Expanded "kit" Coop

[gjfurtsch]

We started our chicken keeping adventure in 2012 here in Sacramento. We are only allowed three chickens and no roosters. We decided on the silkies because of their beauty and friendliness. Our chickens know their names and come when they're called. We decided to purchase a kit and then expand on it.The kit was designed for up to six chickens the advertisement said but there were only two nesting boxes. The ladder for the chickens was so narrow that two of them fell off the ladder on their way up to the roosting area.I built a new ladder 4 inches wider with a banister. The original ladder was mounted with hinges and it was difficult to clean being mounted, I simply put the new ladder on top of it, The new ladder lifts out very easily for cleaning. I collected small limbs from the apricot tree and screwed them together to make purches and mounted these to the railings in the roosting area and floor of the coop.As it turned out one never laid eggs and the other two shared the boxes. We let them free range for a year and they tore up the bark pretty bad around the borders of the yard and decimated our raspberries. After seeing A hawk in the backyard watching them I decided expand the coop with what we call the annex. This was an additional space for them to have and not run free unsupervised. I had to cut a hole in the wall of the original coop built another ladder for them to enter. The annex has two doors, one in the top and one in the front. Last year we trained the chickens to go from the coop to the corner of our yard which is the compost area under a large apricot tree has lots of shade. The area is fenced to contain them.
After assembling the kit I found out it was too basic and the elements on the roof especially would fail soon. The first thing I did was cut extra holes in the roosting area to vent properly. I sealed the entire roof with color matched polyurethane calk then added three coats of waterproofing. I built a simple frame out of pressure-treated wood for the base. I filled the area with sand and added a plywood top to the base. The kit did not come with a floor. We used peel and stick linoleum on top of the plywood for easy cleaning. I also added linoleum to the pull out tray for easy cleaning in the roosting area. We line the roosting area tray with newspaper and change it a few times a week. The waterer hanging from the tree in the corner was the original water source for the chickens. We didn't know that In a very short time they would scratch their way and fill it with shavings. So I hung it up so they could reach the water but not fill it full of shavings. After about a year I came up with the system that we now use a converted to gallon igloo water dispenser. the pipe and nipples I found online. I drilled a hole in the top and ran a line from our drip system into the container. I found that the chickens pack out the pipe aggressively and broke the seal on number of times where the pipe is mounted to the igloo. Are use the heavy wire to support the piping which has allowed for no more breaking seals.
We found that our chickens would get broody from time to time and we used a small kennel cage as a timeout cage to break the broodiness. After a while I decided to come up with a different system, after removing the broody chicken from her nesting box and placing them outside the broody chicken would probably go back into the coop and climb the stairs. Even with the little door closed they would stop at the top of the stairs and just stay there. I couldn't close the main door to the coop because that was the only source of water and food for the other chickens. What I came up with was a pulley system to lift the ladder up so they could not access it. This system worked very well for us and the broody chicken.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Wow, you sure did improve that coop. Your chickens are lucky little birds, nice job.

 

[gjfurtsch]

Thank you,I didn't expect any of what we ran into after reading the book. My intention is to show that you can make something your own out of an inexpensive kit. There wasn't really a lot of advanced carpentry involved. Most of the improvements came out of the actual use of the chickens and the abuse that can occur by them. We just learned as we went. Another example I didn't mention is that large plank of wood inside along the bottom keeps the savings in the coop and not outside, you'll notice the savings are pretty thin by the door for that reason.With the help of backyard chickens we were able to nurse violet back to health after a major fly strike, almost took her out.Her little Hiney is very fuzzy and prone to collection Of matter that flies like. Violet gets a trim every year now. Thanks again for your comments