Our first adventure with chickens lasted six years until our last girl was taken by a hawk. In the past we lost hens to an opossum, raccoons, and hawks. We decided to use our first little coop as decor in the front yard and go bigger, better and safer with all we’ve learned and build a new...
The coop is 2 ft. off the ground. This allows for easy access for cleaning as well as preserves more ground space for the chickens to roam. We tried to add lots of elements for entertainment and exercise in the run and we are all about recycle and reuse as we did with the metal roof and...
We put down cheap peel and stick tile flooring to make clean up easy.We screwed wood stops into the floor to keep the trays in place.In this view you can see placement of nesting boxes, poop trays and feeding tubes.You will find these brackets in the electrical department of the hardware store...
We wanted windows for light and for air circulation in the summer months. There are four doors on the coop. One on each side. The entry door, where the chickens will enter. The egg door, allowing access to the nesting boxes for gathering eggs and two additional wooden doors allowing access...
We chose the bamboo cutting board for several reasons. We think it will hold up to weather well. It is the size and weight we were looking for and it was easy to hang.
We roofed the back half of the coop/run with left over metal roofing we had from the house and began framing and siding the coop with left over siding we stored under the house for thirty years. You can see where the 4’ x 6’coop has been framed in. The coop floor and ceiling are in as well...
We dug a one and a half to two foot deep trench around the entire coop/run and buried our 1/2” galvanized hardware cloth. We attached the hardware cloth with a pneumatic staple gun and 3/4” stainless steel staples.
This is the site where our old coop used to be, showing the beginning of new framing. Posts are treated 4” x 4”s. The front section is 6’ which will be incased in 1/2” galvanized hardware cloth. The back half will be a sloped roof, starting at 7ft high sloping to 6ft. and covered with left...