Coop let me know what you think

[dustponds10]

Alright I thought I started a thread but I cannot find it anywhere so Ill post my coop here. A little history, my Father, brother and I bought an old farm about 5 years ago and on it was a bunch of out buildings. I was wanting to get chickens and my Dad said to use the old coop. So I put a wall in it and built some laying boxes and put some roosts in the corner and here is what I get to work with. I will soon get to make the run but I first have to move an old 63 chevy pickup and what not. here as some pictures for you to look at.

one side of the coop

back of the coop

the front side of the coop

roosts that I put into the wall

New laying boxes that I just got done building

home made feeder, from info on this site and a 8 gallon waterer.

and my chicks that are in the almost feathered stage.
This is way fun, and I cannot wait to get the run done and see my chickens playing out in the sun picking on the bugs and plants and what not. Oh I also bought horse fence for the coop, not to keep the chickens in, but to keep the dogs out. I will also get a solar motion light and possibly an electric fence.

If you have any suggestions I am open for them. Let me know what you think. Hope you enjoy the pictures

 

[babyblue]

that will make a really nice big coop. I think you may have under done the roosts a little and overdone the nest boxes a bit...the girls will be goofy and lay all the eggs in only a few of the "best" box's. I see lots of fence iron, reuse that with some wire and run a few strands of electric up the side and you will have yourself a very very nice coop and run.

 

[dustponds10]

Dang I was hopeing that I had overdone the roosts. i think that I did overdue the boxes as well and I might have to cut them in half so that I only have 8 boxes, then use the others for storage or even put them on the other side when I turn that into a pure bred chicken coop. I am just going to have some layers in the coop rright now but in the future I might get some more rare birds that I want like marions or something and play with them in that coop. Now that you say something I think that is what I am going to do. The Iron posts are going to be used to make the run. I would let the run but i live by a hyway and have some dogs in my area. Maybe when i am home Ill let them eat buggs and what not. I guess soon I can add some more roosts with 2x4's and go length wise.

 

[BankerJohn]

love, LOVE the instant ocean feeder bucket. Besides chickens, I keep a coral tank. (chickens are WAY cheaper!)

 

[dustponds10]

Yeah you like that bucket? here are some pictures of the tank that I run in my tank. What corals do you keep? And what chickens do you have?

Just a couple for eye candy but I run a 120 gallon with T-5 lighting and ASM G-3, Frag system is around 130 gallons and made out of a rubbermaid stock feeder and a 75 gallon fire glass tank.

Chickens are cheaper? I hope so other then my tank and corals are now sustaining them selves and paying for my power bill and all new corals and maintence. I put no money into it anymore. I even have around 13 nice nice chalices. Not that any one else is going to care.

 

[BankerJohn]

Quote:
Awesome Rics and Zoos. My tank is a heavy populated 55gal reef tank with 120 sump. I run a Deep Sand Bed in the sump. Euro Reef skimmer. I have a low flow algae tank up high on a gravity feed back into the reef tank that is on an alternate lighting cycle. Reef tank has a homemade lighting of 8 X t5's overdriven by the ballast. There is also an LED lunar cycle lighting system on a 28.5 day cycle to simulate moon phases. The lunar lights are 8 each of 430 nanometer wavelength lights to bring out the glow in the dark colors. The algae tank removes a lot of impurities (phosphorous & potassium) and provides an endless supply of amphipods and copepods for the reef tank through gravity feed. The deep sand bed in the sump has stars that clean the detritus. Reef tank has about 150-200 cleaner crabs (both red leg & blue legs). The 55 reef tank keeps about 2000 GPH flow through it using maxi jet 900's with homemade mods using RC boat props (see reef central for more on these). Maxi Jets ore on wave timers to alternate flow across corals and throughout the tank for lots of random flow patterns. In the sump, I have RO/DI unit connected to a float valve for evaporation/top off to keep salinity constant. The deep sand bed completes the nitrogen cycle as evidenced by the bubbles up from the DSB in the sump. I made all of the live rock out of portland cement and crushed coral for the tank creating all arches & ledges for the corals.

I have over 70 corals from all over the world in the tank. Mostly LPS & Softies. I have a few SPS but chemical warfare is bad with SPS. I have all the zoos you posted pics of, plus some blues, reds, and oranges. I have a rule in my tank... if a does not fluoresce under 430nM lights, it cannot go in my tank. I bought the original 6 corals for my tank and have fragged & traded for the rest. I often ask others for scraping of their corraline algae if I like the colors. I have 8 or 9 different colors of corraline, including a bright yellow from sea of japan.

I do a 25 gallon water change weekly - whether it needs it or not. I add no chemicals or additives. Instant Ocean salt... ONLY!

 

[catdaddy66]

AWESOME space to be a chicken in!!

The generally accepted numbers for nest boxes is no more than 4 hens per box, and abot 12" linear space on the roost for each adult bird. Roughly. You have nest boxes for 64 birds!!

And roost space for about 18-20 birds, give or take. If only I had the set up you have...

The addiction is strong with this one!

 

[Omran]

I think you have a very nice coop, may be you can add some good welded wire screen for the windows that way you have some air coming to the birds

 

[dustponds10]

Thanks all, oh and you need to send me some pictures of your tank some time. I am pondy on RC

I am going to have to put more roost in and I am going to cut the boxes in half and maybe when I get a specilty chicken for fly tying I will put the other half in the other side for pure breds.
For air, I have two chimneys that are in the top of the building I think you can see it in the pictures and i am taking one of the windows out for the enterance for the run. So they will get some good fresh air all the time, plus there are holes in the building so there is always going to be fresh air for the birds. Good information. I plan on having around 18 to 20 hens in that pen so that is good but I think that I wil have to add some more roost anyways.

 

[flowerchild59]

Great looking coop and thanks for any and all ideas.