Much of the heavy structural post and beam work happened during the wonderful sub zero New England winter....glad thats done.
Inside, the coop walls and floor are lined with linoleum, which makes cleaning fast and prevents moisture damage (as does the pitched venting system). I built a full sized communal roll away nesting box. The coop has an 8" deep litter system with removable threshold. Double (person) sized doors on the coop makes cleaning easy. Those doors also have built in windows as well as insulated removable panels that act as predator proof "screen doors" in warm weather.
The run also has separate zones for dust bathing, brooding, and gardens (more about that in a sec.), which keeps things organized and sanitary. The dust bath area stays dry under the covered run roof. I built in site drainage under the run and it has a 24" deep bed of composted wood chips...so ZERO mud ever! The run also has double doors with awning. They are wide enough to push a full sized wheel barrow into the run (via the ramp). The doors are actually, dutch doors, this allows me to check in on my flock by just popping open the top of one door...i.e. "treat time"!
One of my (and my flocks) favorite features is the salad bar system inside the run. It’s built like a set of 7 garden cold frames with angled clear polycarbonate panels that let in light while keeping soil killing droppings out. Each frame (one for each day of the week) holds a deep bed of soil and compost, planted with fast-growing greens like clover and barley and legumes. The panels lift open for grazing and close to allow regrowth, giving the flock safe, clean forage throughout the year. There is also a garden bed that grows the length of the run on the outside. It is filled with plants that they can eat through the hardware cloth.
Oh and yes I HAD to draw up plans in order to pull this project off! I've included some images of the construction process below.
I love it. Nothing I would change...just a lot more stuff I will add.
