The Chicken Castle
So after a winter of hmmmm'ing and hawwwwwi'ing reading and planning i finally settled on a coop idea.
So It got made into a frame.
Coop is going to be 4x6. Run is 4x6. The nesting box off the end is 2' long. Height is 6' plus the roof
It's being insulated. we'll work ventilation in to the front wall, and ummmm not sure where else yet LOL they will be able to go under the coop when in the run as well
Obviously that's a poodle not a chicken
All done- we boarded the bottom of the run so the dogs can't see straight in at the chickens (although now there is a fence keeping them away and the small chicken eating dog has moved on)
So after a winter of hmmmm'ing and hawwwwwi'ing reading and planning i finally settled on a coop idea.
So It got made into a frame.
Coop is going to be 4x6. Run is 4x6. The nesting box off the end is 2' long. Height is 6' plus the roof
It's being insulated. we'll work ventilation in to the front wall, and ummmm not sure where else yet LOL they will be able to go under the coop when in the run as well
Obviously that's a poodle not a chicken
All done- we boarded the bottom of the run so the dogs can't see straight in at the chickens (although now there is a fence keeping them away and the small chicken eating dog has moved on)
Our First Winter:
We're now well into our first winter and so farthe coop is doing great. The plexi glass door is out and a insulated door in place once we hit temps into the -20C range. when hovering around zero we kept the door open. We installeda light socket and have a 40w bulb in it (incandescent) and a heated water bowl in place. Birds are happy as clams and we have no additional heat. Now that the birds are locked into the coop the light is on for about 12hours a day we are getting a good amount of eggs. The birds seem to be more then warm enough happily running around in the coop and roosting. Only issue we've had is our heated water bowl (Dog bowl) is a few times the girls have gotten their head feathers wet.
My complaints on this coop/run so far is this:
- My arms are too short. Which means i have to stand on something to reach across to the back corner of the coop- or from the front doors into the run
- if the chickens run under the coop it's hard to get at them- you can go outside and get into the bottom doors- but then they run out into the run- go back into the run and back under the coop they go. bit of a pain. if the coop was smaller or my arms bigger this wouldn't be an issue.
- There isn't any light coming into the coop- the ventilation holes are under the roof of the run- and so very very little light comes in- this will be an issue come winter. And the chickens seem to not be comfortable in the coop unless we put a night light in there. I don't want to put windows in as i'm worried it will take away too much of the insulation. We have solved thisissue for winter by installing a plug in light fixture and a 40w bulb. Birds are busy producing lots of eggs.
