First coop - Under construction

[victoriamarie1138]

I would love some feedback on this. My BF and I are building our first coop out of an old playset my dad was trying to get rid of.

Sorry the pictures are so huge! I resized them in PHotobucket, but it's not carrying over here.... And please excuse my goober of a BF in the pics.

What we started with

First day's work

What we accomplished tonight (base for nesting boxes, ramp, and roosting perches)

Is the area under the coop too short for the birds to want to go under? Are there any other things that might cause problems?


I was thinking we could fit up to 10 birds in here total, but I would like some opinions on that as well.

 

[ThePamperedPullet]

Looks like you are on the right track. Cover the part that you cut off with chicken wire and they will have some extra run space. There is plenty of room under the house for them to use.
Great use of recycled materials.

 

[victoriamarie1138]

Fencing in the underside was our plan from the get-go, but I just wasn't sure if it was really tall enough.


Another question. I read somewhere that you really only need one nesting box for four chickens, but my BF's father insists we need more than that. I don't always listen to what he says, though. Thoughts?

 

[clothdiaperingmom]

Thats awesome!!! Wish I would come across something like that!! Good job! Keep pics coming and show us the finished product!

 

[clothdiaperingmom]

Take a look at this thread. Looks very similar to your framed part.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=348756

 

[Dogfish]

Get the outside finished first. It is great to fit the ramps, etc, but get the structure built first and then add. Keep your ramps and consider them mock-ups, think about how the doors and other features will interact. How will you clean it, where is the feed and water, where is my ventilation, how will they get in there, and how can I make it predator proof? You have an excellent start, but be prepared to change it.

The perches may be a bit too skinny, and I would suggest raising them.

 

[victoriamarie1138]

Quote:
The reason we're building from the inside out is that we don't have the money for the plywood yet.

We are both out of work and looking, and we're building this with things people are giving us. We have everything planned out, though. There will be two doors across the back: one to access the nesting boxes, one to access the bottom for cleaning. The floor has small gaps in it to provide some airflow, and we're planning on putting vents just below the roofline on the front and back. All doors on the outside will have locks on them, and we're going to bury part of the fence.


And the perches are already more than two feet up. Everything I've been reading makes me think I actually need to lower them.

 

[Dogfish]

Raise the perches up to that set of horizontal boards that are about 18" from the floor. That way your nest boxes can be just a bit above floor height.

Sorry about the work. Are there any building sites near you? Ask for scrap wood. Doesn't have to be pretty, just secure and dry.

 

[clothdiaperingmom]

Do you have a place that has free pallets?
Ive been going every so often and picking up more. At first I was using the pallet whole. Now Ive started taking them apart for the wood. Even if the outter pieces of wood arent great, they have 3 2x4's in side each 1.
Free is good!!
Have you tried posting on your local freecycle for things you need?
Good luck

 

[victoriamarie1138]

Questions about wire:

We were at Lowe's today just checking out what was available. Would a 16-gauge 3"x2" economy wire/20-gauge 1"-hex chicken wire combo be adequate? The 1/2" hardware cloth would be $20 more than getting both of those.

Also, is the plastic "poultry fencing" as completely useless as it looks? What I saw was a green vinyl that looked like 1/2"-hex. Didn't look like it would do a very good job to me. Does anyone use that?


We flipped the perches so the 2" inch side was up, and also started the supports for the nesting box walls. The perches now seem too flimsy, though.... The longer one held up a 30-pound weight, but with significant bowing. Will post new pictures soon. I might have to suck it up and buy some 2" dowels.