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Here's My Coop Plan but a Few Questions
- Thread starter Patinas
- Start date
KN Shorey
In the Brooder
inspirational!
- Thread starter
- #73
Patinas
Songster
Coop Build - Days 9 - 14 - April 15th to 20th
Busy week on the coop build!
Put the metal roof on and the gutter at back of the coop. That took about 6-7 hours.
Paneled the inside and primed and painted it. No pictures of the inside yet because I have to clean up all the building/painting material inside.
DH and our son built out the nest boxes which was a big help. They look great! Still need to add secure latches to them to keep out any motivated raccoons.
Next came the concrete. DH and our son got all the forms in place and the next day was concrete day because is was the only day forecast for sun for the coming week. Made a rebar frame and then rented a small concrete mixer that holds up to 1.75 yards. First load was 1.5 yards, second load was 1.75 but we had some left over.
I have only done concrete once before and it was a much smaller area. This was not an easy step in the build!! Not only is it hard work, the bugs appeared because of the nice weather so we had to battle flies and mosquitoes. The good news is, we got it done! It may not be the nicest concrete I've seen but it will serve the purpose of keeping the hens out of the mud. The pad is 12 x 20. I almost made it 12 x 24 and I'm glad I didn't...would have needed a 3rd load of concrete.
Next is to finish the interior - get the roost bars and poop trays set up. Build a ladder for the hens to climb up the roosts, put in the auto-chicken door and latch down the nest box access doors in the back. At that point I can move the girls into it while we work on the run now that the concrete is poured. Still have exterior paint and trim to do but I can do that while the hens are living in it.
Busy week on the coop build!
Put the metal roof on and the gutter at back of the coop. That took about 6-7 hours.
Paneled the inside and primed and painted it. No pictures of the inside yet because I have to clean up all the building/painting material inside.
DH and our son built out the nest boxes which was a big help. They look great! Still need to add secure latches to them to keep out any motivated raccoons.
Next came the concrete. DH and our son got all the forms in place and the next day was concrete day because is was the only day forecast for sun for the coming week. Made a rebar frame and then rented a small concrete mixer that holds up to 1.75 yards. First load was 1.5 yards, second load was 1.75 but we had some left over.
I have only done concrete once before and it was a much smaller area. This was not an easy step in the build!! Not only is it hard work, the bugs appeared because of the nice weather so we had to battle flies and mosquitoes. The good news is, we got it done! It may not be the nicest concrete I've seen but it will serve the purpose of keeping the hens out of the mud. The pad is 12 x 20. I almost made it 12 x 24 and I'm glad I didn't...would have needed a 3rd load of concrete.
Next is to finish the interior - get the roost bars and poop trays set up. Build a ladder for the hens to climb up the roosts, put in the auto-chicken door and latch down the nest box access doors in the back. At that point I can move the girls into it while we work on the run now that the concrete is poured. Still have exterior paint and trim to do but I can do that while the hens are living in it.
- Thread starter
- #75
Patinas
Songster
Coop Build - Day 15 - April 24
Got the inside of the coop done and ready for the girls to move in! Our son built an awesome ladder for the girls to use to get up to the roost bars.
Roost bars and ladder are sealed with boiled linseed oil. Decided to go with 4 x 4 posts for roosts so they wouldn't sag. They are jigged in so I can take them out and clean them whenever necessary. Poop trays sit on a framework of 3 1x3's. I found extra big trays on Amazon and they fit perfectly under both roost bars.
I put the tubs in the nest boxes but I still need to cut out the fronts of them. Still about 3 months away from them starting to lay so I have time to get that done.
Got the automatic chicken door in (lower left of above picture). Even got it to work!! Since the chicken yard is not ready for them, the door will remain closed. Can't tell in the picture but there are two roost bars of 4x4 posts. Love the ladder our son built!
Built a little catwalk for them to walk on while they decide which nest box to use when the time comes. Nest boxes are about 20 inches off the floor. I read somewhere after I bought the red tubs that chickens are attracted to red so hopefully that will help convince them to lay eggs in the tubs!
New feeder on the wall and large new waterer. This is looking at the main door outside of the chicken yard area. Waterer is elevated on round walking blocks. Thought about hanging it but will try this method first.
Got the inside of the coop done and ready for the girls to move in! Our son built an awesome ladder for the girls to use to get up to the roost bars.
Roost bars and ladder are sealed with boiled linseed oil. Decided to go with 4 x 4 posts for roosts so they wouldn't sag. They are jigged in so I can take them out and clean them whenever necessary. Poop trays sit on a framework of 3 1x3's. I found extra big trays on Amazon and they fit perfectly under both roost bars.
I put the tubs in the nest boxes but I still need to cut out the fronts of them. Still about 3 months away from them starting to lay so I have time to get that done.
Got the automatic chicken door in (lower left of above picture). Even got it to work!! Since the chicken yard is not ready for them, the door will remain closed. Can't tell in the picture but there are two roost bars of 4x4 posts. Love the ladder our son built!
Built a little catwalk for them to walk on while they decide which nest box to use when the time comes. Nest boxes are about 20 inches off the floor. I read somewhere after I bought the red tubs that chickens are attracted to red so hopefully that will help convince them to lay eggs in the tubs!
