Heres our trap door design for the run next door. The handle in front connects by ski line through a pulley to the door face so it can be lifted from the outside to let the birds in and out of the run being built next door. The handle is some left over dowel material with a hole drilled thru it.
- wtrivers
- Jun 21, 2012
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Being in Florida, its HOT and HUMID, so we put a nice 18" vent in high up to keep airflow in the coop so they don't get too hot. We used leftover shingles for the roof, so it does heat up a bit, but the open trap door, the two access doors and the vent make for a good bit of air circulation and keeps the coop reasonably cool. Here you can see the Egg Door where the boxes can be harvested without too much visibility from the chickens.
- wtrivers
- Jun 21, 2012
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To keep critters out of the pen and the chickens in, we layed 2x4 wire about 4-6" under the dirt and extended it beyond the edges of the run, then used ripped 2x4 material (recycled lumber) to make a kick board that circles the run and coop. the under wire and the top wire are nailed together at the kick board, totally enclosing the pen in wire. The dirt is deep enough to let the birds scratch and make dirt nests but nothing can get under and into the pen.
- wtrivers
- Jun 21, 2012
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Before wrapping the outside in vinyl siding that matched our house (again, leftovers from our home siding project) we covered the chipboard plywood with tar-paper for insulation and water protection. Yes, we had to buy the tar paper....and the plywood. total of $90 including screws and nails. The upright posts for the run are landscape logs we got for $0.96 each. A $8 bucket of barn paint and three rolls of chix wire completes the new purchases. Total new materials was about $150.
- wtrivers
- Jun 21, 2012
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Our access ramp is made of some old plywood decking and strips of wood runners ripped from scrap 2x4s. two long wood struts run the length of the ramp to give it rigidity underneath. Its top edge is hinged so it can be lifted up and latched closed to confine the birds in the coop during storms (we live in sunny hurricane friendly Florida) and other bad weather
- wtrivers
- Jun 21, 2012
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With the floor deck in (notice the trap door for access), we mounted the egg boxes agaisnt the wall with the Egg Door in it. All six boxes can be reached thru then smaller door in the wall behind the boxes. We made our boxes 12 x 14 inches each and the birds seem to like the room.
- wtrivers
- Jun 21, 2012
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Here we are constructing the frames for the egg boxes. Again, all from recycled pallet wood. We are aiming for a 6 chicken coop, so we will be adding three pullets to our chix clan soon...our neighbors are also involved, building a Chicken Run on their side of the fence so the birds can have some Day room and hosting the old coop while we built this one. One oof ur neighbors girls, Emily, is our official Chicken Helper and comes over to feed and help clean up daily. We will soon be sharing the eggs and care/feeding on an alternating day basis...
- wtrivers
- Jun 21, 2012
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We started with a post and deck design, mostly taken from a BYC Coops design selection, called the Maxwell House. THANKS Guys, its a great design and a good place for our project to start, even though we added some of our own ideas to it. We actually bought new posts and cement, but the floor boards and walls are all recycled wood from pallets. Our aim was a 75% recycled content or higher for the design and construction...we actually came in around 50%, just because used wire is NO FUN to work with...
- wtrivers
- Jun 21, 2012
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This is our chicken tractor, made entirely from recycled pallets and PVc pipe. I recuycled an old luggage cart for the wheels and the door is a simple guillotine affair in slots cut out of 2x2s. Measuring 6 x 3 and just 3 ft high, its just big enough to move the birds to the differant pens and areas where they can scratch to their hearts content.
- wtrivers
- Jun 21, 2012
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