It’s been roughly 2 years since I started keeping chickens. Originally got in to it as a hobby and to have fresh farm eggs. So far it’s still a hobby, still get fresh farm eggs, added a few more chickens and now I sell eggs to locals. Just enough to pay for the feed.
I went to the local TSC and got 6 pullets. Raised them in a cardboard box and eventually moved them to an OK coop with about a 20x20 size run. They started laying eggs and then I decided I wanted more chickens and more eggs and I’d sell a few dz every now and then.
So I weighed my option on the coop. I wasn’t impressed with the pre-made options. Plus I wanted about 15 more hens and no pre-made coop was good enough for me. So I went with a 8x10 shed. I painted it red and white and started retrofitting it as a chicken coop.
This is the first coop that housed 6 hens. Now it keeps a rooster.
Here is the larger coop. I have plans to make some screen doors so I can leave both sides open during the summer but for now I’ve rigged it so one side is the door, the other is just a screen for fresh air. I cut holes for 7 vents and I’m thinking about installing a window on each side and maybe a skylight. Or one of those wind vents that spins and circulates the air on the roof.
There are 15 chickens in here including 1 rooster. I had 15 hens and one rooster but one hen died suddenly. No idea from what. The rooster is a RIR and the hens are mixed. I bought them all from Meyer Hatchery (IIRC). Deleivered at 4am to the local post office. They woke me up ringing my phone telling me to come get them. Kept them in a plastic tote for a while then put them in the coop at about....3 weeks? When they started to get feathers.
The run is chicken wire. Roughly 5ft high. I have 2 chickens that jump out so I’m starting to expand the height with netting. IIRC it’s 60ft long and 14ft wide. I got rid of the first 6 chickens I had and I tore down their run to expand this one. At first the run was smaller by half so the ground became dirt/mud. That’s why it’s half dirt, half grass. I just started the deep liter method with the dirt half. So far so good.
Everything I’ve done to the coop from the roosts to the chicken boxes I’ve used scrap lumber I’ve had. I’m not the best with woodwork but i make due. I tried to build a little shelter but it fell apart in the rain. The chickens still get under it though. Also, I made the mistake of putting the chicken door on the outside of the coop. The rain got to it and warped it so I just leave it open now. I’ll fix it eventually. Just a 5gal bucket with nipples for water. I change it every few days. Also a thing for grit and oyster shells (not in the pics).
Inside the coop I coated the plywood floor and about a foot up the walls with Rubr-Coat 57. Just pine shavings for the floor that have been in there since day 1, over a year now. Actually went today and bought 5 more bags so I’m going to swap it out for fresh shavings this week. Every now and then I sprinkle Sweet PDZ around and diatomaceous earth. I also use Sweet PDZ for the roosts.
Initially I had the nest boxes on a platform roughly 5” off the floor but they never used them. I’d find eggs all over the coop floor. I took the boxes off the platform and set them higher up on the poop board for the roost and the next day they were laying in the boxes. So that’s where I left them. Still got one chicken that likes the floor so I left a box down there.
2 chickens are sitting on eggs. They should hatch the first of July.
I’ve learned to do what the chickens want. I watch their behavior and make modifications based on that. Like the nest boxes.
I went to the local TSC and got 6 pullets. Raised them in a cardboard box and eventually moved them to an OK coop with about a 20x20 size run. They started laying eggs and then I decided I wanted more chickens and more eggs and I’d sell a few dz every now and then.
So I weighed my option on the coop. I wasn’t impressed with the pre-made options. Plus I wanted about 15 more hens and no pre-made coop was good enough for me. So I went with a 8x10 shed. I painted it red and white and started retrofitting it as a chicken coop.
This is the first coop that housed 6 hens. Now it keeps a rooster.
Here is the larger coop. I have plans to make some screen doors so I can leave both sides open during the summer but for now I’ve rigged it so one side is the door, the other is just a screen for fresh air. I cut holes for 7 vents and I’m thinking about installing a window on each side and maybe a skylight. Or one of those wind vents that spins and circulates the air on the roof.
There are 15 chickens in here including 1 rooster. I had 15 hens and one rooster but one hen died suddenly. No idea from what. The rooster is a RIR and the hens are mixed. I bought them all from Meyer Hatchery (IIRC). Deleivered at 4am to the local post office. They woke me up ringing my phone telling me to come get them. Kept them in a plastic tote for a while then put them in the coop at about....3 weeks? When they started to get feathers.
The run is chicken wire. Roughly 5ft high. I have 2 chickens that jump out so I’m starting to expand the height with netting. IIRC it’s 60ft long and 14ft wide. I got rid of the first 6 chickens I had and I tore down their run to expand this one. At first the run was smaller by half so the ground became dirt/mud. That’s why it’s half dirt, half grass. I just started the deep liter method with the dirt half. So far so good.
Everything I’ve done to the coop from the roosts to the chicken boxes I’ve used scrap lumber I’ve had. I’m not the best with woodwork but i make due. I tried to build a little shelter but it fell apart in the rain. The chickens still get under it though. Also, I made the mistake of putting the chicken door on the outside of the coop. The rain got to it and warped it so I just leave it open now. I’ll fix it eventually. Just a 5gal bucket with nipples for water. I change it every few days. Also a thing for grit and oyster shells (not in the pics).
Inside the coop I coated the plywood floor and about a foot up the walls with Rubr-Coat 57. Just pine shavings for the floor that have been in there since day 1, over a year now. Actually went today and bought 5 more bags so I’m going to swap it out for fresh shavings this week. Every now and then I sprinkle Sweet PDZ around and diatomaceous earth. I also use Sweet PDZ for the roosts.
Initially I had the nest boxes on a platform roughly 5” off the floor but they never used them. I’d find eggs all over the coop floor. I took the boxes off the platform and set them higher up on the poop board for the roost and the next day they were laying in the boxes. So that’s where I left them. Still got one chicken that likes the floor so I left a box down there.
2 chickens are sitting on eggs. They should hatch the first of July.
I’ve learned to do what the chickens want. I watch their behavior and make modifications based on that. Like the nest boxes.
