This is my new pen that will be used for the chicks I hatched in early December and on New Year's Day.
I started by forming a square base out of 4"x4"x10' treated posts... which equals roughly 100 square feet of run.
Since the roof will be fairly light, I ripped treated 2"x4"s to form the wall studs. Birdsmouth rafters and slats are spaced at 30" centers.
It was a little wobbly, but adding upper corner braces, lower "V" braces, and plywood on the rear made it plenty strong.
Elevated coop will maximize floor space. The coop has slots in the floor (to install 2 partitions) to create 3 smaller coops. Adding two divider walls in the run will create 3 separate breeding pens with individual coops. This should be sufficient for 4 large fowl (1 roo and 3 hens) per pen.
With the wire hung.
Door built and installed.
Two of the doors and (internal/vertical) sliding pop doors installed. These will be operated on a pulley system. Pop door on right halfway opened, and board propped up in front of left pop door to simulate ramp:
The metal washer to the right of the front door operates the pop door on the coop, which gets closed every night. I also added a larger, homemade 5 gallon water container with horizontal poultry nipples (right side). I've culled all the roosters except for one, so there's plenty of space for 7 birds. A couple of the BR pullets have started laying, so I added a couple of nesting boxes to the rear of the coop.
I started by forming a square base out of 4"x4"x10' treated posts... which equals roughly 100 square feet of run.
Since the roof will be fairly light, I ripped treated 2"x4"s to form the wall studs. Birdsmouth rafters and slats are spaced at 30" centers.
It was a little wobbly, but adding upper corner braces, lower "V" braces, and plywood on the rear made it plenty strong.
Elevated coop will maximize floor space. The coop has slots in the floor (to install 2 partitions) to create 3 smaller coops. Adding two divider walls in the run will create 3 separate breeding pens with individual coops. This should be sufficient for 4 large fowl (1 roo and 3 hens) per pen.
With the wire hung.
Door built and installed.
Two of the doors and (internal/vertical) sliding pop doors installed. These will be operated on a pulley system. Pop door on right halfway opened, and board propped up in front of left pop door to simulate ramp:
The metal washer to the right of the front door operates the pop door on the coop, which gets closed every night. I also added a larger, homemade 5 gallon water container with horizontal poultry nipples (right side). I've culled all the roosters except for one, so there's plenty of space for 7 birds. A couple of the BR pullets have started laying, so I added a couple of nesting boxes to the rear of the coop.
