Started out in March by purchasing the Garden Coop plans @ the same time as our 1st batch of chicks knowing that we had absolutely zero construction skills, an 8x20 area to work with, and a temporary coop to ease the pressure. I am extremely pleased with how well my husband has taken all of my vague, and ever changing, suggestions to build me a fabulous, low maintenance coop for our chicks.
Once the big girls moved into the Beach Shack (just in time to get the brooder out of my laundry room) we moved the temporary coop down to the far end and divided the run for our 2nd round of chicks until they are old enough for layer feed and to hopefully ease flock integration.
We recycled and combined all of my old raised beds (2 new raised garden beds 8x12 each built in front of coop, pavers for muddy paths will come later) stacking the 4x4 timbers 2 high forming an 8x20 base foundation that we framed the run & secured the fencing on. So far this has held up well against our #1 predator concern, our boxer. The base was filled with pea gravel for drainage (recycled from our old pathways) then many wheelbarrows of sand. The raised platform is an 8x4 section with just over 6x4 used for the coop. The back edge of the platform is 20" and is where we have our auto food/water buckets feeding down to the run. Though only the Chicken Fountain is up and flowing, we have all the PVC to make the feeder now. It has also become a bit of a messy storage area pending a deck box or small shed for shavings, meal worms, grit, DE and ACV....which is why there are no photos.
Both the poop board and the main coop floor have a full sheet of plastic shower wall paneling glued down with a layer of sand on coop floor. There are human access doors both outside the run and inside and 2 full size doors to the run, currently 1 for each section. The window was from a salvage site. There are 6 vents, though I am still concerned we need more even though the girls don't spend much time inside. Siding is old and new fence slats, 60 of them painted 5 different shades & cut to different widths. Even with reusing some materials that we had on hand, I don't want to discuss how much this project has cost! I am just thankful it was done with semi-weekly trips to the lumber store over the course of almost 5 months so far to ease the pain and prevent sticker shock.
We still have to side the wall inside the run and I am working on creative ideas to finish the exterior of the nesting boxes, leaning towards some sort of seashell mosaic instead of a simple paint job or siding. Somewhere along the line this turned into a beach shack for my beach chicks, I think it was when I was hauling all that sand? There are glass flip flop decorations, a bronze sun and our grit/shell containers are margarita glasses secured to one of the 4x4 timbers inside the run...and yes, at night there are strings of solar powered twinkling lights strung up along the rafters of the run portion that look like stars.
Almost complete
Some of my beach decorations for my Chicks
Once the big girls moved into the Beach Shack (just in time to get the brooder out of my laundry room) we moved the temporary coop down to the far end and divided the run for our 2nd round of chicks until they are old enough for layer feed and to hopefully ease flock integration.
We recycled and combined all of my old raised beds (2 new raised garden beds 8x12 each built in front of coop, pavers for muddy paths will come later) stacking the 4x4 timbers 2 high forming an 8x20 base foundation that we framed the run & secured the fencing on. So far this has held up well against our #1 predator concern, our boxer. The base was filled with pea gravel for drainage (recycled from our old pathways) then many wheelbarrows of sand. The raised platform is an 8x4 section with just over 6x4 used for the coop. The back edge of the platform is 20" and is where we have our auto food/water buckets feeding down to the run. Though only the Chicken Fountain is up and flowing, we have all the PVC to make the feeder now. It has also become a bit of a messy storage area pending a deck box or small shed for shavings, meal worms, grit, DE and ACV....which is why there are no photos.
Both the poop board and the main coop floor have a full sheet of plastic shower wall paneling glued down with a layer of sand on coop floor. There are human access doors both outside the run and inside and 2 full size doors to the run, currently 1 for each section. The window was from a salvage site. There are 6 vents, though I am still concerned we need more even though the girls don't spend much time inside. Siding is old and new fence slats, 60 of them painted 5 different shades & cut to different widths. Even with reusing some materials that we had on hand, I don't want to discuss how much this project has cost! I am just thankful it was done with semi-weekly trips to the lumber store over the course of almost 5 months so far to ease the pain and prevent sticker shock.
We still have to side the wall inside the run and I am working on creative ideas to finish the exterior of the nesting boxes, leaning towards some sort of seashell mosaic instead of a simple paint job or siding. Somewhere along the line this turned into a beach shack for my beach chicks, I think it was when I was hauling all that sand? There are glass flip flop decorations, a bronze sun and our grit/shell containers are margarita glasses secured to one of the 4x4 timbers inside the run...and yes, at night there are strings of solar powered twinkling lights strung up along the rafters of the run portion that look like stars.
Almost complete
Some of my beach decorations for my Chicks
