Mini Chicken Taj-Mahal! (warning: PIC HEAVY)

[Wynette]

Hello, folks! I met a fellow BYC-er this past spring (Opa). Knowing he is a builder, I hired him to build me a small (4' x 6') coop for an upcoming breeding project. It came out WAY better than I even envisioned it, and I wanted to share it with you.

It's got two nest boxes, a nice window above them, drip edge all around (even on the nest boxes), vents in each end, and even has ridge vent..my HOUSE doesn't even have that! Sam built it on 4x4 posts and angled the ends to make it easier to move. The posts are lag bolted onto the 2x4 braces (I may be getting the wording wrong on this!).

Here's the interior, which is covered in...oh, shoot - don't remember what the stuff is called, but it's smooth and brigh inside, and this stuff will make it SO easy to clean - just spray on cleaner, let set a few mins., and wipe off! My original coop is just bare wood inside, and takes HOURS to thoroughly clean, with a wire brush.

The roost is removable, and the poop will fall into the bin underneath:

Here's the ceiling - you can see that the liner stuff is even on the ceiling, and in this pic, you can see the ridge vent:

I'd mentioned to Sam that I lost a few eggs to freezing last winter, so he lined the nest boxes and lid with 1 1/2" insulation! The lid for these two nest boxes is much heavier than the lid to my SIX nest boxes of my original coop!

We pulled the coop into the garage for painting, since it's heated in there and it was too cold outside. The runners Sam built the coop on made it easy to move. Here's DH pulling the coop out of the garage after painting to move it back to the barn:

And another of it about halfway there...with Macey, my baby girl, watching over the progress:

Here, it's close to it's final resting spot. The area it's in will be fenced in next spring; we will cut a large section out of the existing chicken run, and the nest boxes for this coop will actually jut out into the other chicken run. This way, when I go into run #1 to collect eggs from coop #1, I just walk to the other side of the run to collect eggs from coop #2. I won't even need to go back out, through the barn, and into run #2. What a time saver!

Sorry there are so many pictures, but I'm just THRILLED with this coop and wanted to share with you all! I would HIGHLY recommend Sam as your builder if you are within driving distance and are in need of a small coop like mine!!

 

[hippichick]

Awesome coop! Builder did a great job. Very professional. I'd like about 5 of those, please..............

Paula

 

[BayCityBabe]

Wow! That is one awesome coop!

 

[birdlover]

Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's goods! Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's goods! Repeat over and over! Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's goods!

It's just fantastic!!! Needless to say, I am soooo envious!!! Do the windows open?

 

[Wynette]

Hippichick - TELL ME! If I had the $, I'd ask for another 5 myself! The pics really don't do it justice. I was worried DH would be upset that I had someone else build me a coop, since he built my first one. But when DH saw it, he was like, HOLY COW! That thing ROCKS! Whew! DH was also very impressed with it, and he's an engineer and believe me - he does not impress easily!

I almost don't want to put chickens in it, it's too cute!

birdlover: it has one window over the nest boxes; the window does open. We'll probably be adding another window to the other side in the spring for a nice cross breeze.

 

[ChickenTender63]

Hopefully the ventillation will work out ok on this for you. He did install a ridge vent along with two very small gable vents. The problem here is that for a ridge vent to work, you have to have soffit vents down below to pull air in and push air out the top. You will pull a little in through those small gable vents, but it will be very little.

Just watch it next summer and see what happens. The way he has it built, should you need more ventillation, you will need to just add a couple roof vents that will allow more air to flow. It isn't the ideal situation for venting, but with closed rafter spaces and soffits, you don't have many alternatives unless you go down low on the walls and add vets.

It looks good painted by the way, and a convenient way to move it around.

 

[gumpsgirl]

I LOVE it Wynette! What a great coop!

 

[lurky]

AWESOME!!!!!!!!!

 

[Wynette]

Thanks, guys!

Hey, chickentender...what if we remove the small vents on the ends and replace with larger ones? Would that work?

 

[ChickenTender63]

Quote:
As small as the structure is, that would probably be fine. I wouldn't do anything yet though, wait and see what happens next summer when it starts warming up first. It may end up being fine the way it is, I just wanted to let you know that it could possibly be an issue though.

I was a custom builder for years along with an architectural engineering degree, and I have found through the years that most builders really don't understand the function of a ridge vent vs gable vents and what it truly takes to make them effective. Just because there is a hole in the roof does not always mean that you will have good ventilation.

But, give it a try before you start cutting anything. Worst case if it doesn't work, you will be able to make the modifications on a nice saturday afternoon.

It is a very nice looking coop though, and hopefully it works well for you!