Crowber's Pandemic Coop - Carolina coop knockoff

[fluffychik]

Hi Crowber. What a beautiful coop. Love the purple! Would you mind sharing the plans? We have a coop and its falling apart so we need to build a new one! Thanks so much

 

[KodiakChicken1909]

Hi Crowber,
Thank you so much for the SketchUp you sent us in May. It gave us a head start and the encouragement that building a Carolina Coop alike is an attainable task. It's a lot of hard work though. We made changes to some of the measurements according to our needs. We also modify the area under the hen house into storage drawers. Not everything is complete, we're still working on it. Here are some pictures to share with you and the community. We're now working on the Nesting Box. Do you have any measurements of it to share with us? It will be of great help to us. It's quite a complicated task. Our chicks are 13 weeks old, they'll be laying soon.

View attachment 2246536

View attachment 2246537

View attachment 2246538

Can you tell me more about the storage? How is it framed?

 

[Klue20]

Coop is pretty much done at this point, maybe some touch up on the paint in a few places. Attaching some pics of the nest box now that it's done. I underestimated how much work that part is! It's like building a mini coop. The one main thing I did different from the original brand was that I put plywood underneath the metal roof. Because I scalded myself on the main roof as I was working on the coop on a hot day so I didn't want the chickies to get burned when they were nesting.

I'm also showing some pics of the feeder I bought. It's from Duncan's Poultry. I spray painted it to match the metal roof color. It's a nice feeder and it fits a whole bag of feed. The girls don't dig out the feed and they can still all eat together. I like how it hangs out of the way.

I got oasis cups for their waterer and put them on a nice bucket with screw lid. Still debating switching to nipples for cleanliness, but I think they like being able to take a big swig of water. I mostly just take my hand and sweep out the cups to clean them. They work really well in general. Glad I put two out, because someone will poo in one sometimes. I might add a nipple to the bucket just to see what it's like for them.

Last pic of my girls and me. Just about every day they take a nap with mom. Lap is getting a little small, but they still all try to cram on there. When I started this chicken thing I never expected them to be so cuddly. I think they appreciate not having to worry about getting eaten for an hour.

Anyhoo, hope people found this thread helpful. It was a fun project, though I wish I had started before I got the chicks and not after! Haha!

 

[Klue20]

Coop is pretty much done at this point, maybe some touch up on the paint in a few places. Attaching some pics of the nest box now that it's done. I underestimated how much work that part is! It's like building a mini coop. The one main thing I did different from the original brand was that I put plywood underneath the metal roof. Because I scalded myself on the main roof as I was working on the coop on a hot day so I didn't want the chickies to get burned when they were nesting.

I'm also showing some pics of the feeder I bought. It's from Duncan's Poultry. I spray painted it to match the metal roof color. It's a nice feeder and it fits a whole bag of feed. The girls don't dig out the feed and they can still all eat together. I like how it hangs out of the way.

I got oasis cups for their waterer and put them on a nice bucket with screw lid. Still debating switching to nipples for cleanliness, but I think they like being able to take a big swig of water. I mostly just take my hand and sweep out the cups to clean them. They work really well in general. Glad I put two out, because someone will poo in one sometimes. I might add a nipple to the bucket just to see what it's like for them.

Last pic of my girls and me. Just about every day they take a nap with mom. Lap is getting a little small, but they still all try to cram on there. When I started this chicken thing I never expected them to be so cuddly. I think they appreciate not having to worry about getting eaten for an hour.

Anyhoo, hope people found this thread helpful. It was a fun project, though I wish I had started before I got the chicks and not after! Haha!

 

[Klue20]

Hi Crowber,
Thank you so much for the SketchUp you sent us in May. It gave us a head start and the encouragement that building a Carolina Coop alike is an attainable task. It's a lot of hard work though. We made changes to some of the measurements according to our needs. We also modify the area under the hen house into storage drawers. Not everything is complete, we're still working on it. Here are some pictures to share with you and the community. We're now working on the Nesting Box. Do you have any measurements of it to share with us? It will be of great help to us. It's quite a complicated task. Our chicks are 13 weeks old, they'll be laying soon.

View attachment 2246536

View attachment 2246537

View attachment 2246538

Beautiful job! We are about to build our coop and would love a copy of your sketch up plans if you wouldn't mind sharing! Thank you!

 

[KCGirl]

This is gorgeous! Any chance you have any plans you can share to this point?

 

[HenShakes]

Hi everyone, thought I'd finally take a moment to share my progress on my coop!

I'm one of the ones who bought pandemic chickens. Chickens were always something I wanted to do, and this seemed like a good time to finally jump in. We bought four chicks, with the idea that they would be inside for a while and I could build their coop and finish it in time for the move out. Well, maybe not the smartest way to go about things, but I like working with a deadline. The downside is that I have less time to play with the chicks because I'm so busy building their coop.

After googling everything about chickens and coops, I decided I like the idea of the Carolina Coops - the run is well-protected, so you don't have to worry about shutting them into their coop at night or letting them out in the morning. And the way the coop is meant to use the deep litter method. Both of those things appealed to me as a lazy person. So I stalked their website and deciphered their coops so I could build one of my own. It turns out they are very simple to build for the most part, as they are very modular and comprised of panels that are about 6'x6'. Everything is held together with a plethora of pocket screws. I have a Kreg jig already, so this was easy and familiar to work with. No posts to set.

Still, these coops are a lot of work to make! Definitely see where they get their price tag. So it's worth the cost if you just would like it built for you.

At first I wasn't sure if I'd make their American Coop or their Carolina Coop. In the end I chose American for simplicity (on a deadline remember) and also I prefer that the walls on the american coop are fastened to the inside - it means that the inside walls are smooth without a lot of framework surfaces that I would have to clean poop off of.

My plans didn't come out exactly right, I think mine is a bit taller because I wanted the run space under the coop to have a wee bit more headroom and so I had to make an adjustment to the chicken door side so that it wouldn't absurdly high off the ground. Also made the chicken door bigger since I have a couple of jersey giants.

I couldn't find any black pvc-coated hardware cloth. So I just bought regular and painted it black. Highly recommend taking the time to do this, it makes it invisible and you can see right through the coop. In the final pic below, the coop side has got it fastened on already and you can barely see it.

Got majority of it done but the roof is next! My chickens feathered out early and could've gone out at 5 weeks, so now they're still in my house for no reason. Hoping to be done within the week. Let me know if you have any questions!

I went to tractor supply wanting to buy weed killer and they happened to have chickens in stock. Wife saw them and next thing I know we're driving home with 6 little birdies. Now I need to build them a little mansion Would you be willing to share your awesome design?