Dj's Coop Mahal

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The finished Coop Mahal complete with forest green metal roofing:



and the chickens (now three weeks old) enjoying the sand run:



We've got 14 chickens and not all can stay. Now that they are 3 weeks old, we're beginning to see signs and small mannerisms that might indicate which are pullets and which are cockerels. Unfortunately, we've grown attached to our "first born" named "Sail" (I call him Sal, but the kids like Sail for some reason) and I'm fairly sure it's a HE... I'm not sure how to handle this dilemma, the darn thing allows us to pet him, scratch his belly, neck and head...he comes running to us when we call him, follows us around like a puppy and is so behavior-wise mild in comparison to some of the others! Can I pray that he doesn't crow?!
 
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The Coop Mahal winterized (in its winterized state). Because our backyard receives a fairly focused West to East winter wind, I felt it necessary to add panels of frosted lucite to act as a brake and shield the ladies from the cold arctic blast and snow drifts that are yet to hit us in force here in NE Ohio. They're just around the corner though...



I've added quite a few things since my last thread update, they are:

LED 480 Lumens overhead light just in front of the entrance door.



Two nesting boxes, Ador automatic door, electricity and timer



Digital thermometer w/humidity, a stairway to the nosebleed roosting pole and an automatic 500 watt bird bath water heater (cord can be barely seen feeding through the lid of the bucket at bottom) for the 5 gallon nipple feeding water tank. This works just well enough to keep them hydrated. A couple weeks ago, we several days that were in the 20's and although the metal needles of the nipples got frosty, they still allowed water to feed out when tapped a few times.



PVC tube feeder (poop shield affixed to top of horizontal feeding trough). I can fit 1/3 of a bag of feed in this apparatus which saves me the hassle of having to feed them all the time. The water and feeding capacity also comes in handy when we wish to head to camp for a long weekend, no more bugging our neighbors to help with our birds. I think I can make it just under a week when both of them are topped off. Also, a oyster shell dispenser (in white).



2X4 roosting pole, two openings (complete with makeshift drapes) for the laying boxes. They prefer the 11X13X16" high box over the larger, 13X13X16" version.



I've got the interior timer for the light set to come on at 4pm and then off at 5:30pm. Then it comes back on at 5am and off at 7:45am. The light above the door comes on when it gets dark out and turns off at sunrise. Both have the red lenses over their LED's. The are just too bright without them.


Here's my girls. We got our first egg about a month ago which came from the only hen that doesn't match the bunch. I can't decided whether she looks more like a golden sex link or golden nugget, she's very plump and blond in color. I'll have to post a good photo of her one of these days. All in all, I've got 5, 6.5 month old New Hamphires (supposedly) and within the last two weeks all are now producing nice sized, dark brown eggs daily except for my last born and smallest Louisa. It won't be too much longer for her, I'm sure.

 
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Did you attach the coop to the blocks in any way, or is it just resting on them? I sent this thread to the DW so she can approve your design for our coop.
 
The chicken's palace is not attached to the ground. Some would frown at this, but I figure if we had high enough winds to move it or damage it, I've got more problems that worrying about a coop that flew away.

If I had to change anything at this point, I would have made the run and the coop a little bigger. I didn't realize how much fun our "pets" would be and how my family has grown so attached to them. We are planning on getting more chickens to add to the flock and as a consequence, I'm already in the process of building a replica of this one:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/little-tykes-castle

We were fortunate to have been donated the exact castle from a neighbor and I figured I could just attach it to the "free range plaza" for their run. Once they get mature enough, we'll figure out a way to integrate the two flocks into one. Hopefully this will buy me some time to execute an expansion of the Coop Mahal to accommodate the larger quantity of birds. My kids are thinking that they want some easter eggers and barred rocks...
 
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