Here are some pictures of my design, and some info. Feedback, please!

[xapikleia]

DH and I are really trying to make something out of nothing here, lol. He's doing all of the building; I'm just the one bringing him all of the information from the internet, and demanding that he build me a coop!

We have NO building/design/carpentry experience, so this is quite an adventure for us!

Basically, what he's built is a box out of shipping pallets. He is planning to put an angled roof on it. The original plan was to cover the sides with hardware cloth, and have a solid, locking door in the front. However, he couldn't find hardware cloth at Lowe's, so he decided to just buy enough wood to completely cover all three sides, and for the door.

Inside the coop, the roosts will be at the back, and there'll be two nesting boxes on either side, in the front (we are only planning to have four chickens, for now. I'm sure we'll want to expand our flock later, but we're starting small!). It's not in the design that I'm showing here, but DH is planning to make it so that there is a little door that pulls up on each side, to access the nesting boxes from the outside of the coop.

With the new plan, we're trying to figure out where to install vents. My only concern is that with this fully enclosed, it might get too hot on summer mornings, before I can get outside. Honestly, I don't usually get out there until at least 9:30. In July, it might be 85 degrees by then, maybe even warmer. If it's a big issue, I'll just have to MAKE myself get out there earlier!

Design sketch (you can ignore our shopping list, lol)

What the frame looks like, right now. No, Slink is not supposed to be on the roof!

 

[jforsness]

I made a nest box out of a wooden wine crate, should be able to pick up easily and free, good luck with your coop and have fun with it

 

[orchidchick]

With just the 4 hens, you can get away with one nest box for now. You should be able to find hardware cloth at a local hardware store; that's something you don't want to skimp on. Especially with a small coop. Those wiley coons can reach right in and grab the hens too easily. Especially with the ventilation you will need in your warm area. Why not just use the pallets as is? Maybe one solid wall on the worst weather side? But it looks like your off to a good start! Where do plan on putting your waterer and feeder?

Orchidchick

 

[xapikleia]

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Good to know! I thought that I needed one nest box for each hen.

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I'll have to be the one to go look for the hardware cloth the next time. Really, DH didn't know what he was looking for. He asked, and was told that if it was not in a certain section (where he looked), that they didn't carry it.

What he was planning on doing now was covering the sides with wood, and then putting hardware cloth (when I find it

) over the ventilation slots. We're not going to leave it completely open like it is now. TBH though, we don't really have wildlife running around here. We live in a heavily populated suburb, and our property backs up to a cement wash, so there really aren't any coyotes running around or anything. There are cats roaming around our neighborhood, but I guess maybe not enough to be worried about...our Japanese hen has been outside for the last two months, and she's out in the open during the day, without any problems. I guess that there might be raccoons running around somewhere, but we're planning to lock 'em up at night anyway.

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That was the original plan, to just cover it with hardware cloth. However, DH got frustrated with the hardware cloth issue at Lowe's, and decided that we were going to do solid walls instead. I'm so blessed that he's doing this, so I'm trying not to be too much of a PITB! I had told him that if it gets too cold at some point (we have maybe five nights a year where it's in the low 30s), we might have to cover up the sides that have the hardware cloth on them. I think that's one of the reasons that he just wants to do solid walls now, so that we don't have to deal with it later.

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Oh my gosh! I knew that I was forgetting something important! I totally forgot about the waterer and feeder...any suggestions? Right now, we have a cage inside of the coop, so both of those are inside of there.

 

[cmom]

I agree. It looks to me too that you are off to a good start and you will initially need only one nest box.