Well, still catching up a bit.
Almost immediately after moving out of the city a few weeks ago, I checked with the landlord about keeping chickens, and upon her OK, found a flock of Delawares on Craigslist. Before I could pick them up, however, I had to build myself a hen house.
Since my birds were going to be a bit spendy and money is tight lately, I went looking around the cabin for anything I could use. There was a large burn pile the landlord had asked us to take care of at some point and I was able to find a good deal of what I needed there. A lot of the process was matching up different lengths and "putting together the puzzle", so to speak. The basis of the structure was two pallets, one on either end, a few 2x4s to frame up the front and back, and various strips of plywood and T-111.
This is what I came up with:
The nest boxes will be placed at the end with the partial pallet, and roosts will be made out of the 2x2s on the other end. For the time-being, the birds are enjoying roosting outside on the temporary roosts resting between the fence and the hen house.
The BF later attached the door after having a couple of beers it needs a bit of work. The roof was salvaged from the yard, a remnant from the house and various other out buildings. Its not yet nailed down and may be replaced with plywood, eventually, since there is already a tin roof over the entire structure. Either way, the roof will have hinges so I can get in there with a shovel when I need to clean it out.
I covered the slatted pallets with plastic from the bag our mattress came in, just stapled it up there. This blocks wind, and Im thinking when winter rolls around it will be easy to stuff the pallets with straw or something for extra insulation.
The opening along the top of the back will be closed off with plywood for the winter, relying on the door being opened up daily to air the coop out.
Over all, I think it turned out pretty well. It will eventually need to be expanded, total dimensions are about 4×6 which is only 2.66 square feet each for my 9 birds but I dont think I will be wintering that many, and even in the winter the birds will have access to the covered yard if they want.
Oh, I forgot so far, I havent spent one red cent on the whole thing and only have maybe 3 hours of construction in it. Cant beat that!!!
Almost immediately after moving out of the city a few weeks ago, I checked with the landlord about keeping chickens, and upon her OK, found a flock of Delawares on Craigslist. Before I could pick them up, however, I had to build myself a hen house.
Since my birds were going to be a bit spendy and money is tight lately, I went looking around the cabin for anything I could use. There was a large burn pile the landlord had asked us to take care of at some point and I was able to find a good deal of what I needed there. A lot of the process was matching up different lengths and "putting together the puzzle", so to speak. The basis of the structure was two pallets, one on either end, a few 2x4s to frame up the front and back, and various strips of plywood and T-111.
This is what I came up with:
The nest boxes will be placed at the end with the partial pallet, and roosts will be made out of the 2x2s on the other end. For the time-being, the birds are enjoying roosting outside on the temporary roosts resting between the fence and the hen house.
The BF later attached the door after having a couple of beers it needs a bit of work. The roof was salvaged from the yard, a remnant from the house and various other out buildings. Its not yet nailed down and may be replaced with plywood, eventually, since there is already a tin roof over the entire structure. Either way, the roof will have hinges so I can get in there with a shovel when I need to clean it out.
I covered the slatted pallets with plastic from the bag our mattress came in, just stapled it up there. This blocks wind, and Im thinking when winter rolls around it will be easy to stuff the pallets with straw or something for extra insulation.
The opening along the top of the back will be closed off with plywood for the winter, relying on the door being opened up daily to air the coop out.
Over all, I think it turned out pretty well. It will eventually need to be expanded, total dimensions are about 4×6 which is only 2.66 square feet each for my 9 birds but I dont think I will be wintering that many, and even in the winter the birds will have access to the covered yard if they want.
Oh, I forgot so far, I havent spent one red cent on the whole thing and only have maybe 3 hours of construction in it. Cant beat that!!!
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