Building my Coop and Run Area

[Amigatec]

Well I live in a small town in East Central Oklahoma, and my little town has an ordnance against raising chickens in town. I talked with the Code Enforcer here in town and was told as long as no one complained he would look the other way.

So I am going to start building the coop, and I hope to document my effort here.

My area is approximately 11' X 17'. I had this fence professionally installed a couple of years ago. I will contact the fence company that did the work and have them raise this to an 8' high fence. I also need a 10' drive-tho gate installed at another location in the fence. I can kill to birds with one stone, (pun intended)

Here is the area looking from the east.

And here it is looking from the west.

 

[Amigatec]

I will post most info on my personal page.

 

[mikecnorthwest]

What type of coop design are you thinking of? I'd be a little worried about investing a ton of money into it if there was the possibility that eventually the city could order you to remove the chickens. I'm not sure how the city could ignore it if someone makes a complaint.

 

[Amigatec]

I can always use it as a garden shed if it doesn't work, or maybe rabbits.

It will be basically a pole barn type.

 

[Amigatec]

OK My pen area is approx 11X17.5 feet (192.5 sqft in the outside run area). I found some exterior grade panels that are 5X8 feet 3/8" thick ($6.00 a sheet). I plan to set a treated 4X4X8 post in each corner, and make the outside 5X10 feet. This will give me 50 sqft inside (50 sqft in the coop.) which should be enough for 12 chickens. I plan to run treated 2X4's around the bottom, and frame the door with treated. Across the middle and top will be standard 2X4's with a double header. The wall panels will be cut to 6' with an opening at the top for ventilation. The roof will a flat roof with a slope and covered with plywood and rolled roofing. No floor.

Inside at one end will be a couple of shelfs with kitty litter boxes for nesting, at the other end will the roost with a poop board underneath high enough so I can get the wheelbarrow under it. The roost will be like a ladder that is laying down and sloped up slightly, I plan to use tree branches for the roost itself.

Anybody have any suggestions?

 

[Amigatec]

You can go to me personal page and see my progress.