Things you've learned while building your coop...
- Thread starter Zahboo
- Start date
kycklingar! :
Build a starter coop. Then convince friends to get chickens. Then pressure DH to build a bigger coop because the friends NEED YOUR COOP, soon!!!! Their babies are growing up! Then get more chickens.
Ha... I was going to recommend convincing a friend into raising chickens then sell them your old small coop to fund the constuction of the massive coop that will soon be to small, then repeate.
Build a starter coop. Then convince friends to get chickens. Then pressure DH to build a bigger coop because the friends NEED YOUR COOP, soon!!!! Their babies are growing up! Then get more chickens.
Ha... I was going to recommend convincing a friend into raising chickens then sell them your old small coop to fund the constuction of the massive coop that will soon be to small, then repeate.
I have yet to build my coop, but one thing I'm going to do is build "square". By this I mean not a rectangle. I'm planning on building my hen house and run both square.
If you have the room this is the most economical, efficient design. The trick is the length of the perimeter where the fence wire, plywood, posts, etc., will be needed. It really pays off for runs while with house the roofing and flooring lessens the impact of it...
4x8=32 sqft with a perimeter of 24 feet
8x8=64 sqft with a perimeter of 32 feet
8x12=96 sqft with a perimeter of 40 feet
12x12=144 sqft with a perimeter of 48 feet
For a house 20% more material would yield ~50% more floor space
10x12=120 sqft with a perimeter of 44 feet
12x12=144 sqft with a perimeter of 48 feet
100x25=2500 sqft with a perimeter of 250 feet
62.5x62.5=3906 sqft with a perimeter of 250 feet
For a run this would add over 50% to the square footage for the same amount of fencing and posts!
Check my math, but square is cool.
If you can build square...go for it!
Ed
If you have the room this is the most economical, efficient design. The trick is the length of the perimeter where the fence wire, plywood, posts, etc., will be needed. It really pays off for runs while with house the roofing and flooring lessens the impact of it...
4x8=32 sqft with a perimeter of 24 feet
8x8=64 sqft with a perimeter of 32 feet
8x12=96 sqft with a perimeter of 40 feet
12x12=144 sqft with a perimeter of 48 feet
For a house 20% more material would yield ~50% more floor space
10x12=120 sqft with a perimeter of 44 feet
12x12=144 sqft with a perimeter of 48 feet
100x25=2500 sqft with a perimeter of 250 feet
62.5x62.5=3906 sqft with a perimeter of 250 feet
For a run this would add over 50% to the square footage for the same amount of fencing and posts!
Check my math, but square is cool.
If you can build square...go for it!
Ed
Oh, you all are great! Thanks so much! I am about to convince DH that we need interior walls now. AT LEAST 2 foot up from the bottom, anyway! I am so glad you told me that, before the girls move into the big house! I am planning to use a tarp, or the like, to cover the chicken wire ventilation (triangular areas at roof), if it gets too cold. My friends at work say they never let the winter worry them, cold or not, their chickens just run around, inside and out. Do I really need to worry about it getting too cold for them, even when they have shelter? Thanks again!
Let's see, I'll put these in chronological order:
* If you put the brooder box on your living room rug, in the name of all that is good and true in the world, set it on a tarp. Otherwise a slurry of spilled chick starter and water will seep unnoticed into your rug. Two months later, the smell will be very bad. Your rug will probably never be the same.
* Buy as many bags of chick feed at once as you can afford. They will eat more than you'd think. I made several trips to the feed store (30 miles each way) buying one bag at a time before I finally caught on.
* Keep extra clamp lamps and light bulbs on hand. At least 2 extra of each. If your bulb blows, and it's the last one you have on hand, and it's 1130PM, and you live in a rural area, you will not have an easy time finding a replacement.
* If you live in a rural area which is subject to frequent power outages, have hot water bottles on hand in case the power goes out. Because it will.
* If you use staples to fix the welded wire to the run, and a giant dog pounces in the middle of the wire wall, the staples will pop out of the frame at both ends. (Fortunately no chickens were harmed or freed during this event.)
* You should really really use hardware cloth, instead of chicken wire, or a random roll of welded wire you found lying around on the property. Even though it costs a fortune. It's worth every penny.
* Structurally speaking, it's better to use one long length of wire wrapped around the entire run, rather than several smaller pieces one per side. Each end side of the wire is a potential point of failure.
