- Apr 15, 2011
- 310
- 6
- 111
Hello BYC,
we have been studying the forum for months now and took all the great suggestions and built our own coop. It took alot longer than expected for my husband as he did all the work himself in small intervals while he was off work, etc. We were able to use re-claimed wood from a fence we took down and rebuilt. We put hardware cloth under the run as well as around the run/coop.
The coop is 5 x 4 feett and the run is 5 x 11 feet. The highest point is about 6 feet tall.
We have a large door to the coop to change the water/feeder and clean the coop.
We also have a pop door that we can open and close from outside the run with a string. We will work on an automatic door opener next.
We added alot of vents because it can get pretty hot in our area but our lows are usually in the 30s. If we need to close off some of the vents, we will get some plexiglass that we can use to cover some of the openings.
We have 4 nest boxes are about 11 x 14. This may seem small but they are for bantams. Also it is designed so if we decide to get LF birds we can always remove the dividers to make the boxes bigger or even do 2 smaller boxes and one large communal box. The nesting area has a lip of around 5 inches to keep the coop fill/junk out. We also put a little lip at the top to give the girls a little privacy when they are doing their thing
We have these hospital pans that we use as the liners for the box. I got them for $1 and figure it is an easy way to keep the boxes clean in case we get broken eggs or poop.
Currently the nesting box area is closed off with some plywood but we will open it up in about 2 months when the chicks are about 15 weeks old.
Here is the link to the rest of the pictures...we have alot that show what we did step-by-step and alot of interior shots. http://www.marinhomestead.com/chickens-2/how-to-build-a-chicken-coop/
The chicks are so happy in their new home.
we have been studying the forum for months now and took all the great suggestions and built our own coop. It took alot longer than expected for my husband as he did all the work himself in small intervals while he was off work, etc. We were able to use re-claimed wood from a fence we took down and rebuilt. We put hardware cloth under the run as well as around the run/coop.
The coop is 5 x 4 feett and the run is 5 x 11 feet. The highest point is about 6 feet tall.
We have a large door to the coop to change the water/feeder and clean the coop.
We also have a pop door that we can open and close from outside the run with a string. We will work on an automatic door opener next.
We added alot of vents because it can get pretty hot in our area but our lows are usually in the 30s. If we need to close off some of the vents, we will get some plexiglass that we can use to cover some of the openings.
We have 4 nest boxes are about 11 x 14. This may seem small but they are for bantams. Also it is designed so if we decide to get LF birds we can always remove the dividers to make the boxes bigger or even do 2 smaller boxes and one large communal box. The nesting area has a lip of around 5 inches to keep the coop fill/junk out. We also put a little lip at the top to give the girls a little privacy when they are doing their thing
We have these hospital pans that we use as the liners for the box. I got them for $1 and figure it is an easy way to keep the boxes clean in case we get broken eggs or poop.
Currently the nesting box area is closed off with some plywood but we will open it up in about 2 months when the chicks are about 15 weeks old.
Here is the link to the rest of the pictures...we have alot that show what we did step-by-step and alot of interior shots. http://www.marinhomestead.com/chickens-2/how-to-build-a-chicken-coop/
The chicks are so happy in their new home.
