I thought that I would share this with you. Ok, so I live on the central coast of California, where we live it never snows and is seldom under 35F and almost never over 95f. When I decided to build a coop, I did a lot of reading and searching the net. I ended up turning to a coop design that was used on a ranch not far from mine, I brought it home thinking I would rebuild it. The coop I copied was built in the 30's or 40's (see photo when you click on this link) . The main reason I went with this design was maintenance. The poop just falls through the floor to the ground. When the girls are away, I spread pool grade DE and construction grade lime on the poop, add a little bit of water to help the poop compost and for smell. When It builds up, I add it to my compost pile (thank you donkeys) and let it compost some more.
The build was easy, it is 8ft x 8ft with a 45deg slope. I have 12 nesting boxes and based on the linear feet of roosts, it can handle 48 hens. It is in the shade all day all year. There is 6 feet of food troughs and 1 automatic water trough (upgrade since pics). I have three windows that are screened that I can control how much they are open. There is two vents at the peaks(upgrade since pics). I installed a light on a timer and a heat lamp on a thermostat that comes on at 40F. To clean, I can remove all the nesting boxes, both feeders and I pressure wash the roosts and screen floor. The bottom door opens into a completely enclosed yard (net added after pics) that is 16ft x 48ft. On days that we are not home they stay in their yard. When I am home, I have electric net fencing (keep predators out) and they free range what ever area I have them set up at. I have enough fencing to create a "hallway" from their main yard to the temp yard that is usually 320ft perimeter. They make their way back to the coop at night and I close them in. The top door is for future use when I have the courage to let them free range everyday without the fencing or netting.
Click here for more photos.
Tell me what you think?
The build was easy, it is 8ft x 8ft with a 45deg slope. I have 12 nesting boxes and based on the linear feet of roosts, it can handle 48 hens. It is in the shade all day all year. There is 6 feet of food troughs and 1 automatic water trough (upgrade since pics). I have three windows that are screened that I can control how much they are open. There is two vents at the peaks(upgrade since pics). I installed a light on a timer and a heat lamp on a thermostat that comes on at 40F. To clean, I can remove all the nesting boxes, both feeders and I pressure wash the roosts and screen floor. The bottom door opens into a completely enclosed yard (net added after pics) that is 16ft x 48ft. On days that we are not home they stay in their yard. When I am home, I have electric net fencing (keep predators out) and they free range what ever area I have them set up at. I have enough fencing to create a "hallway" from their main yard to the temp yard that is usually 320ft perimeter. They make their way back to the coop at night and I close them in. The top door is for future use when I have the courage to let them free range everyday without the fencing or netting.
Click here for more photos.
Tell me what you think?