* If you use wood which has been protected from direct contact with moisture, but still stored outside in the Pacific Northwest for 20 years, it will be rotten and fall apart after you have spent all that time cutting and fastening it into a frame.
* Always buy screws the same diameter, or you'll spend half your project time swapping the bits on your electric drill.
* The cull bin at Home Depot is your friend.
* The jigsaw is scary. Even people with carpentry experience think so.
* Surprisingly, the circular saw is not scary.
* YOU think a gap where the walls meet the floor is a great way to add a bit of ventilation. Your chickens think it's awesome to kick all their bedding out into the yard. And into your hair, when you're trying to unlock the door first thing in the morning.
* You may wonder why you've never seen a chicken tractor design where the coop sits atop the run, and the chickens use a hole in the floor as a door. It seems perfectly reasonable to you! After you build the whole thing, you will discover that this is because chickens do not like to use a hole in the floor as a door. A fact which is perfectly obvious to anyone who's had more than "petting zoo" experience with chickens.
* The same goes for any other coop feature. If you've never seen anyone do it before, and you've browsed thousands of coop and chicken tractor designs over the last few months, there is probably a good reason for that.
* When in doubt, ask! Everyone here is great! e.g. if I had posted a month ago that "I'm thinking about making my chickens go in and out of the coop through a hole in the floor, but I notice that no other design incorporates this feature - do you think it will be okay?" it would have saved me a lot of trouble.
* If you foolishly go ahead with your hole-in-the-floor plan, make it so that the door swings upward (into the coop), and make the door slightly larger than the hole. If the door is the same size as the hole, and it's hung so that it swings downward, when the chickens go into the coop to roost and you shut the door, they will all gather atop it and jump up and down and break it and fall into the coop, and you will have to race the rapidly-setting sun to execute a last-minute repair.
* If you're going to paint the inside of the coop, or add a layer of linoleum flooring, do this before you move the chickens into the coop. I'm planning to clean out the coop and then paint/add linoleum. But let's be honest - that's never going to happen.
I think I have to stop now... so many bad memories... so much learned over the last two months... I think I need a lie-down!
* If you put the brooder box on your living room rug, in the name of all that is good and true in the world, set it on a tarp. Otherwise a slurry of spilled chick starter and water will seep unnoticed into your rug. Two months later, the smell will be very bad. Your rug will probably never be the same.
* Buy as many bags of chick feed at once as you can afford. They will eat more than you'd think. I made several trips to the feed store (30 miles each way) buying one bag at a time before I finally caught on.
* Keep extra clamp lamps and light bulbs on hand. At least 2 extra of each. If your bulb blows, and it's the last one you have on hand, and it's 1130PM, and you live in a rural area, you will not have an easy time finding a replacement.
* If you live in a rural area which is subject to frequent power outages, have hot water bottles on hand in case the power goes out. Because it will.
* If you use staples to fix the welded wire to the run, and a giant dog pounces in the middle of the wire wall, the staples will pop out of the frame at both ends. (Fortunately no chickens were harmed or freed during this event.)
* You should really really use hardware cloth, instead of chicken wire, or a random roll of welded wire you found lying around on the property. Even though it costs a fortune. It's worth every penny.
* Structurally speaking, it's better to use one long length of wire wrapped around the entire run, rather than several smaller pieces one per side. Each end side of the wire is a potential point of failure.
* If you use wood which has been protected from direct contact with moisture, but still stored outside in the Pacific Northwest for 20 years, it will be rotten and fall apart after you have spent all that time cutting and fastening it into a frame.
* Always buy screws the same diameter, or you'll spend half your project time swapping the bits on your electric drill.
* The cull bin at Home Depot is your friend.
* The jigsaw is scary. Even people with carpentry experience think so.
* Surprisingly, the circular saw is not scary.
* YOU think a gap where the walls meet the floor is a great way to add a bit of ventilation. Your chickens think it's awesome to kick all their bedding out into the yard. And into your hair, when you're trying to unlock the door first thing in the morning.
* You may wonder why you've never seen a chicken tractor design where the coop sits atop the run, and the chickens use a hole in the floor as a door. It seems perfectly reasonable to you! After you build the whole thing, you will discover that this is because chickens do not like to use a hole in the floor as a door. A fact which is perfectly obvious to anyone who's had more than "petting zoo" experience with chickens.
