First time building a coop (and owning chickens for that matter)

[Whales&Chickens]

I should clarify "no background in carpentry". I do have basic carpentry skills of cutting, screwing, tool use, etc, picked up over the years (I'm in my 30's) but I do not have the knowledge or experience from a background in carpentry. This, in addition to changing ideas, is why it took me twice as long as I expected. I could see the basic design in my head but when it came time to make it I would have to stand back and think 'ok, this is what I want but how do I achieve it'. I am sure that many a carpenter looking it over would scratch there head at a few aspects. The base made for a very handy drawing table to work out ideas, angles & such forth. There were a number of errors that had to be remade but thankfully I picked most of them up before the full application.

I do have the benefit of being very practical and willing to get in and give it go. My wife though was not so confident when I would spontaneously turn to her half way through & say "you know what? I can do this". As I mentioned before I now have an agreement with her to provide all the information before I undertake any more projects.

It was the roof that gave me the most trouble and I wasted a few bits of timber & hours before realising that I was getting to complicated with it. As it is the central beam is simply bolted to the sides of the uprights and the colourbond is bolted to this and the top of the frames.

Thanks for the nice words and marytoast I would love to come to the states but no I do not want to work on another coop for a while. i will be doing a trip to Bunnings (a big hardware warehouse chain over here) so I will pick up something to block the view from the roosts at night.

 

[Whales&Chickens]

Update on the roosting question. I had not put any cover in front of the roosting area but a couple of evenings ago I put two of them on the roost and as of last night all chickens were on their roost without any demonstration. We are also up to a total of three eggs.

Cheers.

 

[Omran]

That's a nice looking coop Dude

, do they have place inside the coop to hide from cold weather, or do you live in a sunny and worm state all year around?
I really like your coop.

Omran

BTW

 

[kcfuerst]

What about predators, do you have any there? I would worry about not having them enclosed at night where they can sleep peacefully in the dark and in safety.

 

[briana1975]

The coop looks good. With your warmer weather the 3 sided idea should be good. I was wondering the same thing, what predators do you have to worry about, beside large snakes?

 

[Whales&Chickens]

The climate here is pretty good. Jan has an average max of 30C (86F) & average min of 20C (68F) and July has 22C (71F) & 8C (46F) respectively. We seem to be through the worst of the cold for this Winter but before next Winter I will make a night time cover for the front of the coop and install some alternate ventilation options for when the cover is on.

Our ladies are secured at night. The front of the coop is covered by 12mm (1/2") aviary mesh (a welded wire mesh) and the ramp is hinged so that it can be bolted up over the entrance.

As for predators we are fairly fortunate in that regard. There are some eagles around here but they hunt fish rather than birds & other animals. I have seen an occasional fox the next suburb over from us but there is a few kilometres & lot of housing between us and them. We do have some snakes in the area including Taipans & King Browns but the 12mm (1/2") aviary mesh will hopefully limit their ability to enter the run & coop. We get some Kangaroos in the nearby parkland but they are not known for eating chickens. Farmer's crops yes, chickens no. One of the neighbour's cat is showing interest but over the next few days I shall get shade cloth up over the open section of the run which will stop any chance of him or a confused eagle getting in. Of my two cats, one is too fat to jump or climb the fence and the other lacks a leg & sufficient agility to achieve it either.

Over the next week or so I will make some comfy nesting boxes that will be enclosed to hopefully give them some feeling of security when they are in there.

Cheers

 

[Whales&Chickens]

I double posted the message and I don't know how to delete so instead I edit it with this little ramble.

 

[Garlydog]

Well done! Thanks for posting the pictures. Good luck with your flock.

 

[Sitka]

Bravo!

 

[fargosmom]

Whoohoo!!

Love your coop - those are some lucky chickies!