Building our Urban Garden Coop!

[PonderingChick]

Quote:
The plans can be purchased at thegardencoop.com

 

[Sparkalator]

Thanks, I will check it out.

 

[CRYROLFE]

Yes, we are building

THE GARDEN COOP

These plans were very easy to follow and change up to fit your space/style. This is the VERY FIRST thing we have ever built.

 

[ginger c.]

looks great and your chicks are too cute!

 

[kesali]

Keep the pixs coming! I am starting the Garden Coop next week, so am excited to see how yours goes along. The only thing I wonder is that the roof appears to have a very low slant and we have LOTS of snow all winter. So the snow will have to be removed often. Also, I will have to expand the coop and run somewhat because it is designed for 8 chickens and I have 14.

 

[CRYROLFE]

Quote:
Here is a quote from the Garden Coop site...

Questions about the roofing material (e.g., What is the snow load of the roofing material you recommend? Should I use clear, solar gray, or another shade? Where can I learn more?):

The roofing panels indicated in the plan are called SunTuf

and are made by Palram Industries. The plan follows the manufacturer's installation guidelines, which you can download here. (This is a general download page, so scroll down for the SunTuf

installation guides. There should be a consumer version and a more detailed "pro-sumer" version.) The panels as attached in this design are rated to support 20-30 lbs. per square foot. As for colors, SunTuf

panels come in different shades. Avoid Clear unless you are locating the coop in full shade. Solar Gray has been great -- it cuts all but 30% of the sunlight. It may look dark in the store, but outside you really see how much light comes through. White works nicely too, diffusing the light even more.

We have not noticed dirt/leaves/fungus accumulating on the gray or white roofs and have not had to wash them. If you have lots of leaf litter or little sunlight, maybe you'll see more of that.​

 

[CRYROLFE]

Here are a couple more photos.....

This is the right side of the coop....I don't think we'll put much on this side, maybe just some ventilation holes near the top. We are planning to add the roost to the other side of this wall.

This is the left side of the coop house....on the inside of the run. On this wall we are adding a large access door for cleaning and a pop door.

This is the front of the coop house. On this wall we will add an external nest box w/ 2 nesting areas. Above that we will add a window for air flow and for decorative reasons.

We have a lot of existing plants that we are having to work around, so we have adjusted the coop plans a bit, so hopefully they will work out.

 

[drumstick diva]

Cryrolfe - oh no not a sycamore tree!! We have a BIG one in the yard and it throws down a million branches, pieces of branches etc. daily, I can spend an hour picking them up and carting away. The ones I miss get tramped on and imbedded in the ground. It is a great shade tree but, very tempermental about low temps in late spring. It always loses it's first crop of leaves to late frosts, and finally gots a second crop that succeeds in mid to late June. It is such a huge towering tree I don't know how it can possibly feel light frost on the ground. If I had to go over, I would not get one again - too much litter. The leaves also don't fall off till winter and sometimes not even then. We have free leaf pickup till November, so are always stuck with a ton of the leaves also.

Otherwise love your coop, when we had dogs we covered the runs with fiberglass panels and loved it - the snow could be pushed off with a broom - just slid off.

 

[drumstick diva]

P.S. one more thing - out here birdfeeders attract alot of hawks - they just sit nearby and wait to grab lunch.

 

[CRYROLFE]

drumstick diva - oh no not a sycamore tree!! We have a BIG one in the yard and it throws down a million branches, pieces of branches etc. daily, I can spend an hour picking them up and carting away.

Yes, our tree is a bit of a mess, but we REALLY, REALLY love it and the shade it provides, plus it is VERY beautiful and is 85yrs old. We will also be using the branches for roosts in the run....so win, win. The leaves are a pain, but we usually just pay a local guy 50.00 a couple times a year and all gone. We are landscapers at heart, so we don't really mind. Good compost too!
This tree will be great for shade for our girls too.

drumstick diva - P.S. one more thing - out here bird feeders attract a lot of hawks - they just sit nearby and wait to grab lunch.

We are in the heart of the city and we rarely see any hawks here, we've been here about 5 years now . The coop will also be pretty tight, so no hawks can get in, but thanks for the warnings....that would be awful!​