New feeder on the wall and large new waterer. This is looking at the main door outside of the chicken yard area. Waterer is elevated on round walking blocks. Thought about hanging it but will try this method first.
- Thread starter
- #76
Patinas
Songster
Coop Build - Day 16 - April 25th
Move in day for the ladies!!! DH had to work so my son helped me out with wrangling the girls into a large dog kennel and then carrying them over to the coop from the garage. I'm so glad they are out of the garage! (I'm pretty sure they are too!)
Had a big mishap with the new waterer. I put it in last night so it would be ready to go and when I went out to put food in the feeder before the move, about 5 Gal. of water had leaked out of the waterer onto the floor. About half the shavings were soaked so had to scoop them out, sop up the water and put in fresh. I realized the concrete walking bricks were not level. Grrrr!!!
Anyway, it took us about 2 hours and lots of broccoli to get all the girls moved into the new coop but what a joy to see them in their new digs!
They immediately started roosting on the lower part of the ladder.
The coop doubled their space so they spent time just running around just because they could! Most of today they have been spending their time on the floor or on the lower rungs of the ladder but I did see one hop all the way up the ladder to the actual roost bars. She didn't stay there long but she did it!
Next is concentrating on constructing the chicken yard and trimming and painting the coop. I am starting to see the light at the end of the journey!
Can't wait for the day they get to go out into the yard and do the things chickens do!
Move in day for the ladies!!! DH had to work so my son helped me out with wrangling the girls into a large dog kennel and then carrying them over to the coop from the garage. I'm so glad they are out of the garage! (I'm pretty sure they are too!)
Had a big mishap with the new waterer. I put it in last night so it would be ready to go and when I went out to put food in the feeder before the move, about 5 Gal. of water had leaked out of the waterer onto the floor. About half the shavings were soaked so had to scoop them out, sop up the water and put in fresh. I realized the concrete walking bricks were not level. Grrrr!!!
Anyway, it took us about 2 hours and lots of broccoli to get all the girls moved into the new coop but what a joy to see them in their new digs!
They immediately started roosting on the lower part of the ladder.
The coop doubled their space so they spent time just running around just because they could! Most of today they have been spending their time on the floor or on the lower rungs of the ladder but I did see one hop all the way up the ladder to the actual roost bars. She didn't stay there long but she did it!
Next is concentrating on constructing the chicken yard and trimming and painting the coop. I am starting to see the light at the end of the journey!
Can't wait for the day they get to go out into the yard and do the things chickens do!
- Thread starter
- #78
Patinas
Songster
Coop Build - Chicken Yard Complete!
I have completely lost track of the days we've worked on this over the last month. The good news is, the yard is complete and the girls are loving it!
All the lumber was stained with a water resistant stain and the entire yard is enclosed with 1/2 inch hardware cloth. The yard itself is 12' x 20'.
The concrete floor is covered with a bale of straw with a layer of pine shavings on top. Added a tub for dust bathing and couple of roost bars. Also added a second large feeder and waterer. The first day I let them into the yard, they seemed in awe of being outside. Even a gust of wind that came up freaked them out! But, didn't take them long to settle in and start enjoying all the extra space.
Here are some of them going into the coop. I'm using an automatic chicken door which is awesome!! I don't have to even think about it. It works perfectly!
At this point the girls are also free ranging during the day when I'm home to supervise. They free range almost every afternoon and they love it. It's been fun watching them wander and explore a little further from the coop area each day. They get excited every time they see me and line up at the gate of their yard hoping I'm coming to let them out. Also makes coop/yard maintenance so much easier when they aren't all in there.
So for now, I've put off anymore work on the coop and focused on planting our 3,500 sq ft. garden which is as much work as building a coop!
I still need to finish putting up the trim, painting and putting an apron around the bottom of the coop but I have all summer to get that done. I'll update pics when it's all painted.
I have completely lost track of the days we've worked on this over the last month. The good news is, the yard is complete and the girls are loving it!
All the lumber was stained with a water resistant stain and the entire yard is enclosed with 1/2 inch hardware cloth. The yard itself is 12' x 20'.
The concrete floor is covered with a bale of straw with a layer of pine shavings on top. Added a tub for dust bathing and couple of roost bars. Also added a second large feeder and waterer. The first day I let them into the yard, they seemed in awe of being outside. Even a gust of wind that came up freaked them out! But, didn't take them long to settle in and start enjoying all the extra space.
Here are some of them going into the coop. I'm using an automatic chicken door which is awesome!! I don't have to even think about it. It works perfectly!
At this point the girls are also free ranging during the day when I'm home to supervise. They free range almost every afternoon and they love it. It's been fun watching them wander and explore a little further from the coop area each day. They get excited every time they see me and line up at the gate of their yard hoping I'm coming to let them out. Also makes coop/yard maintenance so much easier when they aren't all in there.
So for now, I've put off anymore work on the coop and focused on planting our 3,500 sq ft. garden which is as much work as building a coop!
I still need to finish putting up the trim, painting and putting an apron around the bottom of the coop but I have all summer to get that done. I'll update pics when it's all painted.
gandydancer1
In the Brooder
Great job.
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