My coop on the hill

[Sygat]

I finaly completed a coop and a run. A lot of information came from this forum, so I am kind of going to give back now, describing this ongoing adventure

the whole thing is not complete though, but it is completed enaugh to start puting some info here.

Let me start with what the plan was:
1. I start building begining of February with building a small gazebo my wife wanted.
2. Once a roof is up, I use not finished gazebo as a shelter for my tools and start working on a coop.
3. At the end of February I get 10 Buff Brahma chicks (well, nine and a rooster) and keep them in one of the guest rooms.
4. By the end of March the coop and run are completed and chicks move there. I reached this point yesterday

The duck part I am scratching off now, but it was like this:
5. At this point I start working on the duck house for ~5 ducks
6. I am getting ducks
7. Once duck house is completed I split the run and move the ducks in
Now it is replaced with building extra storage/small energency coop or brooder

8. I finish the gazebo

 

[Sygat]

So, first big desigon. Do I flatten the area. I decided not to do it, just because it felt like too much work.
The thing is, if my left front conner is at 0 inches high, the far left will be 15 inch, front right 28, and far right 47.
Since I am not very expirienced and pretty much design as I go, I decided to built sort of a leveled fence in a sence, using posts I dig in, and go from there.

 

[Sygat]

The coop and run are 10ft wide, the run turned out to be 19ft, and the coop is 80 inch long.
The posts a 4x4, the 8 inch diameter holes were digged using battery powered auger I got of amazon 3 years ago, filled with drainage rocks and compacted a bit.
I actually messed up the actual coop posts, so the coop ended up not exactly square. I missed it by 7 inches, but I was too tired to redo. At least the lines are parralel. One of the, "well, its just a chicken coop" decisions

 

[Sygat]

So, at this point I thought - it seems like I don't have enaugh stress in my life. Let me introduce an unmovable deadline that I have to meet.
Just kidding, actually at this point I realize I am not going to have eggs until next Fall. Somehow I was blocking this simple logic that the chickens are not going to lay eggs from day one. So, I was like - well, its steel February. I will finish this thing by the end March, I am pretty sure. And so I ordered chicks in our local "Southern States - Frederick Cooperative".
And by 2/23 I was a proud owner of 10 chicks and the race began.

 

[perkolator]

Very cool. You may consider making this into a coop build article

 

[Sygat]

Meanwhile the chicks turned over the waterer in the brooder. I suspect those two were involved the most.

 

[Sygat]

And then the next day the temp went to mid 80th (welcome to MD weather), and I quickly added an emergency ventlation window

 

[Sygat]

So, with the level posts almost finished (I left one side open, so I can deal with whatever I put into the run later), It was time to do some floring.
For the bottom (duck portion) I put PT plywood. For the Coop part its 5/4x6 decking board. I plabn to put linoleum on both. On this pictures you can see a shed I buil last year on the background. The siding were made from the same decking boards there, and my wife insited on siding on the coop to match it.

 

[Sygat]

This little accident prompt me to build my own watterer and feeder. This is 3/2, btw. A week after I got them.

 

[Sygat]

So, it was 3/12, and when I switched from paper towels to pine shavings in the brooder. 4 days later two chicks flew ot of it into the room. The door to the room was locked, so my 3 cats did not have a chance to introduce themselves, but steel I built top cover for the brooder. I also buit a little roosting bar and they seems to like it. We also started to take out the heater for the day, so more space is available