Next April, we are tearing down this rotten, rusted, rickety, vermin-infested eyesore that is blocking our view from the deck and building a brand-new coop with a poured concrete floor, woohooo!
We invested in fixing up the outside run a few months ago but the flock rarely uses it now, they prefer to free-range or hang out in the coop. Now that the winter's nearly here the rats are trying to tunnel their way into the insulated part of the coop and the mice are chewing through the walls, no matter what we do.
So my contractor came in today to cut holes for ventilation (there was none before), build a proper sleeping roost with easy poop cleaning access and set up a corner for the new girls who are arriving in two days!
First, the coop as it was before (pardon the shoddy insulation, it's the best I could do with no tools and no skill):
And the coop now with proper bedding on the right, and nesting/roosting boxes on the left for the new girls (for proper flock integration) - it's only about 11 x 12, the wide-angle lens makes it look huge LOL! oh and it's 5'4" high, I have to stoop all the time to avoid the mouse-sh*t infested pink insulation on the ceiling, soooo gross:
Better view of the sleeping quarters:
We built a door to connect the two old buildings so the girls can use both coops now without escaping outside: they eat and sleep in the insulated coop, play and take their daily dust baths in the old coop which also serves as a storage for their food and snack bins. View from the sleeping coop into the play coop:
Play/storage coop before we cleaned it up and put in new netted windows for light & ventilation (got these for free thanks to my contractor!) - it's about 11 x 14:
As it is today in its dusty glory thanks to the sandy floor (btw there is no mold on the walls, just dark panels that lost their white paint):
It will have to do for the next 5 months, we're not sinking any more money into this black hole.
It looks a LOT better in the photos than it actually is.
SO EXCITED TO GET 6 NEW GIRLS IN TWO DAYS!! (ameraucanas and marans!)
We invested in fixing up the outside run a few months ago but the flock rarely uses it now, they prefer to free-range or hang out in the coop. Now that the winter's nearly here the rats are trying to tunnel their way into the insulated part of the coop and the mice are chewing through the walls, no matter what we do.
So my contractor came in today to cut holes for ventilation (there was none before), build a proper sleeping roost with easy poop cleaning access and set up a corner for the new girls who are arriving in two days!
First, the coop as it was before (pardon the shoddy insulation, it's the best I could do with no tools and no skill):
And the coop now with proper bedding on the right, and nesting/roosting boxes on the left for the new girls (for proper flock integration) - it's only about 11 x 12, the wide-angle lens makes it look huge LOL! oh and it's 5'4" high, I have to stoop all the time to avoid the mouse-sh*t infested pink insulation on the ceiling, soooo gross:
Better view of the sleeping quarters:
We built a door to connect the two old buildings so the girls can use both coops now without escaping outside: they eat and sleep in the insulated coop, play and take their daily dust baths in the old coop which also serves as a storage for their food and snack bins. View from the sleeping coop into the play coop:
Play/storage coop before we cleaned it up and put in new netted windows for light & ventilation (got these for free thanks to my contractor!) - it's about 11 x 14:
As it is today in its dusty glory thanks to the sandy floor (btw there is no mold on the walls, just dark panels that lost their white paint):
It will have to do for the next 5 months, we're not sinking any more money into this black hole.
It looks a LOT better in the photos than it actually is.
SO EXCITED TO GET 6 NEW GIRLS IN TWO DAYS!! (ameraucanas and marans!)
