So i've decided to build a coop

[Gridguru]

Thanks! I think both of them are pretty darn nice!! I do have one question. Are you going to paint it?

Nope. I was going to, but we decided we like the look of it as is. Kinda "natural" with just a little white. Plus, it doesn't "pop" from the road this way, so less likely someone from the town would notice it driving by and give me grief about permits or whatnot. I've done everything per the guidelines of course, but I don't want to have to prove it. The neighbors are all on board though. They're pretty excited actually.

We did seal every board though. We've had some HUGE storms here in Texas recently and thankfully everything inside has remained bone dry.

 

[Mahlzeit]

Awesome looking coop!

 

[Gridguru]

Quick update. The chickens are in the coop (finally!).

Well, almost all of them are. Our Buff Orp cut herself pretty badly in the belly up by the inside of the leg. It looks like she cut open an intestine and was going septic. We tried our best to help her heal, but in the end we did the humane thing and put her down. She was our best chicken. So much like a Labrador retriever it was silly. wanted to sit in our laps as much as she wanted to poke around.

Anyway, the other seven are loving their new digs. Our beagle could watch "chicken tv" all day if we let her.

We'll open up the run to them in a couple days.

 

[TerryH]

Quick update. The chickens are in the coop (finally!).

Well, almost all of them are. Our Buff Orp cut herself pretty badly in the belly up by the inside of the leg. It looks like she cut open an intestine and was going septic. We tried our best to help her heal, but in the end we did the humane thing and put her down. She was our best chicken. So much like a Labrador retriever it was silly. wanted to sit in our laps as much as she wanted to poke around.

Anyway, the other seven are loving their new digs. Our beagle could watch "chicken tv" all day if we let her.



We'll open up the run to them in a couple days.

Oh man. So sorry.

 

[aart]

Oh Yikes!! Good, but sad, call.
How'd she do that?
Something sharp sticking up somewhere?

 

[Gridguru]

Oh Yikes!! Good, but sad, call.
How'd she do that?
Something sharp sticking up somewhere?

We're not 100% sure. We think she was "hiding" it for a couple of days before we actually really noticed she was acting differently and eventually saw the wound.

Our best guess is this: We've had the brooder in the garage, and since my wife works from home, she would go out there every day and let them out of the brooder to roam around the garage (yea, I already cleaned the hell out of that since they moved to the coop). In one corner I had a few tools, including a metal rake leaning against the wall. They liked that corner as it's collected leaves and whatnot. One day, while a bunch of them were in there they knocked over the rake, prongs up. Our guess is that she was between the rake and the wall when it fell and it punctured her belly.

That's just a guess though. My wife thought nothing of it at the time as all the chickens jumped out of the brooder just fine the next day. I checked the whole garage for anything sharp she might have jumped on and couldn't find anything (I keep a pretty orderly garage). I don't know though. Wish I did.

 

[aart]

Sounds plausible....little rascals sure can get into trouble.

 

[Gridguru]

I mentioned in another post how i found this program called SketchUp that allows you to easily design and model projects (it's free too!). So i used it, along with my coop plans from the program i used to use and modeled my coop build. Every board, every piece of HW cloth, siding and roofing.

I then started planning my addition for next year when we get more chicks. The little coop and run will be used for the teenagers until they are big enough to join the flock. They'll have their own little adjoining run. The little coop will also be used for brooding chickens and will have a removable nesting box, accessible from the outside.













Oh, and the chicken swing that they seem to love.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I like that program, you can really see everything with good detail.

 

[aart]

Dude!! Excellent modeling!!
.....and a superb plan.

I love solid modeling...did it for 20+ years to pay the mortgage...still use it pretty frequently, but have lost patience for elaborate assemblies.
Have learned and used several different softwares over the years and have a full version of Inventor now.
Played with Sketchup a bit, but not long enough to really learn it, it really takes quite some time to become efficient.

Hats off to your modeling prowess.