Howdy! My wife and I live in Central Indiana on 23 acres. I am building a chicken house within a 3/4 acre goat pen. We plan on getting about 4 hens and a rooster in the Spring next year. I still have work to do on the chicken house and I will add a 20 ft x 10 ft enclosed run when the ground softens up a bit (the recent drought has made the ground hard as rock for post hole digging). The run will need to be horse fencing up to 5 ft (due to the goats) and some type of chicken wire on up and over the top. Below are a few pictures of the build so far. It is approx. 5 ft x 7.5 ft x 6.5 ft tall. I spent a couple of weekends building the house and today I built and installed the nesting boxes. When completed, The house will have a thermostatically controlled hound heater (we use these in 3 of our exterior dog houses and also in the goat house) and also a heated water fountain. I will make some type of nifty PVC feeder as found here on the site.
I built a wind tunnel at the entrance. The entrance is facing North and most of our weather systems come from the West. Is the main entrance size of 10" x 12" big enough? I can enlarge this if needed. I also built a ramp up to the opening today.
A 24" x 36" window is facing the South. I plan to cover the window with screening and then no climb horse fence (the goats ripped the new screen out of the window minutes after installation).
This shows the chicken house next to the goat house that I built last Summer. Both are within horse fencing topped with a strand of barb wire. I will add roosting bars as well to the outside run.
Here is the back side of the house. I built and added the exterior nesting box today. I still need to build a door and insulate inside the house. After lurking here in the forum. I decided to cut several more ventillation holes. I will screen these and add some type of hinge door to each opening. Hard to see but I have 2" X 2 ft slots up near the roof line for ventillation. A small interior fan will be added during the warm months.
This is the inside showing the nesting boxes. The boxes are fully insulated and each is 12.5" wide and about 14" deep and tall. I added a 2.5" lip board at the front of each box. I still need to add spray insulation and trim boards to finish.
Here are the boxes. It was a day project to complete.
This is the completed box with triple hinge insulated lid. I added edge boards and weather stripping to make the boxes draft free. During the warm months I may crack the lid for added ventillation.
This is the inside showing the roosting bars. I used landscaping timber. One is in front of the window about 4' high. The other is up around 5' high. I may add lower bars for a ladder. I will also add poop boards below the bars. I added a semi-wall next to the window to have a dark area for the nesting box area. The lower vent holes will be closed off. They were added in case extra ventillation is needed during warm months.
Sorry for the long post! Hope to see you around. John
I built a wind tunnel at the entrance. The entrance is facing North and most of our weather systems come from the West. Is the main entrance size of 10" x 12" big enough? I can enlarge this if needed. I also built a ramp up to the opening today.
A 24" x 36" window is facing the South. I plan to cover the window with screening and then no climb horse fence (the goats ripped the new screen out of the window minutes after installation).
This shows the chicken house next to the goat house that I built last Summer. Both are within horse fencing topped with a strand of barb wire. I will add roosting bars as well to the outside run.
Here is the back side of the house. I built and added the exterior nesting box today. I still need to build a door and insulate inside the house. After lurking here in the forum. I decided to cut several more ventillation holes. I will screen these and add some type of hinge door to each opening. Hard to see but I have 2" X 2 ft slots up near the roof line for ventillation. A small interior fan will be added during the warm months.
This is the inside showing the nesting boxes. The boxes are fully insulated and each is 12.5" wide and about 14" deep and tall. I added a 2.5" lip board at the front of each box. I still need to add spray insulation and trim boards to finish.
Here are the boxes. It was a day project to complete.
This is the completed box with triple hinge insulated lid. I added edge boards and weather stripping to make the boxes draft free. During the warm months I may crack the lid for added ventillation.
This is the inside showing the roosting bars. I used landscaping timber. One is in front of the window about 4' high. The other is up around 5' high. I may add lower bars for a ladder. I will also add poop boards below the bars. I added a semi-wall next to the window to have a dark area for the nesting box area. The lower vent holes will be closed off. They were added in case extra ventillation is needed during warm months.
Sorry for the long post! Hope to see you around. John
