Converting a not-a-greenhouse to a chicken coop

[AmyPaperlady]

More pictures! Next batch should be more interesting, but these aren't too bad.


When I shoveled the bark chunks (contaminated with paint chips, rusty screws, and broken glass) and swept, I learned that the slab was poured the same year I graduated from high school.


It started raining while I was sweeping, so I found more to do to keep my momentum going. There had been a shelf and a couple of other boards here that I'd not been able to get out when I was stripping the inside with my bare hands, but I had the crowbar with me today... Didn't think to take pics until I had everything down. The knotholes used to be covered with rusty lids--the one revealed when I took the shelf down had a hole in it, so I took that lid off and just kept going. One trip to buy more fender washers later, and we have more predator-proof ventilation!

I did manage to get the glass door in, and am midway through getting that set up. I also figured out how I'm going to get the roosts in. I'll take more pictures when those 2 projects are completed.

I've decided against painting the inside--there are cobwebs everywhere. Taking the lids off the wall did let me get rid of more spiders, though. I've killed at least 7 black widows, and haven't bothered counting how many normal spiders I've killed during the last couple months.

 

[hosspak]

Amy, it looks like it's coming along nicely. I still don't understand the whole glass door thing inside. I can see chickens flying into it and tweaking a beak, especially when chasing each other. I would let them have all them space to frolic in. I understand the concern for hot temps inside the coop but I know your's gets shade and run are also putting in a run. I flock here in sunny So. Cal. had no problems at all when the mercury hit 115 in August. They had shade and water and they still laid out in the heat, sunning themselves. I would take a second look at the roosts as well, I used closet rods inside all the houses and I still see most just laying on on floor. But then today I a made a throw-together perch for their run with a 2x4 laid flat and with in 5 minutes two of my girls were perched and started to nod off to dreamland. I have read several posts in BYC about using flat wood for the roosts because it's easier for them to sit on them and sleep without falling off. I will be redoing my round roosts tomorrow.
But keep at it, you are doing great....for a girl. (Please no letters) She knows I'm kidding.

 

[AmyPaperlady]

I'll admit that I didn't think about door visibility... But I have a 4-year-old and stickers, and she's been dying to help

It gets really windy here, and I was inside the coop last week on a windy day, so I know some sort of windbreak is needed. Sure, I could've gotten something to cover the door openings, but that sort of defeats the whole ventilation thing... Plus, we already had the glass door and we haven't figured out how to get rid of it...

 

[hosspak]

You could recycle the door to someone who needs it. I just think that you have all that room in there for the roosts and maybe a couple more nest boxes and you might not like the clutter..

 

[aart]

I'll admit that I didn't think about door visibility... But I have a 4-year-old and stickers, and she's been dying to help

It gets really windy here, and I was inside the coop last week on a windy day, so I know some sort of windbreak is needed. Sure, I could've gotten something to cover the door openings, but that sort of defeats the whole ventilation thing... Plus, we already had the glass door and we haven't figured out how to get rid of it...

LOL, that's great!

I have some old windows that I plan on using as a wind break, screwed some chicken wire over them to make them visible so we don't have any crashes.

I think the door idea is worth trying out, you can always change it later if it doesn't work out.

 

[AmyPaperlady]

Roosts are in! As is the door! Just need to make the feeder (did the cuts--just need to clean and assemble (salvaged pvc)) and waterer and gather up litter, buy feed, get chickens...


Four foot roosts, so 12 feet altogether. Each branch end has 2 screws from the top. It was getting dark, but I think I lightened the third picture enough. The white boards were from my husband's project--his helper overbought, so "free" wood for me

The roosts are sturdier than they look--I put all my weight in the center of each as I put them up, and I weigh much more than 4 chickens. The bottom roost is a couple inches higher than the top of the nest boxes, and they go up about a foot each, with a foot between each, and the one in the back is a foot from the wall.


And here's the door (haven't sent the youngest in with stickers yet). The door's held up top by the metal thing that goes the width of the coop (just a hair too narrow to put the top of the door inside) and the boards the roosts are attached to. In fact, it was when figuring out how to keep the door up that I figured out how to install the roosts. The board on the side of the door is basically there so the white boards aren't just floating on the end away from the wall. The board on the bottom is there because I thought it was needed--and it did seem to reinforce the board that the original builders used as a stud. Although the door should make a great windbreak, ventilation's still good--there's 6 inches of empty space above the door, and a little less than an inch between the door and the wall.

It was warm and sunny enough outside this afternoon to make jeans and a thin t-shirt a bit warm, and it was a little cooler in the coop. I was doing some rough estimating, and I've got about 20-25 square feet of ventilation. Not bad for a 10'x10' building that won't ever be filled to capacity.

 

[Alaskan]

I think that looks lovely!

 

[aart]

Sure, that'll do, why not?
Won't be easy to remove if it doesn't work out for some reason as the roosts are attached to it but what they hey...
Let the Sticker Kid Loose!!

 

[AmyPaperlady]

Sure, that'll do, why not?
Won't be easy to remove if it doesn't work out for some reason as the roosts are attached to it but what they hey...
Let the Sticker Kid Loose!!

If it doesn't work out, everything is attached with coated deck screws--I'll just put legs under the door-ends. Heck, if I scoot the roosts over a little, I can attach one end to the wall and use the legs I already have.

 

[AmyPaperlady]

The inside is finished and occupied!


Feeder from the salvaged PVC. I'd bought pipe strapping a couple weeks ago, and couldn't find it anywhere. Luckily, I'd found that long side board while looking for stuff to rake up for my litter. And then, when I got the feeder in, and realized I needed something curved to hold the hopper up, I remembered that bit from the campfire wood pile that our dog loves to run with. I figure I can hang treats or whatnot from the extra length. Once I got everything hung, I realized I'd set it up too high, but I had that bit of beam.


My deep litter. Since there's a cement slab under everything, I brought the contents of my compost bin in to give things a head start. Since there was a lot of sod in the compost, there's dirt, too. Lots of pillbugs and beetles came along. So my bottom layer is compost and dirt. I did spring for 2 bales of pine shavings, since the compost didn't even cover the entire floor. I managed to get a wheelbarrow's worth of stuff from under our cedar tree, and did a little weeding. My husband's going to mow sometime this week, and I asked him to empty the mower bag into the coop (the cherry tree hasn't dropped any leaves yet, and doesn't look like it's going to any time soon, so there won't be toxic leaves in the clippings);


My girls got to hang out with the lady's other birds after we picked out ours and boxed them up.


And here they are! A SLW, a GLW, and a mystery chicken (White Rock? Lays a lighter brown egg than the wyandottes.) who is actually white--she had a dirt bath before the lady caught and penned the hens for sale. The wyandottes are 7 months old. The white hen is older, and almost finished molting. I went in when it was nearly dark, and put the white hen and the SLW on the bottom rung of the roost. The GLW decided that she didn't want to get caught, and hopped up herself. I guess I don't need to put a ramp up--I was thinking I might, because they each had one wing clipped before they were boxed up. I tried to get a picture of them on the top roost, but it was too dark.