My husband spent all spring making this coop for me & the girls. This was his first time framing something out. We looked at many different designs online & picked features we liked from all of them. We live in the city with a small backyard so our space was limited. The run is 4' x 12 with a 4' x 4' interior coop. The chicks get out a few hours a day to free range. The hatch door is on a pulley for easy opening from the outside. We used construction grade sand for the run & coop (mixed with sweet PDZ), there is very little rain here. So far it is super easy to clean the coop out, just a 5 min scoop job each morning. The run is a little more difficult to scoop clean, I'm testing out different modified rakes. We made a little perch in the run & added a few wood stumps for the girls to rest on. For watering I have a 2.5 gallon bucket with 4 horiz nipples. We made a feeder out fo PVC but its not working so great, so we need to go back to the drawing board for that. Finally we used chalkboard paint for the front so our kids could draw on it & keep egg tally.
Your DH did a good job, especially considering this was his first time! It would be helpful to see more detail on the build. Thanks for sharing your coop!
The pics of this coop are beautiful! It has a clean, simple style and a really child friendly touch ... chalkboard paint for decorating the outside! What this posting could use is some good explanations on the Whats, the Whys and the Hows of the build. There's a lot of potential, here, and I would love to see it fulfilled!
Its fun to see 1st time builders making nice coops and runs. This shows a lot of learning going on. Good job. Didnt show all sides of coop but looks like more ventilation may be needed. The girls seem to have a guard watching out for them.
Its fun to see 1st time builders making nice coops and runs. This shows a lot of learning going on. Good job. Didnt show all sides of coop but looks like more ventilation may be needed. The girls seem to have a guard watching out for them.
Thanks! My husband & kids had a great time building our coop. We have a total of 12 of the ventilation holes in the coop. Thinking of adding 2 more on the chalk board panel above the roost bar. And yes, our pit bull/lab mutt has been a great protector. She's been so sweet & gentle around them when they free range.
I really like this coop! And I LOVE the chalk board paint idea. Adding the descriptions, some how-tos and why-fors to your article, REALLY helps. Better yet, it shows everybody that, despite the intimidation factor of starting a project this big, it turns out great! For the rake, have you tried adding some hardware cloth to a small pitchfork? It's an inexpensive fix that works a lot like a kitty litter scoop... and saves a lot of wear and tear on your back!
