Hello everyone and let me first say thank-you to all of you for sharing your great ideas!
I'm in the process of building my first coop, and I've never built anything before other than VERY simple stuff! So far, this is what I have. The base is a sled, made out of treated 4x4's so I can move it around. I have about a 3-4 acre field below my house (and a large yard). I want to move them around so they can range in a portable run and not be kept in the same spot. I have red tail hawks here, who all but wiped out our bunny population, along with other predators, so I will have to keep them covered. Here is the finished base:
The size is 6' x 8' and I'm going to put the nesting boxes outside the long wall to allow more interior room since I have 15 chickens.
Since we've been having so much rain I moved the sled into the shed you can see in the photo above so that I can work on it despite the weather.
I now have the two short-end walls constructed, and today I hope to get the back wall framed. Here is what I have on that so far:
(Both walls attached to sled)
(Entrance wall with door and large window)
(This is where the chicken door will be and there is also a large window for ventilation. All the windows will have a permanent framed screen with 1/4" hardware cloth and then windows with Lexan glazing on the outside of the window frame that can be opened and closed. As you can see the flooring is some type of plastic (Duratuff?) sort of like they use around bath surrounds only it has a pebble finish. Now I wish that I would have used linoleum because it would have been much cheaper!
The third wall that I want to work on today will have two side-by-side windows at the top so the chicks will be able to look out and also catch some breeze during our hot and humid summer days here in central Pennsylvania. Under the roosts will be a clean-out door with trays to slide out and make cleaning simple. Now get this idea: I want to make the tray large, but yet small enough to be slipped into a large plastic bag. When it comes time to clean out under the roosts, all that I'll need to do is pull the bag inside-out with the litter inside and it is easy transport to the compost pile! My only concern is that the chickens may peck at the plastic if it sticks out at all and could get it stuck in their crop. Does anyone have an opinion on this? Good idea, bad idea?
I'm on vacation this week so I'm hoping to get a lot accomplished. I want to insulate it and also run electric through it. It will have a plug on it so I can run an electric cord to it in the winter and park it nearby the house. I'm having SO much fun with this project and can't wait to introduce my babies to it!
I'm in the process of building my first coop, and I've never built anything before other than VERY simple stuff! So far, this is what I have. The base is a sled, made out of treated 4x4's so I can move it around. I have about a 3-4 acre field below my house (and a large yard). I want to move them around so they can range in a portable run and not be kept in the same spot. I have red tail hawks here, who all but wiped out our bunny population, along with other predators, so I will have to keep them covered. Here is the finished base:
Since we've been having so much rain I moved the sled into the shed you can see in the photo above so that I can work on it despite the weather.
I now have the two short-end walls constructed, and today I hope to get the back wall framed. Here is what I have on that so far:
The third wall that I want to work on today will have two side-by-side windows at the top so the chicks will be able to look out and also catch some breeze during our hot and humid summer days here in central Pennsylvania. Under the roosts will be a clean-out door with trays to slide out and make cleaning simple. Now get this idea: I want to make the tray large, but yet small enough to be slipped into a large plastic bag. When it comes time to clean out under the roosts, all that I'll need to do is pull the bag inside-out with the litter inside and it is easy transport to the compost pile! My only concern is that the chickens may peck at the plastic if it sticks out at all and could get it stuck in their crop. Does anyone have an opinion on this? Good idea, bad idea?
I'm on vacation this week so I'm hoping to get a lot accomplished. I want to insulate it and also run electric through it. It will have a plug on it so I can run an electric cord to it in the winter and park it nearby the house. I'm having SO much fun with this project and can't wait to introduce my babies to it!
