Horse before the Cart? In this case Chickens before the Coop

[wgcrochet]

this is what we came up with for about 50 bucks just need to finish roof our 3mth olds only sleep here they free range during the day but we are almost done with a much larger coop made out of free pallets. by the way we have 12 chickens
we used about 15 2x4x8
and about 25 to 30 fence boards and a couple of 1x4's for door supports after the larger coop is finished this will be the home of about 12 new babies for a couple months

 

[grullablue]

We built a 8 x 12 coop, we have 10 chickens in it, 5 rhode island reds and 5 black australorps.

Last year, we put the cart before the horse and had the chicks before the coop. It was a disaster! We had to deal with the zoning office (which was really harrassment, since we didn't NEED a permit, as we originally thought!) and our coop project was delayed by months over it.

Because the coop wasn't ready for the chickens, we ended up with egg eaters, and although we tried most everything, we couldn't break them of the habit, and had to let them go. So, our first flock was gone. Even after being in the coop, their habits didn't change.

So this year we started off fresh again, receiving 10 new chicks in February. This time we did it right...we HAVE the coop.

Just a word of warning....be prepared for them with the coop by the time they start laying! We did the best we could with what we had, but we couldn't have forseen all of the issues the county gave us....which ended up being a complete waste of time and nothing more! I gave away my first flock because of it. And the excitement of building a coop...it was all gone.

But now, the excitement of having our own chickens and our nice coop is back again.....and the county is out of our hair...no zoning permit required!

Angie

 

[LoveMyChicks2]

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Thank you for the links. I e-mailed the person advertising on Craigs List. Now it's just wait and see.

 

[LoveMyChicks2]

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This looks pretty do-able. My problem is actually building the darn thing. I have e-mails out to all my home schoolbuddies and church family hoping someone will come to my rescue. I even offered to feed the families with a cook-out and swim party.

I kid with people when they ask me if I've made something with this response: "Are you kidding? I can't even make a bed."

Maybe I'm not giving myself enough credit for being able to build something.