Nesting boxes, closed up until the girls are ready to lay. They are now. I added a roost bar in front of box to help them get in the box. They walk back and forth on this bar deciding which box they will lay and egg in today.

I put my ramp on a hinge so I can lift it out of the way when cleaning the run

Wife wanted laying boxes inside coop instead of the outside of the coop because she said the boxes need to be inside the main coop to stay warm if they are sticking out of the coop they will be cold. I didn't want to go inside the coop each time to collect eggs so I added doors just like a kitchen cupboard and put them in the main coop. Then I added the porch to keep the snow off me. (3 nest boxes just under the window)

Coop Door. Automatic coop door using add a motor and a light timer

Nesting boxes, closed up until the girls are ready to lay. They are now. I added a roost bar in front of box to help them get in the box. They walk back and forth on this bar deciding which box they will lay and egg in today.

I installed a screen under the roost then used a piece of plexiglass as the poop board under the screen. I found out two things when fooling around. First is that the poop washes of the plexiglass better then anything I have tried hands down. The second thing was by total accident. I didn't have the right size of holes in the screen in the yard at the time so I temporary installed a screen with 1/4" x 1/4" holes. The poo just stayed on top of the screen and didn't fall through the screen. What I learned is that when the poo is on the screen it dries right away because it gets air all around it and there is no smell but when the poo hits the floor it stays wet and sticks to the floor. Now this is where the wet poo smell comes from. So I sized my screen so that the poo hits the screen, dries then shrinks and falls to the poop board as a dry powder. No smell and the poop board doesn't have any poo stuck to it. :) If there is any poo that doesn't fall through the screen the chickens push it though when walking on the screen. For the most part there is no poo inside the coop it is all contained on the other side of the screen.

This is where the girls sleep they love to look out the window and enjoy the morning sun on their face.

This is the back of the coop. You can see where I added a clean out door for the coop and also to clean out the run under the coop.

Nesting boxes, closed up until the girls are ready to lay. They are now. I added a roost bar in front of box to help them get in the box. They walk back and forth on this bar deciding which box they will lay and egg in today.

Trevor Taylor
Oct 4, 2014

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