From start to…well, almost finished
Luckily, Jason did most of the work. Sheila and I helped.
Most of the plans came from a book entitled “Build it Better Yourself” by Organic Gardening Magazine. Jason took the plans for a small chicken coop and run from the book and modified small things. The idea was to make it small enough and light enough to move once a week—HAH!
Furring strips were used instead of 2X4’s, and we tried to minimize the amount of framing, but it is still TOO HEAVY! The addition of two wheels is planned.
The coop is 4’ by 6’ and 6’ tall on the left and 5’ on the right.
The attached run is 6’ by 6’ and roughly 26” tall.
With four nesting boxes, this should hold 15 birds. Right now, we have 10 birds.The attached run is 6’ by 6’ and roughly 26” tall.
Nesting boxes
Pictured above are our birds’ nesting facilities. The upper two were made from scrap lumber (from Jason’s bedroom, in fact), and they are nice because all you have to do is open the left door of the coop, and gather the eggs.
On the floor of the coop, you see what the birds usually lay their eggs in, nothing more than kitty litter containers set on their sides!
I plan to build two more boxes and put them directly above the others to make life easier for us.
Depending who you read, we may not have enough room for more birds, but I think with additional nest boxes, roost area, and letting them into the run every day, we’ll be fine. I plan on building a watering stand with block heater, and maybe get away from leaving the shop light on for them on a timer.
One of the coolest design features of Jason’s coop is the door to the run. It’s tied by a wire through the top of the run. So there is no excuse for not letting the girls out every morning. We also let them free range whenever possible.
These are the very low-tech doors. The extra metal from our roof (and a friend’s roof) is very flimsy when it does not have a frame around it or screwed in place, so I have to use the cinder block doorstop to keep them from being ripped off their hinges on windy days that we want to free our girls.
So, what are you waiting for? If we can do it, anybody can!
