It is almost finished!

[Suziers]

I am a first time chicken owner and my husband and I have been designing and building our first coop. We fenced in the run this weekend and it is almost finished. I thought I would share our progress....

Instead of burying the chicken wire 12 inches under ground we folded it it outward 12-15 inches and laid the sod back down on top of it with an additional 2-3 inches of soil. So it is buried about 5-6 inches under.

 

[meriruka]

Very nice! Are the shingles slate? How many chickens are you going to get?

 

[Wynette]

Now that's interesting - the "door" or "wall" that opens for cleaning appears to actually have the nest boxes built right into the door - am I seeing this correctly?

 

[Suziers]

Thank you-

The shingles are cedar shake (left over from a recent addition on our home).

And yes the nesting boxes are on the 'door' that opens to clean the coop. I will also be able to lift open the lid of the nesting boxes to gather eggs.

I have 5 chicks at the moment. They are 5-6 weeks old. 2 BO, 1 RIR, 1 BR and one Austrolorpe.

 

[xtremevermonter]

Very nice! What is the purpose of the small grid wire at the bottom of the run?

 

[redoak]

Very nice coop and cool design.

 

[Suziers]

Quote:
The main purpose for the small grid was that the large grid did not reach below the soil line and I needed it below the surface to keep predators from digging under. So I needed to overlap at the bottom to allow fencing below the ground. The secondary reason for choosing the smaller grid to overlap instead of the same size is I have small dogs who have been reaching into the chicks pen. The chicks seem fearless and run up to greet whoever shows up at the fence-the smaller grid keeps my dogs from reaching in and harming the chicks.

 

[chickens3]

You should have put chicken wire on the bottom of the coop that way you do not have to clean the board all the time.