Campos de la Gracia
Chicken Coop
So, it's not the prettiest but it works. And it was almost free, my parents would disagree with that.
It was an old shed on the property when we bought our place. I think the guy used it as a junk shed honestly.
It took me forever! to clean that thing. The stuff that was in there was amazing. Like grouting for ceraminc tile??? There wasn't even ceramic tile in their house??!! Old doors, paint that had been dried for years, a hitch, uh, you name it they had it.
So enough complaining. It's taken us several years to get the coop looking this good. And of course quite a bit of begging from me for my Dad to help me. I'm no good with power tools. Or wood.
This is the front of the coop, not the prettiest but we have no idea how long it's been there.
And here is the entrance. It's an old mobile home screen door. We use a chain and a bar so that nothing can just open the door.
And their little run. Yes, those are pipe covers. We were just starting and our neighbour gave them to us. So free feeders!!
This is one of my biddie cages. I usually use it for sick or injured chickens. I've had quite a few broody hens in there as well. It was actually a rabbit cage, but Mom fed the rabbit corn everyday so it was like 20 lbs. I let it go, and now use it as a chicken cage as needed.
This is the inside of the cage, you can just make out the little cubby hole in there with a laying box. Though I prefer to use a small plastic dog cage, it keeps the biddies in once they hatch. One of my biddies kept falling out the box and the mom wouldn't help her so she froze to death. The mom decided to sit in the middle of winter. I don't know. She was strange.
This is the inside, or part of it. These are some of their roosts. We used some old wooden broom handles the guy had lying around. All that work and they hardly use them.
Some more roosts. The ones they actually use. In the front is the main roost. It's simply a 2x4 nailed on top of two landscaping timbers, that are in turn nailed to the floor. Yea, Dad did it so it's not going anywhere.
And here is the fan that I use in the summer. It's positioned rather well. The door is right there, so fresh air is always coming in and it's tilted a little so it blows into the rest of the chicken coop, creating an almost natural breeze continually. It stays on at night as well, to keep all the mosquitos and nats from breeding in the laying boxes and biting my kids.
Here are our marvelous laying boxes. Before we had an old metal cabinet that they were using and after much begging I finally got Dad to help me put these together. There were already 2 shelves there all we had to do was "close" them in. We used plywood and some flimsy something or other for the front so that the hay wouldn't fall out.
And last but not least, the biddie cages. It's one very long cage divided into three by two slits in the top and sheets of plywood inserted as dividers. The top is also plywood, and the bottom is rabbit wire. It's built so nothing can get in, or out. The cage on the left is my best broody hen cage. It's closed in slightly by the edge of the laying boxes which makes them feel more secure. The middle cage is the largest, with the two smaller cages on the sides. It can be opened up so that it is one massive cage. I had 20 biddies in it this spring and it held up wonderfully. And was plenty big enough, they even flew around in it. I was able to put a heating pad in the cage (wrapped in a towel) and a heating lamp hanging from the ceiling of the coop. They stayed warm enough, and no one suffocated or got shocked to death.
So no, it's not the prettiest, but the kids love it and it keeps them dry yet it's airy enough to stay fresh and clean. The coop itself can be closed off from the run and vice versa. I don't use any bedding I just sweep the coop at least once a week and come back with a shovel to scrape off anything I couldn't get with the broom. It's fairly effective and stays warm in winter and cool in summer. I also use a dog waterer instead of a chicken waterer. They go through water down here in the south. It's one of those Kentwood bottle looking things. I think it's 2 or 3 gallons and stays cleaner than anything else I've tried so far.
Well I hope this helped someone.
Chicken Coop
So, it's not the prettiest but it works. And it was almost free, my parents would disagree with that.
It was an old shed on the property when we bought our place. I think the guy used it as a junk shed honestly.
It took me forever! to clean that thing. The stuff that was in there was amazing. Like grouting for ceraminc tile??? There wasn't even ceramic tile in their house??!! Old doors, paint that had been dried for years, a hitch, uh, you name it they had it.
So enough complaining. It's taken us several years to get the coop looking this good. And of course quite a bit of begging from me for my Dad to help me. I'm no good with power tools. Or wood.
This is the front of the coop, not the prettiest but we have no idea how long it's been there.
And here is the entrance. It's an old mobile home screen door. We use a chain and a bar so that nothing can just open the door.
And their little run. Yes, those are pipe covers. We were just starting and our neighbour gave them to us. So free feeders!!
This is one of my biddie cages. I usually use it for sick or injured chickens. I've had quite a few broody hens in there as well. It was actually a rabbit cage, but Mom fed the rabbit corn everyday so it was like 20 lbs. I let it go, and now use it as a chicken cage as needed.
This is the inside of the cage, you can just make out the little cubby hole in there with a laying box. Though I prefer to use a small plastic dog cage, it keeps the biddies in once they hatch. One of my biddies kept falling out the box and the mom wouldn't help her so she froze to death. The mom decided to sit in the middle of winter. I don't know. She was strange.
This is the inside, or part of it. These are some of their roosts. We used some old wooden broom handles the guy had lying around. All that work and they hardly use them.
Some more roosts. The ones they actually use. In the front is the main roost. It's simply a 2x4 nailed on top of two landscaping timbers, that are in turn nailed to the floor. Yea, Dad did it so it's not going anywhere.
And here is the fan that I use in the summer. It's positioned rather well. The door is right there, so fresh air is always coming in and it's tilted a little so it blows into the rest of the chicken coop, creating an almost natural breeze continually. It stays on at night as well, to keep all the mosquitos and nats from breeding in the laying boxes and biting my kids.
Here are our marvelous laying boxes. Before we had an old metal cabinet that they were using and after much begging I finally got Dad to help me put these together. There were already 2 shelves there all we had to do was "close" them in. We used plywood and some flimsy something or other for the front so that the hay wouldn't fall out.
And last but not least, the biddie cages. It's one very long cage divided into three by two slits in the top and sheets of plywood inserted as dividers. The top is also plywood, and the bottom is rabbit wire. It's built so nothing can get in, or out. The cage on the left is my best broody hen cage. It's closed in slightly by the edge of the laying boxes which makes them feel more secure. The middle cage is the largest, with the two smaller cages on the sides. It can be opened up so that it is one massive cage. I had 20 biddies in it this spring and it held up wonderfully. And was plenty big enough, they even flew around in it. I was able to put a heating pad in the cage (wrapped in a towel) and a heating lamp hanging from the ceiling of the coop. They stayed warm enough, and no one suffocated or got shocked to death.
So no, it's not the prettiest, but the kids love it and it keeps them dry yet it's airy enough to stay fresh and clean. The coop itself can be closed off from the run and vice versa. I don't use any bedding I just sweep the coop at least once a week and come back with a shovel to scrape off anything I couldn't get with the broom. It's fairly effective and stays warm in winter and cool in summer. I also use a dog waterer instead of a chicken waterer. They go through water down here in the south. It's one of those Kentwood bottle looking things. I think it's 2 or 3 gallons and stays cleaner than anything else I've tried so far.
Well I hope this helped someone.
