My Backyard Coop and Run~

[SDChef]

Hey everyone and thanks for checking out my new setup through construction, I'm going to call this my "Chicken Journal". My name is Brandon, i'm a cook in san diego and I live about 5 minutes and no freeways from Downtown San Diego. I just acquired a duplex house that a family friend owns for the same as I was paying for a 2 bedroom apartment in uptown San Diego. The best part about it? I get to have chickens! The property is well guarded and sits in a very quiet more spread out area in the Uptown area and and is quite secluded. This spring I am going to be building a Large vegetable and herb garden in my backyard and thought it would be a great idea to start with a chicken coop. So after building my compost heap I went to it building the coop, the Idea I have is build by using recycled materials. The house itself needed a lot of work, and after a couple loads from Home Depot I was left with 10 perfectly good Pallets. So I decided they would make a good frame and started screwing them together.

I than turned to craigslist since I was in need of both 2"x4"s and either planks or plywood. Well someone Else's misfortune turned into wooden gold for me. I came accross a posting for a long wooden fence that had blown down in the last storm. I came home with a truck load of 5' planks and over 20 2"x4"'s. The next day I set to work framing the rest and starting to seal it up.

The Nest boxes were made from 2 small sheets of 3/4" plywood that the neighbor threw over the fence.

Here is the front of the coop

this is a front side view, there will be 2 access doors on that wall

These are the nest boxes installed

Here is the inside floor before the planks were installed

Anyways The total cost of this project is around $30, and that's just screws, nails and the hinges for all the access doors. The goal is to have my chickens next week which gives me plenty of time to build the run and finish the coop. anyways as of now I'm out of screws.

Let me know what you think! BTW how many hens do you think I could Fill this up with? here are the specs:

inside space 3' wide x 4' deep x 5 1/2' tall

3 nests total which are 30" off the ground

one extra level which is 18" off the ground and 15" x 36" wide. the total floor space not including roosts and nests is around 15+ sq. ft. The run I expect to be around 150+ sq. ft. and 7 ft. tall. They will be allowed to free range in the veggie garden when I am working out there. Since I work in a kitchen they will be getting fresh scraps 5 days a week and will be getting fresh layer pellets every AM. let me know what else you would recomend i.e oyster shell and any other needs that I might need to cover in the next week. Thanks everyone!

 

[SDChef]

Also does anyone in here from San Diego know of a good place to get laying or almost laying Hens, I've seen a few on craigslist but they are either really expensive or some fancy looking birds. I'm looking for good laying breeds like RIR's or Barred Rock, Leghorn's, Red Stars or Cuckoo Maran's???

 

[Manok-Tao]

links don't work
did you use the uploader?

 

[alicefelldown]

SDChef - thank you for (trying) to share your coop with us! We're all very curious to see what it looks like.

The site you are trying to link picture.vwz.com is your personal 'Pictures & Video Messaging' site for your Verizon account, and thus, not viewable by anyone who isn't logged into said account.

Check out the How-To here on BYC for pictures.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=1198 - FAQ by Nifty-Chicken :

Q: How do I post pictures on the forum?
A: https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=504

If you are only interested in your chickens egg-laying abilities then check out the Helpful List of Hatcheries thread. Your local feed stores will most likely stock chicks from any number of these hatcheries.

If you are looking for Show birds, try this link. New Official BYC Breeders' List U.K. and Canada as well.

 

[SDChef]

sorry about the photos, I believe they are working now!

 

[b.hromada]

What a great job!!!

Boy are you handy!! Your girls, when you get them, will be most happy in their new coop! Enjoy!! BTW

from S. Florida Brandon, its great to have you here with us!

 

[SDChef]

Thank You! I'm no genius so thanks to this site and all its contributors I was able to come up with a good design and went for it. I just can't wait to get my chickens and start reaping the rewards of my hard work! I'm looking for almost laying hens or even year olds. I might even consider some older yet still laying hens since I can send them out to my moms property out in the country for retirement. I am building her a coop for her Birthday in May, but she wants it early.

 

[Suburban chick farmer 09]

Nice job. People on BYC suggest 4 square feet per chicken. Your coop will hold 3 chickens.

 

[dancesWchickens]

Nice DIY job on the coop! Looks like you're all set. I think you could have more than 3 chickens in your coop as long as they are only closed in at night, but 3 seems like a good number for a 150' run. They'll be wanting to get out of that all day. Make sure your roost is well protected from predators at night: here in SD the possums will make short work of them! You may want to pick up some scratch: my hens really like it.

 

[SDChef]

Hey Thanks! I am planning on getting 4 to start with, than I may add to the coop at a later date to increase the square footage. I did a little more work today before the rain kicked in. Hopefully I will be finished on Saturday morning and can pick up the new flock on Sunday or Monday!

As for predator they will be unable to get to them unless they have a hammer or screwdriver, that coop is built like a tank! and there will be a front door, I just need a sheet of plywood and some screws to make it bullet proof (or almost bullet proof).