulking.

I have fixed the leak by flattening out a length of roof edge flashing, cutting to fit the diameter, drilling holes and setting rivets to hold this in place. I then used a commercial grade sealant to waterproof it and it works great.


Since it was off the coop, I also cut and made a viewing window to see the feed level from a distance. I used an Acrylic panel I had laying around in my scrap pile. I cut, shaped, and riveted the waterproofed in the same way. (The bin is upside down in this photo)




In other news, today will be our first experience getting through a tropical storm and a test for the coop build. I do believe that I built strong enough, but we'll see as the storm tracks over the Islands.

 

[aart]

YIKES!
Best Wishes.

 

[flocking nuts]

In other news, today will be our first experience getting through a tropical storm and a test for the coop build. I do believe that I built strong enough, but we'll see as the storm tracks over the Islands. [COLOR=B42000] [/COLOR]

Good luck with the storm. Do you have your people and poultry hurricane kits and plenty of water?

 

[aart]

It's been 2 days since the storm announcement....hope everything's ok with @SuperK
Probably at least power and internet access outages.