My converted cattle feeder coop......

[orchidchick]

Ok, the ole disabled lady finally finished between the back from he** and the daily torrential thunder storms. The cattle feeder is the main unit you see...the two sides, the metal roof on the base with skids. i did not build that! I bought it at our local feed store here in Florida.
It is 6' x 3' and my friends rolled it into the back yard on 3 pieces of PVC. The windows were put in as an afterthought, I thought the lattice and the venting at the top would be enough ventilation, and it probably was, but I was hot......
The last pic is before attaching to the run obviously...it's hard to see through all the layers of wire.
Oh, and that is Bubba, the Jack Russell supervising........

I have just the three hens, one of which produced her first egg just as I put up the last piece of window trim.
They made so much noise I thought they were all dead!!
They were still in the old set up then...A Chick-n-Hutch with the top left open completely inside the hopefully predatorproof run, and they would roost on the head rail.....they were too big to leave it closed and if I did, they would just roost on top of it anyway.

I have no carpentry background either, but I did have access to a nice selection of tools to borrow and the internet.....let's google "how to make a plunge cut......."

Orchidchick

 

[birdlover]

Very nice set up. Don't you love how impressive it all looks before they go and poop all over the nice clean shavings?? Enjoy!!

 

[Judymae]

That looks great!! Good job!!

 

[mtnhomechick]

What a cool coop! I think it looks great.

 

[pvc coop]

Very cute. Good job!

 

[Wildsky]

That is FANTASTIC!!!

 

[kpborkowski]

I love your new coop and like how you used the trellis. We were thinking of doing something similar with ours although I was just wondering if you have anything you put on top of the trellis to stop it getting too cool in the coop at night time? Once again great job.

 

[joebryant]

Super-nice! You did a fantastic job of designing and building it.

 

[orchidchick]

Thanks all,

To KP,
I live in South Florida, so figuring out a coop that was cool enough was difficult and that wouldn't blow away (I come from New England, and how I longed for all the "real barn type housing" coops most of you have!).

We have mabe two weeks of nights in the fifties, (not even consecutive) with a night or two in the forties thrown in. I had two thoughts...one was to cut some some thin pieces of material or plexi and just wing nut it to fit the lattice panels during the cold snaps to cut the wind, or just buy those roll up porch shades and attach them to either side and drop them at night and secure them at the bottom. The panels would be the easiest, but if the shades fit up there the way I think they may, there may be a use for them in blowy rains as well, even though there is a pretty good overhang. You can't really see it in the pics but there is a good 8" of open hardware cloth above the lattice work, and even if I paneled off the sides, a couple of inches could be left open at the bottom for good airflow.

I want a Big Coop Now!!!!!

 

[Mahonri]

great job. Sounds like you are resourceful enough that eventually you'll have a bigger coop. ... and I think either idea would work to help keep your chicks warm. They produce warmth so that's a good thing. I'm looking forward to seeing how my hens will handle the desert cool come November.