Looking for a good Coop/run design that can double as a greenhouse.

[Sylvie]

Mother Earth News December/January 2007 has an article on the very thing. Page 50 has a section on Chickens in the Greenhouse. You can probably read it through archive.
There is a greenhouse hoophouse like Elliot Coleman's "Four Season Harvest" book. He has 2 coops inside and grows forage on either side of a wooden walk down the middle. Under the walk he has worm bins. He thinks the chickens helped heat his green house.
Hope this helps.

 

[Auntie Ron]

Hi Nerdicus,

When I was building my coop I utilized coregated fiberglass as the roofing material. It allowed alot of light in and I was able to keep all my frost tender plants in with my chickens (at that time I had 4 hens and 1 rooster). I kept them healthy through the winter with minimal growth but no losses.

However, what I did discover was that when it rained or hailed the interior of the coop sounded like a firing range. It was horrible. My poor birds must of hated it. I know that when I sat in there with them it was a very stressful sound. I did love the light though. Eventually I built a walk-in cold frame the following winter and put a more permanent roof onto the coop. Now it is very cozy and peaceful in there.

Here is a pic. Hope this helps.

Ron

 

[luvmygirlsinAK]

Very nice, AuntieRon! We are in the process of building a year round greenhouse for self sufficiency (

Yes I Know we live in Alaska, but it can be done!

I actually thought about having a chicken coop inside the greenhouse, which would be so easy to care for them when it is _50 below zero F.

since the greenhouse is/will be connected to the house (we are still building it at the moment) and is connected to the new mud room separated by a beautiful glass door leading into the greenhouse, that we found on clearance. The mudroom of course leads into the house. I saw the same article in Mother Earth News, and thought that was a wonderful idea, but it was too late since the concrete had already been laid and the framing already up.

It would have been so easy to check on them, feed them, and clean it out. I don't think it would have made it smell bad (I have an overly active nose) since we use the deep bedding method, and we keep it clean enough so that my nose doesn't have issues Since we will be heating the greenhouse,anyway, we wouldn't have had to heat a separate coop, and hopefully the chickens would have contributed to the heat! I thought it would be a wonderful idea! I will try to upload pictures of it, as someone else who is getting ready to build a greenhouse may like to see it, and just add an extra space for the "girls".

The greenhouse part is of course on the left, with the door to the right leading into the mudroom, and an inside door from the mudroom leading into the "projects" room where you can see the narrow window (there is a work bench directly under the window, which is why it was planned for a narrow window)

It would have been so easy to just add a little section for the chickens, I wish I had seen that article before we poured the concrete.

The entire place will be resided with vinyl siding this summer and all painted a new color. This is attached to a 35 year old mobile home. To those who have said you can't remodel an old mobile home to look like a house-this is proof that you can!

And the secret is: you have to decorate with chickens!

 

[daisy_dukers]

WESTTEXASFARMBOY:

If you want to make a very simple cheeze google the heat-acid method....I make it using this method all the time....and the cheeze keeps getting better and sharper the longer it ages...unfortunately ours usually doesnt last more than 3-4 weeks.....

It doesnt melt very well but tastes amazing.....

I made a cheeze press out of a 2 tin cans (one empty) and a weight....

Let me know if you want a tutorial with pics as I could probably dig one up.....