Critique our Coop!

[TheGnomesMom]

I like that it blends in with the fence. lol

Ha, it's made from the fence. We're going to paint it though. I think. I keep going back and forth because I like that it blends but then I kind of want it to pop too.

 

[TheGnomesMom]

Have you considered any type of roofing/cover for the closed in run, in case they want to be out during a wamr rain fall? Looks neat, would love to see the finished product.

Oh yeah, we are adding a roof. We're doing a sheet of OSB covered with metal roofing sheets from Home Depot.

 

[TheGnomesMom]

Updated photos!

I didn't get any pictures of the inside but there is a hole in the floor of the top level and I made a chicken ladder. I will get some tomorrow, as you'll see it was dark when we finished up tonight. Most of our progress was made on Mother's Day when hubby was sick and I was out there by myself. I somehow stepped into a fire ant pile leaving me with an insanely swollen ankle AND got into chiggers when I was laying on the ground screwing some trim on the inside of the bottom level of the coop. They got in my underwear so needless to say, I'm miserable. I coated the ground in and around the coop in DE so I'm hoping that helps with all of the buggies.

We finished the right side of this, we still need a ladder. This is before we added the hardware cloth around the bottom level. Umm, looking at the picture, I am kind of concerned about the size of the hole. Do you think it's too small?



I threw together some nesting boxes. Not sure if this is where we'll leave them or not:



We got the door installed on the left side. There will be a people door on the right side so we can access the coop to clean it out. You can't really see it in this picture but the back has about 10" of hardware cloth installed above the sheet of OSB. Actually, you can't see much. I will try to get some better pictures tomorrow.

 

[Nsampsel]

What are your dimensions on your coop door? Mine isn't real big either but my chickens slide in & out real easy. They just duck a bit to walk thru. Mine is about 13x10 inches once the ramp is set on the lip. Chickens can get thru a much smaller opening than you think. Just ask my 5 yr old son who has a tendency to not pull the gate tight behind him when he goes in the run to play with the chickens. I have seen my almost full grown layer pullets slip thru a 3-4 inch gap to escape the run & go munch grass just outside the gate.

 

[TheGnomesMom]

What are your dimensions on your coop door? Mine isn't real big either but my chickens slide in & out real easy. They just duck a bit to walk thru. Mine is about 13x10 inches once the ramp is set on the lip. Chickens can get thru a much smaller opening than you think. Just ask my 5 yr old son who has a tendency to not pull the gate tight behind him when he goes in the run to play with the chickens. I have seen my almost full grown layer pullets slip thru a 3-4 inch gap to escape the run & go munch grass just outside the gate.

It's about 12" across by 9" tall. I was going for 12x12 haha.

 

[Nsampsel]

It's about 12" across by 9" tall. I was going for 12x12 haha.

I would think unless you got Jersey Giants or some other huge breed you should be ok.

 

[shannonruedger]

My Husband and I also decided to wing it and after lots of flinging ideas and supplies we ended up with this little gem. Its five feet long by 4 feet deep. I have two nesting boxed attached to outside and can get at the eggs from outside their pen. we enclosed a 200 square foot area for them to freerange without worry of dogs. I have 5 hens and one roo that are about 10 weeks right now. We used red oak pallets which are absolutley beautiful with poly on them. All the windows are covered with hard ware cloth for protection from predators and I lock them in every night by none. It took them about a week to figure out how to go to bed on their own but now they go right in. We were very pleased with the turn out of our coop and decided when...yes I said when lol we get more this coop will be our brooder box for the new pullets next year. let the fresh eggs be layed.!

 

[TheGnomesMom]

My Husband and I also decided to wing it and after lots of flinging ideas and supplies we ended up with this little gem. Its five feet long by 4 feet deep. I have two nesting boxed attached to outside and can get at the eggs from outside their pen. we enclosed a 200 square foot area for them to freerange without worry of dogs. I have 5 hens and one roo that are about 10 weeks right now. We used red oak pallets which are absolutley beautiful with poly on them. All the windows are covered with hard ware cloth for protection from predators and I lock them in every night by none. It took them about a week to figure out how to go to bed on their own but now they go right in. We were very pleased with the turn out of our coop and decided when...yes I said when lol we get more this coop will be our brooder box for the new pullets next year. let the fresh eggs be layed.!

HA! We're already planning a bigger coop and more chickens and we aren't even done with this coop. Why are they so addicting?!

 

[Nsampsel]

OMG...CHICKEN MATH!!!

I started with 6 birds (2 were ducks) the 1st week of March (2 1/2 months ago). Now I have 52 chickens, 6 ducks, 44 eggs in the bator & another 48 going in today (13 are ducks) and I'm going Sunday to pick up about 6 MORE ducks. I now have 3 coops/pens & need more. I'm in town at the moment but have been looking the past few days at moving to a couple acres in the country, even if I have to move over 3 hrs away to do it...lol

I got it BAD