8x8' Coop almost Done!

[rita2paul]

i am seriously jealous of your setup, that looks really lovely, i wish i had more room, i have already taken some of the farmers field for my girls, thank goodness he's never told me to take the electric fence down.

 

[Nicole A.]

You could make a single large nest box with a roll out to the front to collect the eggs. Some also make a door to close off the nest box. I really like collecting clean eggs from my roll out nest box.

JT

Thanks for the suggestion. Is a roll out nest box something that you would make or buy? I like the idea of getting clean eggs but I don't know much about adding a roll out.

 

[Chad Oftedal]

Thanks for the suggestion. Is a roll out nest box something that you would make or buy? I like the idea of getting clean eggs but I don't know much about adding a roll out.

There's a good thread here that has lots of info: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/roll-out-nest-box.1211277/#post-19278504

I ended up buying one from hengear.com based on a thread that I saw here on the forums. Unlike you who is nearing the end of the line for your coop building (congrats!), I have just staked out my area and will break ground on Saturday. I liked the design of the one on hengear, and with so much for me to build yet, I just decided this was one that was going to be easier for me to buy. That said, though, building one would be a lot of fun.

 

[Nicole A.]

Nice to see so much space!!
Will your run have a solid roof for some shade?

Yes the roof will be solid. It's actually an addition that comes with the "Dog Run" but I haven't set it up yet.

 

[lena_]

Awesome coop Nicole, I'm sure your future chicckies will love it. When do you plan on getting chickens? I'd love to see them in their home, I'm sure you'll feel proud when you watch your birds scratch around in their lovely coop!

 

[blackdog043]

Great coop, I'm glad you did your homework!!!!!! Oh and you don't have chickens yet either, but your coop is about done, you get triple bonus points for that
OK, so one thing you might be doing, but I don't see it done yet. Are you going to use Sweet PDZ on your poop board? Put 1 x 3's or 4 around the edge to hold it in and I would put one piece of vinyl over the painted wood also, don't use the squares. 1/2' of PDZ is all you need.

 

[Nicole A.]

Another question for you. What is the bench thing on the right of the picture going to be used for? Also will you line your poop tray too, if so what are you thinking of using? We were thinking linoleum? Thoughts?

I plan on putting my nest box on the bench on the right. I haven't quite decided on a type yet, although jthorton's idea to make it a communal roll out nest box sound like a good idea. I ordered two really large 44" x 23 1/2" boot racks to go under the perches. They have sides that are 2" high. I'm hoping that will work to catch the droppings. I think sweet PDZ has been recommended so I will probably fill the rack with that. Not sure how much though.

 

[Nicole A.]

Great coop, I'm glad you did your homework!!!!!! Oh and you don't have chickens yet either, but your coop is about done, you get triple bonus points for that
OK, so one thing you might be doing, but I don't see it done yet. Are you going to use Sweet PDZ on your poop board? Put 1 x 3's or 4 around the edge to hold it in and I would put one piece of vinyl over the painted wood also, don't use the squares. 1/2' of PDZ is all you need.

I was going to use two boot rack containers with PDZ. Do you think that would work well?

 

[Nicole A.]

Awesome coop Nicole, I'm sure your future chicckies will love it. When do you plan on getting chickens? I'd love to see them in their home, I'm sure you'll feel proud when you watch your birds scratch around in their lovely coop!

I'm very excited about that part especially. I'm on a few different lists on my Nevada Backyard chicken group on facebook, so it depends on when chicks become available. I'm going to try and set it up so I can brood them in the coop since I don't have any chickens yet.

I am a little worried that some of the chicks will be available at different times and I will have problems raising different age chicks at the same time. I'm probably making it harder for myself by not getting chicks from a hatchery, but there are quite a few people with some very beautiful chickens in my area. There are some marans that lay really dark eggs so I was going to try and get some of those chicks/hens.

 

[blackdog043]

I had to look up boot rack containers, it looks like they would work. Put a 1/2" of PDZ in them.