Chicken townhouse! Living and laying in the peak of chic!

Orpingtons Mom

Crowing
16 Years
Jun 4, 2009
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Fredericksb'g/Culpeper VA
OK, well living in the peak of chic may be a little bit over the top, but, that was one of my mom's favorite sayings...and yesterday was Mother's Day. So. Onwards and upwards.

First step: this is my garage, left by the losers that used to own my house. The potentially useful window has been spray painted green (horrible job too I might add) so the entire section really needs to be replaced, blah blah blah etc.


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So, this is what I thought I would do. REMEMBER: this is for THREE CHICKENS ONLY!!!

The window, and the crummy white stuff will be removed and replaced with shiplap (?) of course, it will be weatherproof. IN FRONT of this, by about 8.6 feet will go this (this is looking straight on, and the far right may be shutters. Don't know yet)

1589210697977.png


OK. So far so good? Next comes the overhead view as if you were looking down from a helicopter. The small rectangles are 6 X 3 X 8 solid oak, that will be sunk in concrete (there's a sawmill a couple of miles away and they are dirt cheap.) The lower right hand corner is the beauty-spa-dust-bath area (3' X 2') and the three parallel rectangles represent a staircase

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Now comes the really cool part. Looking at the above, now we switch to the left-hand view, if you had dismounted from the helicopter and were looking straight ahead, feet on the ground.

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Ok. Now, let's look at this carefully. Everything is basically drawn to scale, EXCEPT the staircase. It will be a proper 3-step staircase, maybe with a ramp on one side, maybe not. The chooks will go up and down. The Blue Box, is the coop, and it is pretty big and ONLY for roosting. What's good about it (obviously) is it is inside a secure garage, and critters cannot enter. Well, maybe a bear, but he'd still have a hard time. If I have figured the stairs out correctly, there would be a perfect space for a nest box (of course, with curtains. Chintz maybe?) Full size door is to the right, so I might enter and clean the run. I am thinking of having the first floor (think the top stair) all the way down to the other end of the run. Perhaps a lounge chair or two will be added. Maybe a hammock.

Food and water will be run from the outside by 1.5 in white plastic plumbing pipe (nipples??) as will their feed.

So, TADA! Thoughts? I know it's a little goofy, but the custard-heads that had the house before me put that stupid window in with the white bead-board...and it looks horrible. What do you think?
 
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Pretty good illustrations.....but......please clarify:
Coop with roosts and nests will be inside garage?
And you'll build a run outside garage?
And the steps are for the birds to go into coop thru the window?
 
Well… Yes. Except I am going to try and put the nest box outside underneath the stairs. I’m tryin to solve a number of problems: hideous garage, attractive coop, and the ultimate protection

I should also say the garage isn’t really for cars/trucks/ etc. I have horses, and this where I store the hay. And feed. Tack. Etc.

OK I admit it is not a usual configuration... The only thing I’m worried about is having a nest box outside. But why not?
 
I guess it would fine to have the nests outside.....if the run is predator and weatherproof.
Does it freeze where you live?

My first though was why use the window as egress between coop and run,
when you could cut a closer to ground level pop door?

I understand you have copious hate for the garage, but maybe it could be improved by putting a beautifully functioning chicken coop inside?
Pics of inside of garage?
 
Do I need more than 1 nestbox for 3 hens?

1 is enough for 3. 2 is better (in case someone goes broody), but not required.

Can't say I get the overall layout (sorry not good at visualizing off a diagram). Just wanted to add that if you're doing steps, no need for a ramp - chickens are perfectly happy to navigate steps.
 
Perhaps This will help; I was looking for a shed to buy (and convert into a chicken coop) and I saw this. It’s basically a screened in room, that is attached to a townhouse and you can enter the building (house) within this room... you can just see a door at the far end. I took the idea and turned it into a chicken habitat, with the roost inside the house.
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Perhaps This will help; I was looking for a shed to buy (and convert into a chicken coop) and I saw this. It’s basically a screened in room, that is attached to a townhouse and you can enter the building (house) within this room... you can just see a door at the far end. I took the idea and turned it into a chicken habitat, with the roost inside the house.

Ok that looks pretty nifty - only question is I assume you've checked that there's no restriction on having a chicken enclosure without setbacks against the house?
 

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