Garage Chickens...Who does this??

[gryeyes]

As an adult, I have never lived in a place with a garage. Before chickens and before I relocated, I did have a carport for about 20 years. Then I relocated and rented a house without a garage. Got chickens, built coops and bought coop kits because the chicken addiction hit me hard. Not hard enough to do anything other than incubate eggs and brood chicks in the house, though. Then I built a shed from a kit in which to keep a ginormous brooder (made from a HUGE galvanized trough).

Then I bought a little house in the Sierra foothills and this was the garage on the property:

Wow! That's gonna be a great coop! Never even thought about fixing it up to be a garage again (the home inspection report recommended REMOVING it because it was unstable, had asbestos siding, some rotted rafters, broken or missing windows, yadda yadda yadda). Hadn't had a garage for my car my entire adult life.

So I had a contractor build a front wall to the building,

That's the raw wood; it has since been painted, electrical power re-run, an auto door for the chickens cut through the wall, hardware cloth over the windows, nest boxes installed, water run to the coop with TWO faucets and an auto-fountain for the birds, two huge ladder roosts.... a security light installed on the exterior. It's a GRAND coop!

Ahh, but I'm not urban any more.... Oh well. I'd rather have a coop than a garage.

 

[Hawkeye95]

Quote:
If it was up to what I "prefer" then, that would be a coop outside, and not in my garage. But on the other hand, I'd still probably always have my brooder in the garage for easy access and I can check on the babies late at night without having to go outside.

 

[F106A]

Quote:
That's how mine started out -- a brooder in the garage for the convenience of the chicks, and me -- and as I've tried to get everything together for the outside coop things keep getting in the way. Here it is November, and I'm still not done with the coop. Lot's of motivation, but not a lot of funds for a proper coop. The run is the big problem. I'll get it soon though...

 

[Darklingstorm]

I have a grow out/brooder box in the garage and we are thinking of converting some of the backroom into another coop too.

 

[franklinstreetwest]

Thanks for all the great responses! We really loved reading about everyone's personal experiences!!!

That asbestos sided coop looks just grand! From what I understand asbestos is only a danger when you start ripping at it. What do inspectors know anyway? My insurance inspector told me my roof shingles were curling and deteriorating....my roof is slate, and I told 'em I'd never seen a rock curl before!

A whopping 40 banties in the garage...WOW...I'd be itchin to expand beyond the attached garage too!

I like having my small flock of bantams in the garage. They keep me sane, I like gardening with my girls (and one little boy, ssshhhhh). Honestly I like the earthy smell they have too. It reminds me of home in the country growing up (our city lot is only 42'wideX140'deep most of which is houses & garage). And a clean coop isn't a "stinky" coop. For my larger breeding endeavors, I will expand to my mother's property. I've got the chicken bug pretty bad, so far I've kept it reigned in respectably. But I am expanding to my mom's place this winter.

If I lived in the country with room to spread out... I would totally have seperate quarters for the birds.

 

[Knock Kneed Hen]

Do they EVER get natural sunlight and do they get out to scratch? If yes, then I think it's perfectly wonderful! It's gotta be safe, no drafts, and dry.

 

[Bearsfan]

I've had mine in the garage for inclement weather and big girl brooding.
I wouldn't want to do that for an extended time though. The dust is really, really bad.

Here's my temporary garage shelter/brooder.

 

[gryeyes]

Quote:
WHERE did you get that brooder enclosure???

 

[Minniechickmama]

I have brooded chicks in my garage for the last 3 years. I even brooded in my basement last winter but never again. I have kept bantams in the garage in rabbit cages over the winter. I have raised our rabbits in the garage ever since a weasel started killing them when their cages/hutches were outside. My husband doesn't really appreciate it, but I have not been able to park my minivan in the garage since long before the animals came to stay, so I don't see as big of a problem. Once my brooder house is done, there will no longer be chicks or chickens in the garage at all.
I think whether you make use of a space that is already there, or if you build a new is all a matter of preference whether you are urban or rural makes little difference.
Good luck.

 

[franklinstreetwest]

Bearsfan
That's great! I have one almost identical to it! I call it my playpen. Last year I even put a tarp on the floor, but mostly because I put a sheet of closed cell insulation foam down, to give their tootsies a break from the bitter cold, and I didn't want them to eat the foam. I know I hate standing on cement in the winter...cold comes right through my boots! I use decorative wood mulch for bedding....the garden beds always need mulch.

Knock Kneed Hen
Yes my garage ras a rediculous amount of light. There is about 16' of windows across the back doors of the garage and two 6'tallX2'wide windows, one on either wall...As to safety, that's subjective I think....
There is always something that can happen. I thought the garage was safe. Doors shut, middle of the city where there aren't whole families of coon, etc. Then one day my other half came down and found the garage window broken and all but one hen was massacred. The neighbor's 3 huskies had broken the window and gotten in. Now there is 1/2X1/2 mesh over the windows. Next time it could be weasel or city rat. We hope and plan so there isn't a next time. They do get to go outside. I take them out every day that I can for walks in our tiny garden, while I work on stuff. But when I go in, they go in. There are far to many stray pit-bulls, cats, hoodlums and even the random fat raccoon or oppossum. I've even seen pigeons taken away by hawks, and there's a peregrine falcon that lives on a skyscraper that is within sight...so I guess there's peril from the sky too!