California Coop. Not very traditional, but its working. PICS

[swampwander]

Great coop for hot areas!!! We would screen it here to keep mosquitoes down. But, I love that design!!

 

[G Wiz Ranch]

Thanks for the comments. The birds do not have access to their poop or the DE. I only spread the DE when they are away from the area and not in the coop. When I use up the DE I have, I will look for food grade DE. I spread it about every other month, and it is less than a small coffee can in size. I they spray water over the poop and DE to help the composting. Visitors can't believe it when they walk up to the coop and see the poop that they can't smell it. The lime helps too.

The weather here is very constant. This past week it has been clear, no wind and in the high 70's. We don't have any issues with mesquetos, the few we have, I have seen the chickens trying to catch them. It is suposed to rain today, and it is 65f out right now.

Intersting fact, the manufacture and leading supplier of engineered mineral products derived from diatomaceous earth and expanded perlite is located in the hillsides on the otherside of the valley from our ranch. "World Mineral" or "Celite" has a plant in Lompoc and is based out of Santa Barbara (45 min south of us).

 

[ziggy]

Nice coop. I think around here you have to worry more about the heat than winter temps. It looks really nice for summer.

Your 'neighbor' in Nipomo.

 

[AtRendeAcres]

Nice!

 

[GardeNerd]

I love the design. Good to see more California Coast coops. I keep reading about insulation in coop designs for winter and wondering if that's needed at all here. I worry about the 3 weeks of August heat we get more than anything. So the key for summer heat in CA is ventilation and shade and don't worry about the limited winter cold. Right? Our lowest low is usually 35 degrees. I'm still putting my coop together and been wondering if I need to fit anything other than hardware cloth in the window openings. Thanks for the post.

I love the whole central coast. You are very blessed to live in such a beautiful temperate place. We've talked about moving there, but big city life is so convenient. We have friends in Nipomo.

 

[G Wiz Ranch]

Quote:
Thanks!

Quote:
Thanks, I am located in a valley about 7.75 miles from the ocean with an elevation of 375ft, we almost never see freezing and when we do, the second the sun is up, the temp climbs. One the flip side, we do not get as hot as the more inland areas like Santa Maria, Nipomo, Santa Ynez, etc. We almost never get HOT. To me, hot is 75F,

I turn the AC on in my truck when its over 75f. I put the coop in the shade mainly because I chose to use the tin roofs, I like the way they look when the get rusty. Plus it was lighter than shingles, I didn't mention it, but I can remove the enter uper half of the coop, if I need to.

As far as the window sceen goes, it depends on your predators. I have stray dogs, coyote's, foxes, badgers, skunks, barn cats and the occasional bob cat or mnt lion. I added white LED christmas lights to the eves and up to the peak of the roof and they are on from dusk to dawn. I have not had ANY of the predators touch the coop. I did have a Fox get to some chicks in my outdoor brooder that was in my fenced back yard. My fence is 4ft dog ear and I left a shovel leaning againt it on the outside and he got over the fence using the shovel. I had the brooder covered with a thin sheet of luan plywood (unsecured). He took out 5 of the 21 chicks. I returned the favor. Knock on wood, but I think that the chistmas lights scare the predators away. My floor is 1/2"x1/2" hardware cloth, the 2 front windows are and the walls are 1" chicken wire, the big window is 1/2 cloth. I used scraps of what I had (except the floor). In hind site, should have used something stronger on the walls like cloth I used on the floor. But so far no issues. Good luck with your build

 

[GardeNerd]

I like the Christmas light idea. If nothing else it makes it pleasing to look at. I might try that since there is an outlet on the garage when the coop will go.

I am going to use the 1/2" hardware cloth over every opening. Eventhough my city is considered urban by most folks standards, the area around here has coyotes. I haven't seen one yet, but a neighbor's toy size dog was killed by one in the park early in the a.m. when it was off leash. We regularly see Coopers Hawks, Praire Falcons, Red tailed Hawks, Raccoons, and Possums. I do have a block wall and strong 6 foot fence to keep the stray dogs and probably coyotes out, but I will have to build it to keep everything else out of the coop.

My kids watched the prairie falcon tear a mocking bird apart in our backyard shade tree last summer. I would hate for that to be one of their pet chickens. I probably won't let the hens free range much.

 

[Clay In Iowa]

Obviously 'traditional' is way over rated. Very nice coop. I love it.

I'm still planning my coop and think I might have more than a few new ideas now. Good work!!!

 

[Wynette]

Very interesting - thanks for posting pics! But - from what I can see, it sure seems like 48 hens would be way too many for the coop.

I love the design; it's easy to clean, and hygienic! Thanks again for sharing!!

 

[cmom]

Great looking coop. I was wondering as another post asked, why you use pool grade instead of food grade DE? I use Food Grade DE over my poop in the poop pit in one of my coops and when I clean it out it goes into my compost pile. I use Food Grade DE in both of my coops but only one had a poop pit.