Helpful hints for building coops

[aart]

You're welcome. Now go fill your bathtub up with water!

It's still pretty full from the last time.

 

[Molpet]

Yes you can, you just have to try!

Well I haven't tried in decades. I took a pottery class in the 80s. I enjoyed it but not my results. I probably have a cup and a bowl around somewhere.

 

[jvls1942]

round two is over. we got about four inches of new snow.
quite windy.
the asplundh tree trimmers were just here.
they dumped about ten yards of wood chips next to the
driveway. good. next summer I will fill in divots and
build up steep banks into gradual slopes. will make
mowing a lot safer.. grass grows like crazy in rotting
wood chips..

 

[Jasfarm]

Rule of twos....
Make it twice as big as you think you need, walk in....
Put in twice the amount of ventilation you think you need.
It will cost twice as much as you planned.
It will take twice as long to build as you thought it would.

If this is your first flock build coop first, then get chicks.
Since you built it bigger build in a in coop brooder/chicken jail.
Dirt floor for DLM

Gary

This is so accurate!!

 

[jvls1942]

in my opinion, a concrete floor is the way
to go. Nothing burrows in under concrete.
the coop will be there for a long long time.
the money spent on concrete will be appreciated
each time you have to clean the floor.
also at least one ring of concrete blocks around
the edge of the concrete floor, two courses are better.
If you have a tractor with a loader, consider an
overhead door. makes cleaning out the litter much
easier.
suspend nests from the floor, ie hang them on a wall.
make the roosts removable, put the lower roost
closest to the wall and the higher roost farthest away
from the wall.
do not have anything on the floor, like support legs
for the nests, that you cannot
pick up and move out of the way..

 

[Sally PB]

When I lived up north I always said I'd rather have a foot of snow than an inch of ice.

An inch of ice can be deadly to trees. Add in the wind, and you get lots of "volunteer" firewood, as we call it. Thank goodness the buds aren't swelling yet; that gives the ice more surface area. Even a tenth of an inch of ice is treacherous to drive or walk on. Here's a picture from several years ago.

It was this much ice:

That tree did straighten out, eventually.

 

[3KillerBs]

An inch of ice can be deadly to trees. Add in the wind, and you get lots of "volunteer" firewood, as we call it. Thank goodness the buds aren't swelling yet; that gives the ice more surface area. Even a tenth of an inch of ice is treacherous to drive or walk on. Here's a picture from several years ago.
View attachment 3412977
It was this much ice:
View attachment 3412978
That tree did straighten out, eventually.

*Nods*

I've been through some NASTY ice storms when we lived in Massachusetts.

 

[CapricornFarm]

Well I haven't tried in decades. I took a pottery class in the 80s. I enjoyed it but not my results. I probably have a cup and a bowl around somewhere.

Well, you have to practise to get good at anything. If you don't like the wheel, hand building is fun.

 

[Molpet]

Well, you have to practise to get good at anything. If you don't like the wheel, hand building is fun.

Wheel turned out better than hand.
Just my sense of style and form doesn't turn out how I would like. I was a custodian cleaning the art area so I could practice on breaks and after work. I took several pottery classes, counted as an elective, but really didn't improve.... professor gave me an A for effort.....but years later when I was in maintenance and he was retiring , he admitted it was because he didn't want to take a chance of making me mad and having a crummy cleaning job done.. we both agreed I chose the profession I was better at.

 

[Molpet]

Anybody know anything about this coop... other than ventilation and number of chickens?
https://www.mypetchicken.com/products/raised-chicken-coop-by-nestera