Garden Loft Coop - finally completed!

[cherrynberry]

We put a couple of bales of hemp in the coop and a couple more in the run and it's really been fantastic. We have done three seasons so far with this setup so are entering our first summer and I know the heat could be a game changer, but until now we've dealt with no smell at all with the hemp and deep litter method. What I really like is being able to just scrape/brush the coop litter right into the run for cleanout day.

We just built a brooder in the coop and that's starting to smell a little during the day, I think just because there are 6 of them in a pretty small space. But I turn it over once or twice a day for the chicks and it's fine.

Thanks! That is good to know

 

[bethnlee]

After a long month of building, preceded by a month of finding and ordering supplies, we just finished building the Garden Loft coop (from The Garden Coop) on Sunday! Until now, the chickens were spending the day in an enclosure rigged out of dog e-pens, deer netting and shade cloth connected to a small pre-fab. They were located right in front of our patio door so we could keep an eye on them. At night we were bringing them in to a small cardboard enclosure in our bathroom so they could sleep. This had been our setup for almost two months i.e. way, way too long.

We never built anything before, and we are super satisfied with the result! We learned a lot about power tools (lots of youtube videos), hardware, building supplies, logistics and how to fix mistakes Thanks so much for all information in this forum; I came back here constantly to answer questions like "where do I put the feeders and waterers? How do I attach hardware cloth? Do I paint the inside of the coop?" You all are amazing!!! The coop designer, John, answered questions really quickly as well, which was fantastic.

We are relatively new to our neighborhood, and it seems several blocks worth of people have walked by to introduce themselves and tell chicken stories. Now that we are done, I am thrilled to have the chickens out of the bathroom (no more daily chicken shuttling in and out), and to get my patio space back. The chickens are quite happy. They have't figured out how to put themselves to bed yet, but we think they will get it in the next few days. We have lots of little kids visiting with parents throughout the day as we only have deer fencing up on that side of the house right now.

From the plan, we made a few modifications. We elevated the coop with a layer of foundation blocks and top caps due to this particular location being prone to standing water during the rainy season. Rather than put a hardware cloth skirt, we encased the entire bottom and attached it to the bottom supports using a technique we learned while putting gopher guards in our planter boxes. That was then filled with 3-4" of red lava rocks that I'd excavated from another part of the yard, and topped with ~6" of mulch and soil from when we sheet-mulched our grass. We used screws + fender washers to attach the hardware cloth instead of staples. We installed self-closing hinges on the door, and used Metal Sales roofing panels from Lowe's since it gets quite hot here in the summer. We also added ladders to the roosts in the run and coop in the hopes that our tiny Serama frizzle will eventually be able to get herself up and down.

Of course as soon as we finished it, we started thinking about improvements. I'd like to add a storage unit extension on the back or side, and add gutters to channel rainwater. If I had to build it again, now that I know what I'm doing, I'd lower the total height, especially the loft and the egg door by 4-6 inches (I am 5'4" and can't reach all the way in). We need to add more mulch to the top as our ladies have already created deep bathing holes for themselves. Importantly, I am excited to put cute holiday decorations on it!!

Wowie wow wow!! Very cool! I'd love to see more pic Of the inside of the coop...what did you do for nesting boxes? This is amazing (from one who just learned to use power tools as well Well done!! Your chicks have a palace!

 

[AstrydLynne]

We built this coop just this year for our chickens. They love it and its very easy to clean. I think I would do something different for the nesting boxes, but overall, its working great. And it stays pretty cool in the hen house with the open ventilation on the top.