Building my hen house

[Irishhenman]

First off I am 13 years old and this is the first time I have built a proper coop. I have built several cages, roosts and nest boxes in the last year but this is my first big project. I am also on a budget so I am going to use a lot of reclaimed wood and leftovers from my garage. The plan is to build a 4 feet by 4 feet by 4 feet house that is raised up by 2 feet. So far the total cost has been €24 for eight lengths of 2 x 1 wood and I got four pallets for free from a feed shop.

Today is the first day and I have not really done much. I have dismantled 4 pallets to use as the side and floor and probably the roof. I was left with this pile of planks and only three boards were completely ruined which is pretty good for me as I usually have at least 6 or 7 boards destroyed.

After dismantling my pallets I set out building the frame for my house. I made the two side panels for the house and cut the wood for the rest of the frame. Here are the frames.

It has since gotten dark so I won't be able to do any more until tomorrow, but I think I have made a fairly good start.

 

[ChirpyChicks1]

WTG! How many chickens do you have?

 

[Irishhenman]

I have around twenty adult hens including two cockerels. Four of the hens and one cockerel are breeding orpingtons and the rest are layers and one cockerel. The number of chicks and growers I have changes all the time but at the moment I only have fifteen 7 week olds and a couple of 9 week olds. This house will be for a breeding set of light Sussex about 12 hens and a cockerel that I am going to get when the house and run are finished.

 

[Irishhenman]

Today, I didn't get as much done as I had hoped because of a couple of things. We had loads of very heavy showers that forced me inside and I ran out of 1 and a half inch nails which is what I need from now on. I also realized that I do not have enough pallets so I will have to go to the feed store for more soon. This weekend is a bank holiday here so I can't get more pallets or nails until Tuesday.

This is what I got done today. I added the pop hole frame and some supports to one of the frames

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I also made the frame for the cleaning door which is very large.

After diner I managed to put the two frames together and the whole frame is finished now other than a couple of supports and stands. I couldn't start the sides because of my nail shortage. I used up my final few nails building the sliding drawer that acts as the floor and collects all of the droppings and makes for really easy cleaning.

 

[JanetS]

Looking good so far. Keep the pictures coming.

 

[BStump]

Good job! For a 13 year old, not a bad start. You will learn some great skills by doing this yourself. Keep at it!

 

[luvmychixandducks]

Do you have access to a reversible drill ? If so you can use screws instead of nails - they split less often, and you can remove them to correct errors without wasting materials.
Great start - just make sure you make your coop large enough for the number of birds you plan on keeping there.
With coops, the larger the better - chickens are habit forming and you never can get enough.

 

[Irishhenman]

Yes, I have access to a screw gun, I do use screws for the main joints but for small things like attaching the pallets I prefer nails, it is just a personal preference. I am going to go into town tomorrow morning and get more pallets and some nails and spend the day building tomorrow.

Beleive me when I say this. I know chickens are addictive, I got my first chickens when I was eight, just four pullets and within a month I had a breeding trio and about 10 more hens. I now have about five houses of chickens (all very large chicken tractors that hold about 8 to 15 birds) and loads of chicks and growers. This will be my first stationary house and it will be for a breeding flock of something. I am not completely sure what it will be yet though.

I have gotten a bit of a reputation for being the hen man around here mostly due to the fact that I have written two books on keeping chickens and have won national awards for them.

 

[aart]

Yes, I have access to a screw gun, I do use screws for the main joints but for small things like attaching the pallets I prefer nails, it is just a personal preference. I am going to go into town tomorrow morning and get more pallets and some nails and spend the day building tomorrow.

Beleive me when I say this. I know chickens are addictive, I got my first chickens when I was eight, just four pullets and within a month I had a breeding trio and about 10 more hens. I now have about five houses of chickens (all very large chicken tractors that hold about 8 to 15 birds) and loads of chicks and growers. This will be my first stationary house and it will be for a breeding flock of something. I am not completely sure what it will be yet though.

I have gotten a bit of a reputation for being the hen man around here mostly due to the fact that I have written two books on keeping chickens and have won national awards for them.

Cool, what are the titles of your books?

 

[Irishhenman]

A Beginners Guide to Keeping Chickens and A Complete Guide to Chicken Breeds are the names of my books.

I am so sorry for not getting back to this thread but my iPad broke and I was not able to post pictures. I have now gotten the house almost completely finished. I should be done by next Wednesday.The house is technically water proof but I will be putting some plastic over the roof wood for extra protection. I just need to fix some minor problems, change some bolt locks, put wire on the floor to go underneath the wooden floor, make the nest boxes and finally paint everything with word treatment paint and then a quick coat of clear varnish. It sounds like so much when I say it like that.

Pictures coming I. the morning