My First Coop (PHOTO'S)

[HappyHatch'en]

My first stab at building a chicken coop....I'm calling it the "HappyHatch'en Chicken Saloon" - located in the N.GA. Mtns. It started off being a tractor...now it's a tractor trailer...
The shed you see is 6Wx8Lx6H....I haven't added the front porch yet, which will be 2' x 6" which makes it 6' x 10' when finised. The back will have an 18" x 6' door, with two 35" windows that open up beach style on each side...hinged at the top. Linoleum floor, 1" rough saw Hemlock vertical siding (lapped jointed), screwed with deck screws...the tin roof came from an old chicken house....talk about going green! The open pen is used 48" chain link framed by treated 2x4's, the floor will be raised, using 1/2 wire for floor, supported by 2x2 on 16" centers. I will build an additional open pen from this one to allow chickens to get to my grass, what little I have. At present I have two nesting boxes with 3 more to build, for a total of 5 nesting boxes.
Should I scrap the wire floored pen and allow the birds to the ground? Or should I change the wire floor to 1/4"?
Any thoughts on decorating the inside? How many birds should I get for a pen this size?
Thanks to your response..
Happy Hatch'en Folks

 

[n-da-woods]

Good job. Very nice

 

[CTChickenMom]

Nice hen house you've got there in a great setting!

The plan I have for an 8'x8' coop allows for 15-20 hens. I expanded it just a little to be 8x10 and will be using a community next box in mine. I figure I can get 20-25 in there now especially with a large run. I've read in Storey's book Raising Chickens that if the run is large, you can have slightly less than the minimum in square footage inside the hen house (recommended 4 sq. ft. per bird for large breeds). My run will be 15'x15'.

Are you going to cover the top of your run? Coons and opossums make a nasty mess of chickens and are good climbers.

 

[HappyHatch'en]

I will top the pen area with some shade cloth for greenhouse's, I hope this will eliminate a chicken dinner for some wild north Georgia animal... perhaps I should scrap the wire floor idea, giving the chickens more head room?

 

[NancyDz]

Looks nice! I would also cover the chain link on the sides up past chicken height with hardware wire so that nothing can stick a paw through and grab the chickens. Raccoons will do that.

I'd recommend a poop board under the roost... it makes it so much easier to keep clean. There are a lot of threads on here about poop boards.


Nancy

 

[Zahboo]

Cute! I really like it! Does it have ventilation? My computer screen sucks, so maybe it's just the screen, or is that bottoim part open

 

[Faverolle]

That is a really nice looking coop. A couple of my coops are 6x8 in size and I have 10 birds in one and 12 in the other. I guess ultimately the amount of birds that you keep in their comfortably depends on a lot on how much time they might actually have to spend in there.

 

[HappyHatch'en]

This picture shows the ventilation near the top roof, (horizontal vent) tin roof has not been added yet..... window will will be screened as well...

 

[the-metal-peddler]

Nice.... Built on a hillside too.... Two thumbs up for that!!!!

 

[redoak]

Very nice coop and design