My Backyard Coop and Run~

[SDChef]

Thanks everyone!

CrosbyGroup: Your Coop looks awesome, hopefully mine will look that good someday! Turns out I called a feed store about 30 minutes away and they told me they got a large shipment of 6 month old RIR's and they are getting more on Sunday. So first thing Monday AM I will be off to get em. And I also checked out about the Humanity store and I have one not 10 minutes away! I will be there when I need some more wood and hardware! Thanks for the tips!

 

[crosbygroup]

It is fun building a coop and reusing things.

Watch out for the ReStore it is almost as addicting as BYC.

 

[Ozchook]

SD, great job!!!

I'm so happy to see the recycled chook shacks getting such positive feedback. I've just done a similar thing
( https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=294034 ) and on Tuesday we picked up four 10 week old chooks. It's such a buzz to see them in there scratching around and exploring, worth all the effort. So far we've had 2 days of 36 degrees C, and a torrential storm so my handiwork's had a good testing!!!
This site's amazing for help and friendly advice and I couldn't have done it without the BYC'ers
Enjoy the ladies when they arrive and be proud of the fine job you've done with next to nothing.
Cheers
Adam

 

[SDChef]

I Got My Chickens!!! 4 Rhode Island Reds, 8 months old and already laying! I am so excited and they are unbelievably friendly, a couple of them don't mind being picked up but they all will come up to anyone. I will be sure to post pictures tomorrow.

 

[alicefelldown]

Congrats!!!

 

[Ozchook]

I'm sure your chickens are feelin' the love SD!!

Enjoy them (and their produce!)

 

[SDChef]

They SURE ARE!!

Here are the pics of a few of the hens at the feeder. The other likes to stand guard outside most of the time. And of course MY FIRST EGGS!!!!!!!!!! Thanks everyone for providing the info for me to get this going. I will post some more pics of the coop and run as soon as the sun moves out of my shot.

 

[SDChef]

Well here are some more pictures of the girls and their new home. The run is temporarily covered with a tarp, but stapled down quite well. chicken wire surrounds everything else. as soon as I get some more $$$ I will finish the run and shaded area, and than build the DUCK COOP!!!!!

Quick ?, I plan on expanding the run to include the duck coop and another 150 sq ft, would this be ok and would there be issues as to whose coop is whose?

 

[Kansaseq]

Ducks are super messy. Any source of water will end up muddy in minutes, and the area around it a muddy mess. I have two pens; one with ducks, and one without. The one without is MUCH much cleaner. Also, if you have any water source in the coop, your shavings will be soaked. Beyond that, I don't have issues with keeping the two together. Duck eggs are awesome

And I plan to do a pallet coop project this spring; thanks for keeping me inspired. You did a great job!

And a question; how did you attach the pallets together to make them stable? I haven't been able to figure out if people use brackets, or what.

 

[SDChef]

I used one as a base, and than screwed a taller pallet to one side of the floor pallet. I used pallets that were different sizes so it was more like a jigsaw puzzle than a framing job. I left one side open and put doors there and than cut two of the lower portions of the front panel for a door. I would say get one LARGE pallet and than 4 regular pallets as your walls. screw the smaller pallets into the floor and than into each other. cut out your door and add siding or plywood to the outside. Than maybe a sheet of plywood for the roof as well. that would be an easy way to make a duck coop. i never used any brackets and the structure is incredibly solid.

And also thanks for the advice, i might just make them separate runs in that case!