Almost finished. Now to decide on the finishing details.

[Kelson]

We converted an old 8x8 shed into a COMPLETELY remodeled coop. tore the old walls down and everything. It currently has a dirt floor with the exception of some dry leaves and grass clippings I gathered up just so I could get the gang in there at night.
Im debating between sand, deep litter method, or possibly getting something like stall mats and putting a layer of litter like pine shavings or pellets down. Opinions, other options, suggestions, advice?

Also where should I set up their water and food? in the coop, in the run? The food is currently a home made thing made from an empty coffee container and pan underneath. The waterer is a bucket with chicken nipples in it.

We are also planning on adding a layer of chicken wire on the bottom outside and bury some of it, And a layer of hardware cloth on the inside... This sucker is gonna be on LOCK DOWN. already lost my pretty white boy to the neighbors dog... Not gonna loose anymore.


Sorry its kindof dark. We finished up late due to the rain chasing us in.

 

[Wise Woman]

Cute coop. We are going to be building a new coop this summer and I can tell you what I am planning to do. Food and water will be outside in a covered run. Never in the coop again. I will get a heater for the water to keep it from freezing if I have to, but it is not going into the coop.

We currently have sand in our coop and I will never use it in a coop again. I currently have stall mats in my goat house and once my two old gals have passed, I will be removing them and putting them in the chicken coop. They work wonderfully and are worth the money. We will probably have a dirt floor lined with hardware cloth or a raised wooden floor. Either way, I will then lay the stall mats over top of the hardware cloth or the wood and then put pine shavings on top of that. That way I can rake them out and throw them into the run or the compost pile.

I am tired of the mess in the sand with the food and water in the coop. The sand gets wet and has to be removed if there is any spillage and it is heavy when it is wet. It is freezing cold in the winter and I have to clean the poo out of it weekly. It is like one giant litter box. And dusty. Oh my gosh the dust. Our coop is now twice as dusty as it was with pine shavings and I have to wear a mask to clean it. When I come out, I have to shower immediately as there is dust in my hair, my ears and my clothes are so covered that I have to take off the outer layers (I wear two for this process) outside as you cannot just brush it off. I have had chickens for 15 years and never hated cleaning the coop as much as I do now that I have sand in there. I thought it would be a time saver, but I was so wrong. I am over sand. It might be ok in the run, but never, ever again in our coop. Back to pine shavings for me! HTHs.

Cheers.

 

[Kelson]

Thanks for the suggestions. I will be on the lookout for some stall mats now

 

[SkyWorld]

Looks great

. How about a couple of perching areas in the corners of the run.

 

[Kelson]

Looks great . How about a couple of perching areas in the corners of the run.

I added a couple of branches out of the woods to the front corners. My younger "tweens" are the only ones that seem to fly up to perch. My older teenagers would rather be lazy and just lay on each other on the ground. Lol

 

[SkyWorld]

Give them time, they will be using it more. I had to make a ramp for my bigger girls, so they can get up and down. I spoiled them too much.


This is when they were a few months old.

 

[CrazyChickLady7]

I added a couple of branches out of the woods to the front corners. My younger "tweens" are the only ones that seem to fly up to perch. My older teenagers would rather be lazy and just lay on each other on the ground. Lol

I recommend not putting the roosts up against the fence maybe put a few poles in the middle near the back. We have had more than more decapitated chicken,because it was roosting too close to the wire. Stupid chicken eaters.