Barn Lean-To Coop Build Thread "Coop Knox"

[3KillerBs]

You're really making headway! Looking good!

I live in a heavily wooded area in the Sierra foothills of Northern California. We have all kinds of predators, too. I find that my situation is similar. Hawks are my only real daytime problem. Foxes, raccoon, skunks, and coyote are mostly active at nighttime. We have bear and mountain lions, too - and we even have a wolf who passes through. There's not much I can do to stop those. Especially mountain lions.

I let mine out during the day in an area surrounded by electric poultry netting. That stuff is great! And it's easy to move. I cover that with heavy duty bird netting. I highly recommend the electric netting. I use it around my goats (who we keep primarily as brushers). Move them all over the property to eat blackberry and poison oak.

I love my electric netting too.

 

[BaaKaaawk]

Day 4: Didn't have a ton of time today to work on it, but I did get the coop doors all framed out and the base boards down for the run. I need to stop at this point and do some painting before I make it 10x harder, so paint-matched as good as I could!

 

[BaaKaaawk]

Day 5 - Mostly a painting day, but still forward progress! Waiting on my wire... supposed to be delivered tomorrow or Thursday. Once I have that I can install the coop base and get the walls on and it will start looking like something. If I get a good weekend... I think I can knock this out possibly this weekend. Worst case, next week for sure.

 

[Windrider]

A recommendation: Spray your hardware cloth black before installing. It makes it visually disappear and IMO lends a much more polished look to the wired-off area. You've got a beautiful barn and are going to the trouble of matching the coop's paint, so the black hardware cloth would be in keeping with that attention to details.

 

[BaaKaaawk]

A recommendation: Spray your hardware cloth black before installing. It makes it visually disappear and IMO lends a much more polished look to the wired-off area. You've got a beautiful barn and are going to the trouble of matching the coop's paint, so the black hardware cloth would be in keeping with that attention to details.

We're on the same page, but I saved time and just bought the black coated for only $15 more for 100' length. I looked around a lot- here's where I bought it seems like a solid place and had better prices than eBay.

https://www.critterfence.com/p/625-Critterfence-Black-Steel-1-Inch-Grid-4-x-100.aspx

 

[BaaKaaawk]

Day 6 - And on the sixth day, the lord opened the skies and shone down a ray of light on my chicken coop and there was much rejoicing! (Seriously, check out the picture, that is not photoshopped or edited in any way lol). Lots of painting today and got most of the framing up in the run for the wire (my wire... which Fedex misplaced, so will arrive maybe tomorrow looks like). Still on target to finish this weekend I think if I get the wire. I'm kind of at a stopping point until I have that.

 

[BaaKaaawk]

Day 7: Finally got my welded wire / hardware cloth and went ahead and put it down for the coop floor and then finished up the siding walls. It's starting to look like... well... kind of like a box. But a box for chickens. Added a few creature comforts for the ladies like a branch to hop to for the upper boxes. On to the doors, trim and battons tomorrow.

 

[BaaKaaawk]

Day 8: Good day of painting and more painting and then doors and put up the battons. The coop is almost done- changed my mind on some trim details, but will complete that in the morning when the paint is dry. I like the paint colors, they match the barn almost perfectly so the coop looks like it belongs there. On to finishing the run. Should not be a lot of work left- most just a few putsy doors... and of course loading a whole bunch of dirt in there!

 

[Happy hen lover]

Mostly personal preference for poop management. I'm not a big fan of the litterboxes and with a raised coop with a wire bottom the poop passes right through to below, where I'll put some sand... which yes will act like a giant litter box lol- but I can just use a rake to clean it once every few days. The raised bottom also provides a lot of ventilation and since KY doesn't get crazy cold, the chickens will likely appreciate that.

Also, I left 3' overhang in the back because that is where the wife and kid will gather eggs and if it is raining it gives them a place to gather without getting soaked... which I didn't have on my "Southern Farmhouse Coop" I built (in fact, that one's roof was perfect that when you checked the nest boxes in the rain you just got soaked lol).



Well, that's the max I'd get... and yes a bit tight. My hope is that since all the killer critters I have are nocturnal except the hawks - who seem to have a taste for the field mice... I will probably try daytime free-ranging.

I love the poop board with sand idea.

 

[Happy hen lover]

Day 8: Good day of painting and more painting and then doors and put up the battons. The coop is almost done- changed my mind on some trim details, but will complete that in the morning when the paint is dry. I like the paint colors, they match the barn almost perfectly so the coop looks like it belongs there. On to finishing the run. Should not be a lot of work left- most just a few putsy doors... and of course loading a whole bunch of dirt in there!

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Good paint match!