I'm now looking at John Grogan's chicken ark plan at organicgardening.com. I thought I was going to keep my chickens in a partitioned-off section of the old barn but just found out it's going to cost over a thousand bucks to shore it up and predator-proof it. And that doesn't include reroofing it. We will not be doing that.
Grogan says the ark "easily holds six or seven chickens." Is that for real? I have to order a minimum of eight chicks where I live, and I was thinking maybe I could modify this plan slightly by making it 8' long instead of 6' and putting another set of nesting boxes on the other side. I wouldn't bother with that, though, if it's really big enough for six or seven chickens; I'd just give one or two of them away to friends. Six chickens will probably be gracious plenty eggs for two people., I would think, and I really do want to keep it as lightweight as possible.
If I'd need to make the coop longer for my chickens, would it be strong enough if I add in the two extra feet without adding another set of rafters? I'm thinking of getting a mix of EEs and Red Stars.
Also, anyone who has built this plan, where do the chickens roost?
Diane
in Cave Spring, GA, Zone 7B
Grogan says the ark "easily holds six or seven chickens." Is that for real? I have to order a minimum of eight chicks where I live, and I was thinking maybe I could modify this plan slightly by making it 8' long instead of 6' and putting another set of nesting boxes on the other side. I wouldn't bother with that, though, if it's really big enough for six or seven chickens; I'd just give one or two of them away to friends. Six chickens will probably be gracious plenty eggs for two people., I would think, and I really do want to keep it as lightweight as possible.
If I'd need to make the coop longer for my chickens, would it be strong enough if I add in the two extra feet without adding another set of rafters? I'm thinking of getting a mix of EEs and Red Stars.
Also, anyone who has built this plan, where do the chickens roost?
Diane
in Cave Spring, GA, Zone 7B