STARDUST CHICKEN COOP

After weeks and weeks of trying to get my dad to build us a chicken coop, insisting we needed it because putting them in a pen every day was not cutting it and they could lay eggs any day... my dad started working on it! We got ideas for the main build from tiamo and the coop they built. So, thank you tiamo for sharing your coop designs! :) They were quite helpful, but we definitely are doing our own thing...

(By the way, currently we have 7 hens, 3 roosters. At least one rooster is going back to the farm we got him from, and hopefully we can get another hen.)

Start:

08/03/13!

The base was pretty much finished when my mom and I got home from doing some running.
We were shocked! We had no idea my dad was going to start it that day. It's 8x12.


But then I tried to help move it and fell flat on my face. Ended up bruising my forehead, bridge of my nose, my wrist/forearm, and knee, as well as the fact my left shoulder is heaps sore and so is my right ring finger. It was really stupid and really embarrassing!

We finished for that night and my Golden Comet, Olive, laid a shell-less egg- her first egg! (I watched her do it, and when I picked it up, it was warm! So odd, I'm used to cold eggs, haha!) I had a feeling at least one of them was going to lay before we got the big-chicken coop finished.


(This is Olive.)


The next day...
08/04/13!

My dad (in the red) and his employee (like family), Ryan, putting together the wall that will have a window and door.


Putting it up! (My dad had a lot of fun with the nail gun.. haha. He's a kid at heart.)


Back wall up! Ryan is measuring the door hole again, just double-checking!


Third wall up! That is the wall that will have the chicken door into the run.


Fourth wall! This one will have a window as well.


Then they put the other parts of the walls up.

My dad kept standing back, looking at it with his arms folded, going, "This is ridiculous." He's not as into the chickens as I am so he's completely horrified that we're spoiling our chickens so much. I'm grateful to have my dad making this <3

Then, the next morning... another egg was laid! This time it had a shell! I can't wait until the coop is finished.



And more progress as been made!
08/13/13!



















It rained a lot today. I was in charge of handing them nails, hammer, and 2x4s.

Hopefully this will be updated again sooner rather than later.

And more progress as been made!

??/??/13 - 11/29/13!

The coop was moved to the spot it will stay!

Got the shingles and vents done!

Door and windows in!! Insulation too!

And here it is as of 11/29, siding is mostly done!! Lookin' nice, yeah??



We are working on it today too. 11/30!

OKAY. IT'S BEEN A LONG TIME, HASN'T IT? Ugh.
My dad is a landscaper and plows snow in the winter, so he's been really busy.
So! New update finally!


3/16/14!

Finally it's being worked on again, my egg-layer flock and silkie rooster should be able to go in soon.
The insulation and drywall have been put in, electricity I think is working. Plastic walls are in. Will be painted soon. Caulked too I think. Nesting boxes are done and I helped! Here's some inside pics!



3/19/14!

The egg-layers, plus Albedo the silkie rooster are all now in the coop!! They have ignored both the nesting boxes and roost so far, but hopefully they will gain some confidence soon! They're very nervous and easily startled but they're getting more used to it!

The mini silkie flock (one rooster, two hens for now) is now where the egg-layers used to be and they are loving the extra space! The wall in the middle of the coop will be built sometime later so the silkies can go in there too but be separated from the mean egg-layin' flock :p




2023 UPDATE!

Unfortunately our last flock never got to experience the fully finished coop. We let it sit for quite a few years and mice took it over, so there is some damage, but nothing too bad. The coop was cleaned (power washer) last year and we got new chickens! Currently we have 6 hens and 2 roosters, but have 19 chicks that we hatched in the brooder right now.

This is not a final product- we plan to re-do the pen to have a roof (wire, and a solid roof on at least half), with more support before next winter. The mesh on top was weighed down by the snow/ice storms Michigan had, which destroyed our whole pen twice. This is when it was first done... there is no grass left in the pen now, we plan to fill it with sand, add a sand box under the roost we're thinking. Going to keep the wall separation just so we can introduce new chicks easier.


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Will update again in the future! I always follow through, even if it takes me about 10 years haha

Here's the pen recently. As you can see, the chickens have eaten all of the grass and we are going to likely make it sand later.

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We want to re-do the whole pen. But until then, it looks like this.
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