Building a Woods Coop for DLM in the Shenandoah Valley

[DoozyWombat]

Finally got some warmer weather this weekend. I still have to put up the trim, cut the door, pop door and window, and put in the hardware cloth, but the outside is otherwise done. (I'm including the bit of siding around the windows as trim.)

 

[DoozyWombat]

Starting to get there.

 

[DoozyWombat]

A bit about the hardware cloth for the windows. It's 1/4" mesh, in a 2' wide roll. That is perfect for the upper (monitor) window, but the front window is almost four feet high. It occurred to me that fastening the two swaths of mesh so a critter can't get between them is a challenge.

The obvious solution is to put wood across the middle and screw down both segments in the middle. I wanted to keep the front window as unobstructed as possible, so I took the wire that was used to wrap the roll of hardware cloth, and sewed the two segments together after they were mounted. It worked pretty well. You can see in the above picture that the fastening is hidden from the outside.

I was going to use decking screws and fender washers to fasten down the hardware cloth, but I found standard roofing screws (with the mounted gaskets) work great.

 

[DoozyWombat]

I found an 18-inch thermometer here:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001A0K8KQ/?tag=backy-20
that I mounted where I could see the temp inside the coop from the house:

I didn't realize until I saw the name on the package that the thermometer was made by the company that made my wonderful guitar. Bonus!

 

[DoozyWombat]

In the back of the previous photo, you can see the roosting bars. I have four 8' 2x4s, set 12" apart and 12" up from each other, going roughly parallel to the roof. I put them short side up, as the birds I'm getting are CX and Brahmas, and apparently have trouble with their keels on the wider side.

The only part I still have to build on the inside is the nesting box set.

 

[DoozyWombat]

Finishing Up

All set for chicks in spring.

This is going to be home for 32 birds, including 25 CX, and seven Dark Brahmas. It will get a little crowded by the time we harvest the CX.

The area around this (about a half acre) will be enclosed in a good electric fence. It will also contain the vegetable garden (screened from the birds,) fruit trees, the compost piles, and two "chicken salad" gardens screened in rotation. The rabbitry is going up just behind the coop.
Supplemental foods include fodder and mealworms. The mealworm culture is already going, and I'll be building the fodder tower this week.

 

[DoozyWombat]

I used cat litter tubs for nesting boxes. I'm going to add two more, but I don't have any more empties yet. You can see the four roosting bars on the right.

 

[jthornton]

Are they tiny chickens? Do you know a hen stands up to lay the egg?

JT

 

[aart]

Agrees that those buckets need to be rotated 90°.

Curious why the roost 'stairs' are oriented as they are?
Usually they go the other way, but maybe there's good reason?

 

[DoozyWombat]

Are they tiny chickens? Do you know a hen stands up to lay the egg?
JT

Ah. Showing my ignorance here. Again. No, Brahmas are definitely not tiny. I was planning to build the boxes out of scrap wood, but read some suggestions that cat litter tubs make great nesting boxes. I think the mouths are 11.5" wide by 14.5" long, tapering slightly to the bottom. So maybe they are too short as they are, but if I turn them so they are taller, perhaps that will be enough. I was concerned about it being too narrow, but from what you are saying, height is more important. I don't remember the depth, but it's something like 18".

And I really appreciate the feedback.