Here is our coop that my crafty husband built. We currently have 6 girls, about 4 weeks old. They spent their first night in it last night and seem to love it.
We wanted it tall enough to walk into so we can get in and out of easily. We live in Southwest Florida, so we needed to consider all the predators that might try to get in.
He dug a trench all around the base and put bricks in to prevent critters from being able to dig underneath.
We wrapped the sides with hardware cloth, this has pretty small holes so there isn't too many things that should be able to get in.
We found some branches and placed them inside the coop for the girls to roost on. Right now we have the nest boxes blocked until they are big enough to lay eggs. We have some venting on the side as well as some more vent holes on another side, to allow plenty of air to flow through.
We put 2 little windows right above the box. We put shingles on the lid of the nesting box to give more protection from all the rain. After doing that, the lid became a bit heavy, so you will see a stick attached to help us keep the lid up when getting the eggs.
Here is the door to get in to the run area. Our daughter just loves watching the chickens.
If anyone has any questions let us know! Today is day 2 for our girls in their coop!
We wanted it tall enough to walk into so we can get in and out of easily. We live in Southwest Florida, so we needed to consider all the predators that might try to get in.
He dug a trench all around the base and put bricks in to prevent critters from being able to dig underneath.
We wrapped the sides with hardware cloth, this has pretty small holes so there isn't too many things that should be able to get in.
We found some branches and placed them inside the coop for the girls to roost on. Right now we have the nest boxes blocked until they are big enough to lay eggs. We have some venting on the side as well as some more vent holes on another side, to allow plenty of air to flow through.
We put 2 little windows right above the box. We put shingles on the lid of the nesting box to give more protection from all the rain. After doing that, the lid became a bit heavy, so you will see a stick attached to help us keep the lid up when getting the eggs.
Here is the door to get in to the run area. Our daughter just loves watching the chickens.
If anyone has any questions let us know! Today is day 2 for our girls in their coop!
