Barn into open air coop conversion

[henless]

We weren't able to do any work on the run, but thought I'd put my pics of my feeders/waterers that I have made.

I made the feeders a couple months ago. My chickens were wasting so much feed using the regular feeders. I am so glad I made these. They are wonderful!





They weren't hard to made. I did them myself. Best feed saver ever! I did put extensions on each of the openings.


This waterer is great! I used the horizontal nipples you get off of ebay. No more changing water twice a day. It stays fresh and clean for a week!



They all learned how to drink from it within 15 min.

I made these today. I was tired of the chickens spilling their grit bowl all the time, so thought these would work. I have grit in the one on the left, and plan on putting oyster shell in the one on the right.



I did add an extension when I noticed one of my Buff Orps flinging out grit. Put in the extension, and no more flinging!

 

[cwrite]

Lucky chickens! I love the design of your coop & am going to attempt a feeder bucket. How did you cut the holes?

 

[henless]

How did you cut the holes?

Click on the bucket feeder link in my sig, and it will have the steps to take.

I got a 3 1/2" hole saw, attached it to my drill and cut the holes. Some people use a knife or box cutter. Just depends on what you have access to. I picked up the hole saw kit at Harbor Freight. I think it was about 8 dollars? It came with several different sizes, so when I get new chicks I can make them a smaller one.


I got this yesterday!





It's my 2nd egg, but the first egg from my "keeper" chickens. I sold my first egg layer when I sold my 3 RIRs & 3 Comets.

I get to fill up my oyster shell feeder today!

 

[jennychick45]

very nice! I wish i had someone who could build me that! Any changes or updates?

 

[tatertot]

Lets see some pics of your birds

 

[henless]

Sorry, nothing to update. Between the weather, working all the time and a weekend getaway, we just haven't had time to work on the run. I'll try and get some new pics over the weekend.

 

[henless]

Update ~ Labor Day weekend, and what did we do? Labor of course!! LOL


DH and I did some work on the run over the weekend. Sat afternoon we went to town to pick up some supplies we needed for the run. DH went fishing Sun morning, so work started about mid morning on Sunday. We got a good bit done before the sun got too hot.

Monday, we started at daybreak. Worked on it almost all day. Most of the bracing is up, still need to run a few boards for the wire attachment on the lower end. Part of the wire is up on the roof. Still need to get some more 4'x10' hardware cloth for the roof, and some 3'x10' for the sides. It will probably take us a few more weeks to finish it, since the cheapest place for the wire is Atwoods, and they only carry so many at one time.

We still need to put the lower bracing, door and apron on.




We put a 4 ft tin awning along the coop wall to help block the sun and to keep the rain out of the coop when the wind blows.





The run is 20'x20'. That should give them plenty of outside room.




That's all we've got done for now. Doesn't seem like much, but putting hardware cloth on up above your head takes a bit of time.

Till next update!

 

[aart]

..... Still need to get some more 4'x10' hardware cloth for the roof, and some 3'x10' for the sides. .......



We put a 4 ft tin awning along the coop wall to help block the sun and to keep the rain out of the coop when the wind blows.


.......

10' lengths? Do you mean 100'? I hope so much less expensive that way.

Seeing as how you're in Texas mightn't you want more shade(more tin roofing) out there?

It's an awesome, awesome run!!

 

[henless]

We get the hardware cloth in 10' lengths. We can get them longer, and are cheaper, but they are harder to handle, so we just get the 10' and then what ever height we need, 2', 3' or 4' heights.

aart ~ the pop door you have in your coop, did you build it or buy it? I've got to come up with one for mine and don't really want to get an auto door. I think I'd rather have a guillotine style, with a hook or something to lock it in place.

As far as shade, they have the coop area that is covered to get under. We can always add shade cloth if needed next summer, or I can just let my green beans climb all over it like I did the end of the run this summer. I just won't be able to reach the beans!

 

[aart]

We get the hardware cloth in 10' lengths. We can get them longer, and are cheaper, but they are harder to handle, so we just get the 10' and then what ever height we need, 2', 3' or 4' heights.

aart ~ the pop door you have in your coop, did you build it or buy it? I've got to come up with one for mine and don't really want to get an auto door. I think I'd rather have a guillotine style, with a hook or something to lock it in place.

As far as shade, they have the coop area that is covered to get under. We can always add shade cloth if needed next summer, or I can just let my green beans climb all over it like I did the end of the run this summer. I just won't be able to reach the beans!

Yeah, it's not fun to cut....I rolled it out on my concrete garage floor and got pretty good at cutting it with shears. Got very creative to handle the 4x16' pieces alone, the ceiling was the hardest....after that the rest was cake!

I built both pop doors myself...can't remember if I put the second one on my page or not, it has an automatic lock(stole that design) that engages when the door is dropped down, disengages when the rope is pulled up. Designed them using a solid model cad program for fit and function before building...but I've been a designer for 20 some years.