Things you've learned while building your coop...

[bad_coffee]

Three things I've learned from this thread that will be put in my coop:

Leave a slot (level with the nest box floor,) under the nest box opening so I can just sweep the mess into the coop. Brilliant and easy solution. Easy cleanup is key.

Don't build a 3'x4' coop in the backyard, when the access door is only 30" wide. I'm going to have to build panels and bolt them together outside.

Since my coop is gonna be small (for now, you're all telling me,) I'm going to use shower panels for the inside rather than flake board. Being able to hose down the walls will make for quick clean up. Plus, since the coop is going to be small, it won't add much to the cost. (what budget?)

Okay, so there's about five things I've learned. Actually just make that five thousand things I've learned.

B

 

[pamiejune]

Love all these posts - I am STILL working on my coop, with the occasional help from my BF - we had an early winter and ran out of time...

Re: the concrete piers for your coop base - YES - do NOT place your posts directly in the concrete. When we built our deck onto our house almost 20 years ago out of PT wood, we were counseled to pour the concrete in the Sono tubes, let it set, then attach a galvanized post bracket into the concrete. The post attaches into this bracket, elevating it a bit off the concrete as well. The wood is as good as it was when we installed it! Well worth the extra step. On an aside, check to see if you have a ReStore near you - it's a store of cast-offs, extras, overruns, slightly-damaged goods that are donated by retailers and then sold to benefit Habitat For Humanity. Folks have told me that you can get all kinds of building stuff there, including pieces of vinyl flooring which is what I'm in the market for and didn't know where I was going to get it on the cheap. I'm lining my coop floor and running it up the sides a bit (to avoid crevices that will trap goo) as well as tacking it over the insulation to prevent the girls from dismantling the walls and to also make it easy to clean the walls. Trust me, I know when to listen to the voices of experience and you folks have prevented me from making many errors of design and construction! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!

Pam in NH, waiting for more snow...

Oh, yeah - P.S. - the fake eggs and feeding of oyster shell grit has stopped the egg-eating!!!

 

[Kismet]

Quote:
I got my vinyl at Ocean State Job Lot for the same reason - cheap. But, if I had to do it again, I think I'd splurge and get a roll (although I have not priced it). The problem I had was that my pieces were 6 x 9 feet and had to be pieced. I put vinyl on the floor and the walls (to hold in insulation and for ease of cleaning). I taped over the seams with tape that is supposed to be good to 10 below. We'll see. I am concerned that the seams in the patchwork effect (albeit attractive) may start to undo and create new problems.

 

[pamiejune]

That's a good point - I thought it would be best to have as few seams as possible and the ones I did, I would seal them with an outdoor-rated silicone adhesive something-or-other - gotta do some research on that one, cuz like you, I want it to hold up.

 

[JulieZ]

Do not argue with the husband when he buries the outside fencing 3 feet deep so the coons will have to dig to China if they want to get to the chickens. Even our dog has broke a nail trying. : )

 

[kyoko900]

we used outside rated silicone caulk for our cracks.

one thing i've learned.
Don't build the run (if your coop is inside the run) then let the chickens stay in it while your build the coop. The run will get so muddy that you step inside holding a heavy wall frame and you sink into the mud. You also slide, I wish i knew how to skate because i would have got somewhere faster that way.

Also it's alot of worrying your father with bad balance will fall on a chicken.

Do bring the vinyl or plastic up the wall, so much easier to clean.

 

[crzychickenlady]

Pay attention to what you are doing and your surrounding...I think I hit my head countless times working on mine......Go to stand up in a coop that is 4 foot tall and you are 5'7".
I even cut my head open on the roofing panels while I was working on the door....I think I have brain damage now.....
Hey....That's a good excuse to have more chickens right?!

 

[pamiejune]

You guys are too funny! I took everyone's mistakes and advice in this forum and designed a coop pretty much around that.

I found my vinyl floor piece (huge) for $5 (!!) at my local ReStore, a resale shop run by Habitat for Humanity - you can find just about ANYthing in there, most of it fairly priced.

Another piece of advice I would add is to build your coop exactly where (and preferably level) it's going to be situated - I built mine where it was handy to electricity and me, then moved it onto the cinder blocks which I quickly realized were not leveled the same as the ground where I had been building the coop. All the removable, openable doors do not fit properly and I will have to move the inside bracing, or play around with the leveling to make the panels fit - the back panel (whole back opens up for cleaning - I can get this one closed and latched by leaning on it), the roof, and even the lid to the nesting boxes! They're off only by a little bit, but enough that it will let in too much cold air in the winter.

I laughed when I read the posts about having an extra pair of hands - I prefer to work alone because my building buddy used to make finely-crafted speaker cabinets for Snell and he was WAY too meticulous helping with this coop! In the time he took to attach 4 pieces of strapping around each of the two little metal-framed windows (so I could attach them to the coop) I had cut plywood to size, did the cutouts, added vents, and installed the two ends of my coop! My oft-repeated line was "This is NOT a fine piece of furniture!!"

Said lovingly, of course...

Whenever I needed another pair of hands, I'd yell for my teenaged son, who would grudgingly tear himself away from his computer and hold a panel or whatever couldn't be held in place with clamps. (I got a nice bag of assorted clamps for $20 at Lowe's that really helped in many ways - one important way was holding on the tarps I used to protect this coop through all the bad weather while I was building it.)

That $20 brings up another point - DON'T - unless you REALLY have to - add up what it cost to build your coop - as I purchased each item along the way, my mental calculator reached a point where I didn't want to know what the total was, so I stopped paying attention to it! A friend stopped by the other day, saw my coop, and noted that it was better constructed than the mobile home he'd been living in...

 

[Hillsvale]

Quote:

Haha... I am guessing around 2,000! including the underground electrics (I did them though), though I do have the 8x10 foot area by the pop door I want to cover to stop some of the snow from building up and the irls can go out in the snow. I have had people comment that its lke a little cottage... I did copy from a picture of the playhouse I saw online!

and will be worth every cent once these girls stop being freeloaders and start giving me eggs! plus the winter drama will be down to a minimum now

Shelley

 

[crazyhen]

No one has mentioned siting the coop. Mine gets too much shade in the mornings and full hot sun in the eve. I wish I had put it in the site for morning sun and eve. shade. With more light the chickens will lay longer in winter without extra light. They wake up earlier. Go to bed earlier. Gloria Jean