A blatant copy of Carolina Coops

[Castlewood]

My first coop was small and commercially manufactured. It took all of a week before I realized that I needed something bigger even if I didn't intend to grow my flock. Looking around the internet, I quickly came to the decision that Carolina Coops was the Cadillac of hen houses. Unfortunately, it also came with Cadillac pricing. I decided to make my best attempt at replicating their design. In the end, you get what you pay for. This coop/run is a far cry from the craftmanship of the products at CC, but I'm proud of it nonetheless. Three hens call it home for now. I have 9 pullets that will join them in another month.

The gravity feeders for crumble are courtesy of a Youtuber who I really do need give credit to. There's also a rain barrel on the far side of the coop that feeds into PVC for gravity fed water.

Happy to talk shop if anyone has questions - Castlewood

 

[0die]

more pics? inside?

probably what I shoulda built...just an egg box with large enclosed run.

 

[Chad Oftedal]

I'm interesting in hearing more about the rain barrel as well. Also, welcome to the site!

 

[aart]

I quickly came to the decision that Carolina Coops was the Cadillac of hen houses.

Certainly well built of quality materials, but some of their design is... meh.
Door designs are awesome.
Their bedding and population claims are BS.

Would love to see more details of your build.
Oh, and... Welcome to BYC! @Castlewood

 

[Castlewood]

Good morning everyone. I've added an article on my coop. I think that I'll place details there with some additional photos, design plans, and materials list. Here ya go...

The Castle and the Moat

Thanks for the welcome to the community!

 

[aart]

I think that I'll place details there with some additional photos, design plans,

Definitely need more there, can't wait to see it!

 

[Castlewood]

More photos of the coop...

 

[woodworm]

Certainly well built of quality materials, but some of their design is... meh.
Door designs are awesome.
Their bedding and population claims are BS.

Hi aart - can I ask why you think their claims are BS? I know they say 1 chicken per foot on the perch rather than 4sqft per bird, but a lot of people seem to like their bedding?

I'm not doubting you - I'm doubting myself; I don't have chickens yet, but I am copying CC design for my build.

Castlewood - your coop and run looks great. Is the extra fenced off area around the back a run as well? Do they get free access to that area or just when supervised?

 

[Castlewood]

Castlewood - your coop and run looks great. Is the extra fenced off area around the back a run as well? Do they get free access to that area or just when supervised?

The space around the run is what we call the Moat. It's accessible via a sliding door that has to be manually opened. So they only get access to that extra 210sqft when we're around. I work from home however so part of morning chores are to let the girls out into the moat for some extra space. The enclosed run though is nice when we leave for a weekend and we know they'll have space and security without us around.

The Moat used to be surrounded by a 4' fence until we learned that even the heavy girls could jump it. I'm upgrading to a 6' fence this coming weekend. Most of it is up. Just adding a door and they'll be back to their larger space.

Future plans in 2020 is to add an auto-door to the Moat for a 14-hour window of outside time.

 

[Castlewood]

Castlewood - your coop and run looks great.

also...thanks for the compliment! I've learned so much since the original build that all I can see now are the flaws.

Likewise, I'd love to hear suggestions on improvements!