Britney's first journey on coop building

[bbrierly]

I bought a home in October of 2015. Out in the country of little town called Judsonia, AR. My house sits on little over a acre and I love it. My little slice of Paradise.

I decided I wanted chickens in November. I knew free ranged was out the question bc I live on a corner lot and people don't know how to spay and neuter their pets.

I wanted to use to thread to document my coop building. My coop will actually be a shed that was on the property. Pictured below... I have since taken down the chain link fence. But you can see the shed in the back ( only complaint is its a bit close to the house but does have electricity ran to it )

I started cleaning out the shed for my first project... I ordered chicks that will be here on April 11th so I have the time to ponder on ideas. This is me cleaning out the shed and all the stuff. We ended up putting chicken wire over the windows bc it originally had broken glass .

Since then I have made the chicken boxes... Well I guess buckets I will be putting a two by four up about two feet for them to jump on then into the "buckets" .

I now have dug out around the run area to be able to frame and put up fencing around it. I will be buying the two by Fours today at Lowe's. Hopefully tomorrow we will have the run done here is a pic of just the run area with no fencing yet

Finally... I have started buying stuff for my chicks that will be arriving in the next month and half. Couldn't resist. I'm still trying to figure out what I want to use for a brooding container... Any ideas?

I still have plenty to do, and I'll update on this thread of my progress.. Hopefully we will have the run done by the end of the day tomorrow. Then I just have to figure out roost.

Thanks for reading

 

[letitiah81]

How many chicks will you be getting?

 

[pattyhen]

It really depends on how many you will have. I always use a rubbermaid container but I've never gotten over 6. An old playpen, a swimming pool but they will soon fly out of a pool.

Good luck with your building it's going to be nice.

 

[DogCatChickMom]

Well hey girl! I just bought my house in October too! I just almost finished my coop and we are getting our chicks in a few days! I will be using a large box for mine for a few weeks. I'm super excited. Your coop looks good

 

[Jensownzoo]

I started brooding in a plastic swimming pool. When they started to fly out of that, I built walls out of cardboard moving boxes and duct tape, put some styrofoam board on the floor (basement, the floor is very cold), covered it with a tarp, then added shavings on top of that. My brooder is now 5x5 with 3' walls and cost maybe $15 because of the styrofoam. I cut a little dutch door top in one side (secured with a pinch clamp) for me to get in/out. I can sit on a stool in the "doorway" and watch chicken TV and hand out treats. There is a kitty litter box full of builders sand for grit and dust bathing, a 2x2 perch raised on bricks for roosting if they want, and the heat lamp is attached to a 2x4 hanging from a floor joist overhead.

I could have just attached the cardboard to the swimming pool to raise the wall height, but my way gave them much more room.

I like your shed and am a bit envious of it! I'm building from scratch instead.

 

[bbrierly]

Thanks for all the replies. I'll be getting 15 of them ... Well plus the free one so 16..._as long as there isn't extra packing peanuts lol

 

[bbrierly]

I just bought the 2 by 4s this afternoon.. Tomorrow is going to be a busy Sunday

 

[bbrierly]

Painted the 2 by 4's .

 

[bbrierly]

So started the frame of the run. Thought we had enough wood to do all of it but I guess I shorted myself so next weekend we will finish it up and put the fencing around it

 

[bbrierly]

Finished the frame