Chicken mansion

[humblehillsfarm]

I don't either....there's probably a way....or you could delete and reload.
Those doors are the bomb!!

Thank you! We had some true 2X4s that we split in half with a table saw to make the two identical doors. Trying to save a little $$. There were quite a few times we cut wood in half that way. The little mountains on there were spur of the moment out of the tiniest pieces of scrap wood laying around. We have the same mountains on our garden gate.

 

[humblehillsfarm]

The girls are almost ready to move in!

 

[aart]

Nice!
Think they may try to roost on top of nests or that shelf(?) over roost/poop board?

 

[humblehillsfarm]

Nice!
Think they may try to roost on top of nests or that shelf(?) over roost/poop board?

It’s a little over 6’ tall. I’m hoping it doesn’t entice them, and the majority of my breeds are heavier. I was more worried about the window sills. I wasn’t an advocate of the shelf (for storage of odds and ends building materials), but unfortunately my opinion didn’t win out. I’d probably just extend the chicken wire up further if issues arose.

 

[aart]

It’s a little over 6’ tall. I’m hoping it doesn’t entice them, and the majority of my breeds are heavier. I was more worried about the window sills. I wasn’t an advocate of the shelf (for storage of odds and ends building materials), but unfortunately my opinion didn’t win out. I’d probably just extend the chicken wire up further if issues arose.

Could always(make him) put a top hinged chicken wire door over the storage area.
Might need a CW block on nest tops too.

Observe and adjust.

Curious, what are the dimensions of the roosts and board?
Back roost look close to wall.

 

[humblehillsfarm]

Could always(make him) put a top hinged chicken wire door over the storage area.
Might need a CW block on nest tops too.

Observe and adjust.

Curious, what are the dimensions of the roosts and board?
Back roost look close to wall.

What is a CW block?

Roost in the big coop were 22” off the ground. I can’t remember exactly how far apart and how far from the wall, but the measurements were based off of the current pre-fab coop. I’d have to measure but my guess is about 8” from the wall and a little over 8” apart for the main coop. It does look close to the wall in the pictures but I’m at work and can’t check

The smaller coop roosts had much less space. We had quite the dispute on order for me to even have more than one roost bar there, because it was initially built with one despite previous agreements to have two. That coop is meant for, at most, five to six chickens for a breeding flock and they will have a pop-door for outside access. With one roost I could have maybe fit three. He also insisted on a shelf that I didn’t want or need above the roosts of the smaller coop area. I don’t have clear pictures of that because I didn’t want the construction materials in the pictures.

I’m not wanting to throw my SO under the bus, because he’s gone above and beyond to build this coop, but there were numerous instances where I’d research an aspect of the build intensely, we’d draw up a plan, and I’d come home and he’d have built something not even remotely close to what we had agreed to build. All in all I am happy with how it turned out, but there are quite a few things that should have been, and could have been, done better.

One more recent discussion was the depth of the poop boards. We had decided on a final depth to ensure they won’t poop and miss the poop boards like they frequently do in our current coop, and then he ended up building them the same exact way as the current coop, meaning when they sleep facing the wall on the outermost roost, they just poop on the floor.

Regardless, the point was more space for more chickens, and a bear- and carpenter bee-resistant coop, and that for sure we do have! Unfortunately I spend what seems like most of my waking life at work where he doesn’t, so most of the burden of the build fell on his shoulders and so much was out of my control.

 

[humblehillsfarm]

I moved the existing flock into their new coop last night. We still have a laundry list of things need to be completed on the coop, but for the chickens, it was finished enough. The pop door still needs added to the smaller brooder coop, we still need a ramp for the existing pop door (which will be added today), power needs ran to the coop, a bear-resistant door needs added (we are hoping and assuming he is hibernating currently), and the exterior run and roof needs added. Eventually we want to run water to the coop simply for convenience.

The flock was curiously checking out their new space this morning. They were calm and explorative.

How long should I leave them locked in there to orient them to return to their new home?

 

[aart]

How long should I leave them locked in there to orient them to return to their new home?

Maybe a week.
Is the old coop closed off?

 

[humblehillsfarm]

Maybe a week.
Is the old coop closed off?

The pop door is closed. I think I’ll let them out tomorrow afternoon and see how they do. If they try to go back to the old coop I’ll catch them and put them in the new one for a few more days. I hate the thought of leaving my poor birds locked up.

 

[humblehillsfarm]

Temp and humidity stats are looking pretty good. I got my first egg already.... laid right in the floor lol I’m trying artificial grass pads in the nest box. I hope they catch on.