I wanted to share my coop desighns and show the progress I have made as a chicken owner.
First a little history.
I suddenly became a chicken owner about a year and a half ago, my younger sister moved from the city out to the country and got like 20 chickens. My sister is pretty flighty, and her farming days were short lived. There were 4 chickens left still alive when she moved into my grandmothers upper class neighborhood, neither my grandmother or her neighbors were very happy about it. At my grandmothers request I took the chickens to my house on the edge of town, I do live "in the city" and I am not supposed to have them. I do have a couple of acres, I get along with/talk to my neighbors and none of them had any problem with my new pets. The chickens came with a small coop and a half a bag of food, I had no idea what to do other than feed them and close the coop at night. I built a small fence and they stayed there the rest of the summer and all winter, by the time spring came it was a MESS!
By spring I had done alot of reading, I decided if I was going to have them I wanted to improve the coop. My family and freinds enjoy the eggs and so we decided that a few more chicks were in order.
So I would need a new coop capable of housing 8-10 chickens, as well as a brooder.
I started with a brooder, easy enouph...... Pics are after I used it, my sister borrowed it for a rabbit (which I also ended up with, but thats another story).
Then it was on to the big one, I am pretty handy but not real imaginative. I just have to do things, so this coop was desighned as it was built (no desighn).
By the time I got this one done the baby chicks were outgrowing the brooder and my girlfreind demanded they get out of the house. Unfortunatly they were not big enough to go in with the big chickens. I tried it, but there was just no way I was putting my 8 week old chicks in with those big mean chickens.....
So following my bigger desighn I built a mini cooper for them. Same basic desighn, but much smaller and no nesting boxes. This coop would be great for some bantams.
I was told that some of the chicks would die....
So i purchased 6 random chicks from rural king. None of them died, but I did end up with 1 Roo. I was able to find him a good home with freinds and visit him regularly.
I started out moveing my big coop every few weeks, but I knew with 9 chickens I would not be able to move the coop often enouph to satisfy them and me.
Which brings us to present day, I have been very happy with my coop desighn. For me safety is #1, I have not lost one chicken since I started. (knock on wood)
I do close my coop every night and let them out in the morning, I originaly planned on electric fence around the coop itself but never did it.
Anyway, here it is. Safe, easy to maintain and the chickens seem happy. Please feel free to lend me any suggestions you might have, or ask any questions you might have.
Thanks for letting me share!
First a little history.
I suddenly became a chicken owner about a year and a half ago, my younger sister moved from the city out to the country and got like 20 chickens. My sister is pretty flighty, and her farming days were short lived. There were 4 chickens left still alive when she moved into my grandmothers upper class neighborhood, neither my grandmother or her neighbors were very happy about it. At my grandmothers request I took the chickens to my house on the edge of town, I do live "in the city" and I am not supposed to have them. I do have a couple of acres, I get along with/talk to my neighbors and none of them had any problem with my new pets. The chickens came with a small coop and a half a bag of food, I had no idea what to do other than feed them and close the coop at night. I built a small fence and they stayed there the rest of the summer and all winter, by the time spring came it was a MESS!
By spring I had done alot of reading, I decided if I was going to have them I wanted to improve the coop. My family and freinds enjoy the eggs and so we decided that a few more chicks were in order.
So I would need a new coop capable of housing 8-10 chickens, as well as a brooder.
I started with a brooder, easy enouph...... Pics are after I used it, my sister borrowed it for a rabbit (which I also ended up with, but thats another story).
Then it was on to the big one, I am pretty handy but not real imaginative. I just have to do things, so this coop was desighned as it was built (no desighn).
By the time I got this one done the baby chicks were outgrowing the brooder and my girlfreind demanded they get out of the house. Unfortunatly they were not big enough to go in with the big chickens. I tried it, but there was just no way I was putting my 8 week old chicks in with those big mean chickens.....
So following my bigger desighn I built a mini cooper for them. Same basic desighn, but much smaller and no nesting boxes. This coop would be great for some bantams.
I was told that some of the chicks would die....
I started out moveing my big coop every few weeks, but I knew with 9 chickens I would not be able to move the coop often enouph to satisfy them and me.
Which brings us to present day, I have been very happy with my coop desighn. For me safety is #1, I have not lost one chicken since I started. (knock on wood)
I do close my coop every night and let them out in the morning, I originaly planned on electric fence around the coop itself but never did it.
Anyway, here it is. Safe, easy to maintain and the chickens seem happy. Please feel free to lend me any suggestions you might have, or ask any questions you might have.
Thanks for letting me share!