* The same goes for any other coop feature. If you've never seen anyone do it before, and you've browsed thousands of coop and chicken tractor designs over the last few months, there is probably a good reason for that.
* When in doubt, ask! Everyone here is great! e.g. if I had posted a month ago that "I'm thinking about making my chickens go in and out of the coop through a hole in the floor, but I notice that no other design incorporates this feature - do you think it will be okay?" it would have saved me a lot of trouble.
* If you foolishly go ahead with your hole-in-the-floor plan, make it so that the door swings upward (into the coop), and make the door slightly larger than the hole. If the door is the same size as the hole, and it's hung so that it swings downward, when the chickens go into the coop to roost and you shut the door, they will all gather atop it and jump up and down and break it and fall into the coop, and you will have to race the rapidly-setting sun to execute a last-minute repair.
* If you're going to paint the inside of the coop, or add a layer of linoleum flooring, do this before you move the chickens into the coop. I'm planning to clean out the coop and then paint/add linoleum. But let's be honest - that's never going to happen.
I think I have to stop now... so many bad memories... so much learned over the last two months... I think I need a lie-down!
Quote:
Oh yeah! Just to follow up on my post from a few days ago:
* Don't use a flimsy black plastic seedling tray as a poop board. The chickens will try to hop onto the edge, and flip it up, and fling poop everywhere, and scare the dickens out of themselves in the process.
Oh yeah! Just to follow up on my post from a few days ago:
* Don't use a flimsy black plastic seedling tray as a poop board. The chickens will try to hop onto the edge, and flip it up, and fling poop everywhere, and scare the dickens out of themselves in the process.
dont make it to small.
i saw the whole-in-the-floor coop somewhere. my thought was "if i go to open the door and they're standing on top, they could get hurt- i dont think i ll do that" but lol, i didnt even think about 'should it swing up or down'
it also did Not occur to me that the way i want mine, i would have to go into the run to open the coop door. i ve been looking at all these coops thinking "why would you need an automatic opener?" hmmm.... i ( and dh who will be doing the building) am so greatful i read this before building. LOL. ... esp about the seedling tray, i have lots of those around!
it also did Not occur to me that the way i want mine, i would have to go into the run to open the coop door. i ve been looking at all these coops thinking "why would you need an automatic opener?" hmmm.... i ( and dh who will be doing the building) am so greatful i read this before building. LOL. ... esp about the seedling tray, i have lots of those around!
Hint: Build your coop to keep out your local wildlife. This can mean very different construction in different parts of the world. Up here in the mountains of Colorado in the Wild West I'm in a war zone trying to raise chickens. With too low of a fence the coyotes or wolves get them. I finally split them up into several small groups and last fall a bear got my big group of 35 chickens and ate 31 in one sitting! Just last week I had a bear tear off a door on my barn (15 nails and 3 wood screws) and ate my four best layers. And just last night a bear tried to get my last 10 chickens and was stopped by my chain link panels (panels on the sides and top). Oh yea, and several weeks ago I had them running in an open top double chain link fence and a hawk swooped down and killed one, sat on it all week and ate it when the chickens were alone. I've ordered 25 new chicks that are supposed to arrive next week and will once again try to keep these chicks alive.
Now I'm in the process of building a 100% bear proof chicken coop with six by six beams on all four corners and three inch boards (cut on my sawmill) bolted on the walls. I also have trained my 200 pound dog to run with the chickens and chase away preditors during the day. During the night when the bears and mountain lions come out I plan on putting them in the bear proof chicken coop. Here's a few shots of my setup so far. All of the wood was cut on my sawmill except the main supports for the rafters which were recycled treated 2x6 boards. I'm still in the process of cutting boards (beams) for the walls. The chickens live in a 0.45 acre horse arena, plenty of room to free range!
Now I'm in the process of building a 100% bear proof chicken coop with six by six beams on all four corners and three inch boards (cut on my sawmill) bolted on the walls. I also have trained my 200 pound dog to run with the chickens and chase away preditors during the day. During the night when the bears and mountain lions come out I plan on putting them in the bear proof chicken coop. Here's a few shots of my setup so far. All of the wood was cut on my sawmill except the main supports for the rafters which were recycled treated 2x6 boards. I'm still in the process of cutting boards (beams) for the walls. The chickens live in a 0.45 acre horse arena, plenty of room to free range!
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Hey cchardwick............aren't you worried about your coop and/or dog blowing away in a strong wind?
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