First Coop..

[sramelyk]

Well. I started this season with what I thought was 6 baby hens. After a battle with a local racoon I'm down to two and it appears one of the two is a rooster. Anyways. For some reason the COOP building has been slow and way behind schedule but with my father in town and a perfect helper we are making progress. Here is a picture of my father and the coop so far. We are still trying to figure out the best option for the roof.

 

[SarahJaneB]

Looking great so far!!

 

[ImportTheBest]

I love it! It's going to be a great coop!

 

[sramelyk]

Has anyone used that plastic wavy roofing for their coop? Just wondering if its inexpensive..

 

[takeo808]

I have about the same setup. I just placed a sheet of plywood on the roof. I want to finish the plywood roof with some flashing and either asphalt shingles or a sheet of corrugated plastic. I know that it's hard to change things midstream, but did you think of making the run height the same as the roof line of the coop? I'm glad I did. I can walk into the run to clean with only minimal bending. I'm guessing those are "handles" by your dad's feet, so you're just going to move the coop when you need to clean? How are you going to get in the coop to clean it out? My original plan was almost exactly like yours, but I made the roosts run from the front wall of the coop to the rear wall because I made a large door to access the inside of the coop on one of the walls. Hope this helps. Just remember to have fun with this. My father and I laughed every time we worked on it, thinking about how much time and effort we were putting into a chicken house. My father even had dreams about difficult parts of the build (specifically....how to put on the roof!).

Here's my coop/run:

 

[gratch73a]

Looks great. I would protect the roof with shingles or steel roofing.

 

[sramelyk]

I have about the same setup. I just placed a sheet of plywood on the roof. I want to finish the plywood roof with some flashing and either asphalt shingles or a sheet of corrugated plastic. I know that it's hard to change things midstream, but did you think of making the run height the same as the roof line of the coop? I'm glad I did. I can walk into the run to clean with only minimal bending. I'm guessing those are "handles" by your dad's feet, so you're just going to move the coop when you need to clean? How are you going to get in the coop to clean it out? My original plan was almost exactly like yours, but I made the roosts run from the front wall of the coop to the rear wall because I made a large door to access the inside of the coop on one of the walls. Hope this helps. Just remember to have fun with this. My father and I laughed every time we worked on it, thinking about how much time and effort we were putting into a chicken house. My father even had dreams about difficult parts of the build (specifically....how to put on the roof!).

Here's my coop/run:

Nope, my run is only 3 feet high. Its really a tractor coop so I'm less concerned with cleaning more a matter of moving it around on some overgrown part of my property where I want to have some raised beds next year. Your coop looks awesome! Can tell you guys put some time in to it. I obviously had big dreams when I started but its slowly turned in to a "I just want to get this done" kinda situation. I'm using mostly reclaimed lumber and material so was somewhat limited on the "look". But, after its finished and a fresh coat of paint it won't look to bad. My goal is to only have 4 laying hens so I don't need much room. The only other thing besides the roof that I'm still considering is something to line the floor, like vinyl that I could remove to clean. The floor of the actual coop I mean. So, you used plain plywood and have no trouble with rot or anything yet? Assuming you waterproofed..

Thanks everyone for the input! Having a blast with the chickens.

 

[takeo808]

I was going to put a sheet of linoleum, but no one would sell me a sheet so small. I went to look for scrap, but no one had any at the time. I ended up with the peel and stick one foot square linoleum tiles. Best thing ever. The one piece would be better, but i wasn't going to buy a 10'x10' piece when all I needed was 4'x4'. The poop comes right off when i clean it. I painted the plywood first to seal it, then I placed the tiles down. I was worried about the various fluids seeping between the tiles, but so far the shavings have absorbed all the moisture/fluids. When I do a deep cleaning, the tiles get as clean as the day I laid them down. But my first choice would still be a one piece sheet.

 

[joan1708]

If you've already had loses to raccoons, conventional wisdom would suggest you use hardware cloth and not chicken wire. Raccoons are notorious for ripping through chicken wire. Just saying.

 

[sramelyk]

I have a few questions, things I'm kinda stuck on and instead of starting a new post thought it might be best to ask here.

1.) Chicken Wire - I realize chicken wire isn't the best at keeping out predators. The design I have had in mind when I was building this coop I decided it didn't matter if I used chicken wire because the chickens would be in the actual "coop" part at night locked in. I was thinking the chicken wire was more to keep the chickens in. Am I delusional on this?

2.) My design has the runner board they actually use to get into the coop coming up through the bottom of the floor. How adept are chickens at getting up this board? I guess what I am saying is can I have it fairly steep, obviously with steps, and they can manage to get up it or does the angle have to be much more gradual. The problem I worry about is if the angle is gradual than I have less room for them to clear it and get into the coop. Not sure if that makes sense.

Thanks as always.