Just finished up our new coop today!! Check out the pictures

[A5Firearms]

My wife and I decided a month or so ago that we are going to start raising meat chickens for our family. So with this decision, I saw an opportunity to build a new coop. I decided that I wanted to build the new one for our laying hens rather than the meat birds. Our old coop (Which can be seen is one of these photos in the background) started its life as a shed, and I added a pen to it and have been using it as a coop for 7 years. I have been wanting to design and build a new coop from scratch for a while so this was the perfect opportunity for me to put my ideas to work. Below is our new coop that is 20 feet long by 8 feet wide. We currently have 9 hens, but am thinking about getting a few more. The old coop will now be where our "temporary" chickens will be housed. Hope you all enjoy the pictures!

 

[thomasboyle]

Very nice! I like the aluminum roofing and the zig zag traction bars on the ramp. Do you ever have problems with predators getting through the chicken wire? Dogs and raccoons come to mind as being able to rip through chicken wire.

 

[Kelsie2290]

Very nice run set up, like all the covered space it gives them. Should be easy to add on to also, for when chicken math strikes again. Nice idea on the switch back for the ramp.

 

[aart]

Cool!

What are the 'traction bars' made out of?
Will the ramps be hard to clean off?

 

[mrchicks]

Very nice!!! And

 

[chickwhispers]

Awesome rustic look!

Does the crossed ramp bars give better traction than straight ones, or is that for looks, because it does look pretty cool. And Welcome

 

[A5Firearms]

Very nice! I like the aluminum roofing and the zig zag traction bars on the ramp. Do you ever have problems with predators getting through the chicken wire? Dogs and raccoons come to mind as being able to rip through chicken wire.

Thomas

Thanks! I have not had a problem with predators at all (knocking on wood right now) with our old coop, which is structured the exact same. Our old coop has held up with no issues for 8 years and is now becoming the coop for our meat birds, so I am hoping for the same result and no issues with predators on this one.

 

[A5Firearms]

Cool!

What are the 'traction bars' made out of?
Will the ramps be hard to clean off?

Art,

The traction bars are made out of standard 3/8 inch rope. We just laid it down on the boards and used poultry staples to nail it down. It was really easy to do and turned out nice and works like a charm. We started at one end and put a staple in and one person then pulled and stretched it taught while another person nailed it off, then kept going. Easy as can be and works great!

 

[A5Firearms]

Awesome rustic look!

Does the crossed ramp bars give better traction than straight ones, or is that for looks, because it does look pretty cool. And Welcome

Well that crossed ramp was a spur of the moment idea. Once I got to the part of the build where I was ready to put the ramp on, 2 things happened. The first is that the angle was far to much for what I originally had in mind as the drop in the ground was more that I anticipated so the ramp would have had to be like 16 feet long to create the angle that I had in mind. Second is I did not have 2 16 foot boards laying around (2 because I originally wanted to double up on 2x6 to make a 12 inch wide ramp) so that is when I went the route with the cross ramps. What really worked out cool with it, is in order to support it, I inadvertently created another perch area, as well as a "hang out" point for the birds. They actually jump around, perch, and hang out on the ramp area alot. They seem to love it as it is right in the middle of the coop and high enough that they can see everything. So it worked out well.

 

[chickwhispers]

Well that crossed ramp was a spur of the moment idea. Once I got to the part of the build where I was ready to put the ramp on, 2 things happened. The first is that the angle was far to much for what I originally had in mind as the drop in the ground was more that I anticipated so the ramp would have had to be like 16 feet long to create the angle that I had in mind. Second is I did not have 2 16 foot boards laying around (2 because I originally wanted to double up on 2x6 to make a 12 inch wide ramp) so that is when I went the route with the cross ramps. What really worked out cool with it, is in order to support it, I inadvertently created another perch area, as well as a "hang out" point for the birds. They actually jump around, perch, and hang out on the ramp area alot. They seem to love it as it is right in the middle of the coop and high enough that they can see everything. So it worked out well.

Just too Cool! Glad it worked out! Funny how things like that usually work "themselves" out! lol