My Alaskan Chicken Shack

[Jdek]

Here are some pictures of our chicken shed project. It's not all I thought it would be but the residents seem to love it and I guess that's all that counts. The neighbors haven't complained yet and don't anticipate that they will...

The design is basically a 6x10 shed with a sloped roof to shed the outrageous amount of winter snow we get in my area. We divided the whole shed into two sections. One will be the roost/nesting area and the other section is our contained open air run area. I realize this isn't the best setup but it will probably be our best option for a run when we get our 300+ average inches of snow in the winter. Most of the 2x4's I scavenged from the local construction dump, the nice metal "screwless" roofing was left over from the contractor that did the roofing job on my house.

 

[Wildsky]

Thats very cute!!!

Are you going to insulate it at all?

 

[Jdek]

I think we'll end up insulating the nest/roost side of the shack.

 

[BeckyLa]

Very nice! Y'all have done a wonderful job.

 

[MissPrissy]

Quote:
I can't imagine a nicer chicken coop! It is lovely.

 

[WestKnollAmy]

That is very nice! I think you all did a great job. That snow stuff can be a bummer but the summers are wonderful and your chickens will love to eat up all the bugs. Are you going to let them free range?

 

[steffpeck]

I think it looks awesome!! Nice work!! How many chickens do you plan on having in it?

 

[ams3651]

nice job, if you can do that it wouldnt be that hard to build a small outside run if you wanted to for warmer weather. It is nice to have a place for them to stretch their legs inside when it snows.

 

[robinaggie]

Nice!

 

[Jdek]

We incubated and hatched 20 eggs that we got from another poultry person in town. We planned on keeping 5 to 6 hens for egg laying and the rest our local poultry farmer was going to take to add to his flock. About a week ago, two black bears got into his chicken shed and killed all of his chickens (about 25). He said that he would be taking a break from the chicken business so now I have to figure out what to do with my "extra" chickens. I have no problem with keeping the chicks but my operation is sort of a "clandestine" one due to zoning and other issues. As for building an outside run, I would love to do it but it wouldn't work in the winter.

Here's a picture of our house during the summer...

And now the snow, this particular year the snow off the roof was pretty much even with the top of the eaves. This snow load is pretty typical for the winter.

Hope I don't see any of these around my house this summer, my wife took these pictures less than three miles from our place. We typically see more black bears in this area than the grizzlies so seeing these was a treat.