So after a year and a half of thinking and planning and getting waylaid and having to postpone I have finally started my coop! Unlike some of my other projects, I plan to do this in proper order--I want to build the coop BEFORE I get the chickens
--so I have roughly from Labor Day to Easter to finish it. Good thing as I usually end up having only the odd weekend and evening to work on things like this. Thought I would document the progress here.
I'm looking at a 12X8 building sectioned into a 8X8 coop and a 4X8 storage room. The back of the nest boxes will hinge open into that room as well to make it easier to gather eggs. I've not firmed up the run plans but probably something about 10X25. I figure that should be plenty for a dozen to 15 chickens.
The ground is not level at all so I am thinking I'll bring the floor up at least a foot off the ground at the lowest corner (using 4x4 posts set in concrete). I thought of going a little higher and giving the chickens access to space under the coop as part of the run but I am now thinking that may not be a good idea. It's going to be harder to predator proof if I do that and I don't want a nest under there that I have to crawl to get to!
And before anyone starts to tell me all the potential problems of having a coop in the woods, I already know. But the fact is I have three acres of land. Except for about 30 feet of yard right in front of the house and my garden it is ALL wooded so if I'm going to have a coop, it's gonna be in the woods.
I actually see some advantages. It's certainly a lot cooler there (as I found out working there this weekend after time in the garden) and as I have learned over the last 22 years, the woods are an endless supply of bugs. I'm looking at corrugated acrylic roofing, the clear or the solar grey. Either one should let in a lot of light but I'm still thinking a window for ventilation.
Anyhow, here is my first installment of photos, the space as it started, once it was cleared and the frame of the floor roughly in place (I did it first to see where I wanted to position the structure, I'll use it to mark the holes, dig them, set the posts, raise the floor frame to level and attach it, then trim the posts, put in the floor joists and the flooring.)
In the beginning....
The brush cleared out
And the first boards together!
I'm looking at a 12X8 building sectioned into a 8X8 coop and a 4X8 storage room. The back of the nest boxes will hinge open into that room as well to make it easier to gather eggs. I've not firmed up the run plans but probably something about 10X25. I figure that should be plenty for a dozen to 15 chickens.
The ground is not level at all so I am thinking I'll bring the floor up at least a foot off the ground at the lowest corner (using 4x4 posts set in concrete). I thought of going a little higher and giving the chickens access to space under the coop as part of the run but I am now thinking that may not be a good idea. It's going to be harder to predator proof if I do that and I don't want a nest under there that I have to crawl to get to!
And before anyone starts to tell me all the potential problems of having a coop in the woods, I already know. But the fact is I have three acres of land. Except for about 30 feet of yard right in front of the house and my garden it is ALL wooded so if I'm going to have a coop, it's gonna be in the woods.
Anyhow, here is my first installment of photos, the space as it started, once it was cleared and the frame of the floor roughly in place (I did it first to see where I wanted to position the structure, I'll use it to mark the holes, dig them, set the posts, raise the floor frame to level and attach it, then trim the posts, put in the floor joists and the flooring.)
In the beginning....
The brush cleared out
And the first boards together!
