First Coop Design & Build - added video of automatic door

[ducks4you]

Peter, you should start your BYC page!!

Your photos are very clear and a good example for the rest of us that are currently doing coop construction. Thanks for sharing!

 

[PeterW]

Another week gone. Most of the siding is now up and my wife is taking advantage of the good weather to start painting. Progress on the front wall was SLOW because I hadn't really figured out how to build in the nest box and do the framing around the windows. So we spent ALOT of time just looking at it and running though various "what if...", "how about..." scenarios rather than actually building. We got there in the end though and at least now we know how to tackle the 2 windows on the back wall.

There's a temporary roof on it at the moment, just to keep the rain out while we're working on it. Last Sunday we had some really heavy showers and learned that the floor holds water very well. After twice having to mop it out I gave in and put that roof on. Needless to say, it hasn't rained since

For the interior lining I managed to source some sheets of 10mm corrugated plastic from a local sign maker. He had some old 8x4 signs in his workshop that he let me take away for free

. This will cover the insulation and provide a smooth, wipe clean surface for the interior walls.

Still to do:
Install the rear windows
Finish the siding
Hinged lid for the nest box
Roof
Install trim
Rework the pop door (I couldn't decide what size to make it so decided to just get on with the siding and come back to it later)
Frame the tall window (it's only temporarily in place for now)
Inside - we'll figure that out when we get there.

 

[CindyG]

It's looking fabulous, love the colour, and the little kitty in the last photo!!

 

[PeterW]

Thanks! That's one of our 6 cats who I think have all been sleeping in the coop all this week. They won't be too impressed being evicted when it's time for the chickens to move in.

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

Lookin' good!

 

[PeterW]

So it's nearly 6 weeks since I last posted an update. The coop project got put on hold for a while as we decided to take advantage of some good weather to paint the house.

Anyway, finally the chickens have moved into their new home. There's still a few things to be done but I'm happy with the way it's turned out. I don't have any photos of the finished product but here's a few pics I took as I went along:

The pop door. I ended up going 12" wide x 14" tall and included a step to prevent losing litter out through the door. The door was initially on a pull cord, which could be operated from outside the coop but I've since built an automatic opener/closer using a variation of the plans found here: http://www.fabiens.org/ckblog/?page_id=106. No photos of that right now but will add some later.

The corrugated plastic (old signs) used to line the coop. I was lucky that I managed to get several 8' x 4' sheets so I was able to line the full inside of the coop with minimal joins.

The nest box (prior to adding dividers). I added a hinged front lip for easy clean-out.

Still to do:
Add guttering to the roof to collect rainwater.
Window latches to prevent drafts in winter.
Proper roosts (they have 1 length of 3x2 for now)
Add insulation behind the lining (I'm still reading up on whether this is necessary/worthwhile or not)

 

[gryeyes]

Quote:
Peter, I was very impressed with your plans, work, and attention to detail. I was MOST impressed with your innate understanding of what has come to be a catch phrase here on BYC: "chicken math." You already KNOW you're going to get more chickens!

 

[Rivers]

Quote:
Chicken wire is not recommended. It will keep your chickens in, but it won't keep predators out. Too flimsy. Hardware cloth/welded wire with wire spacing of 1/2" by 1/2" is good.

They really ought to call that stuff "chicken death wire."

What kind of predators can get through chicken wire?

I am in the UK, the main concern is foxes.

 

[PeterW]

3 months on. Thankfully it hasn't taken me that long to finish the coop, although it has become one of those never ending projects where I keep thinking of things to change or add. The chickens have been in the coop since mid October and seem to be happy enough, even through our harshest winter for some time with temperatures as low as -17°C.

Anyway here's some photos of the finished coop, focused on a few specific details that may be helpful to other users currently planning or building a coop:

The nest box. After originally planning to divide the nest box into 3 I opted to go for a communal nest and just closed off half of the front opening to provide darkness/privacy. All 4 hens took to laying in the same nest quite quickly. A couple of times I've seen another hen waiting while the nest is occupied so I may change it to a centre opening so that they could make thier nest at either side.

Ventilation. The coop is vented via the rafters at the front and rear. For winter I have closed off the rear vent to prevent cross-drafts from drawing all heat from the coop.

Roost & poop board. I used some of the left over corrugated plastic to make the poop boards. They're scraped daily into a bucket and can be removed easily to be hosed down when required. The roost is 2x4.

Pop Door. As previously mentioned, I built an automatic door based the design found here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=207769. All credit and major thanks goes to BYC member cfabe for the original design & circuit. The basics of my door are identical to the original: battery powered rechargable screwdriver, mains timer, dpdt relay to reverse the polarity of the motor and a couple of limit switches to stop the motor at door fully open and door fully closed. Total cost around €26. The door is made from osb and the runners from 2x1. Due to the weight of the door I added a counter weight to prevent the motor from racing on the way down and laboring on the way up. The counter weight string is wrapped the opposite way around the drive spindle so that it's pulled up as the door goes down and vice versa.

In the first month or so of operation I had a few incidents where the door failed to close fully due to a build up of wood shavings and other debris in the bottom of the door frame. As happend to cfabe, the door would fail to reach the limit switch so the motor would continue to run, eventually wrapping the string the opposite way around the spindle and pulling the door back up until it jammed. This meant having to ensure the door frame was kept clear at all times, which is easier said than done when the chickens seem to be intent on throwing most of their bedding out through the door. I resolved this problem by moving the limit switches to the counter weight side. The switches are activated by a little wooden block on the counter weight string that runs up and down a channel. This means that even with debris build up under the door or if the door jams for any other reason, the limit switches will always be reached and the motor will stop.

And just in case something fails causing the motor to over-run I've added a 3rd limit switch that will stop the motor if the door raises higher than it's supposed to.

The Run. I don't have a great photo of it but the run is approx 12ft x 9ft and roofed with corrugated metal sheets, which has definitely helped to keep the run dry through the winter. The chickens get out to free range on most days when there's somebody at home to keep an eye on them but on days when they don't get out they happily spend their time between the coop and the run.

 

[PeterW]

I made a video of my coop door in operation:

At the moment it opens at 8am and closes at 6pm. That'll need frequent adjustment as the evenings get longer...we had 2 chickens locked out a couple of days ago when I had the door set to close at 5.30pm. It was pretty much dark at that time but obviously those 2 were making the most of their day before heading to bed

We do check on them every evening anyway do they were only locked out for a short while before we found them pacing back and forward in front of the coop.