My First Coop....The Beginning !

NH-hamneggs

Songster
5 Years
Dec 1, 2018
26
55
109
New Hampshire
I took ownership of a 6 foot X 12 foot pallet that some machinery came on, this is the base of my coop.
coop floor2.jpg
coop floor1.jpg

Unfortunately, we didn't receive the machinery at work until last week. We already have more than a foot of snow on the ground. I will not be able to get it in place until spring hit pretty hard...maybe April or so.
But I am going to prepare things, get material and so on.
As the 4x4's are not pressure treated I will paint them and put some runners of PT 2 X 6 between them and concrete blocks to get it off the ground.

The floor is a double layer of 3/4 inch plywood. I don't want this to rot out, so I was thinking of painting the floor with the rubberized roof materiel, then put a layer of linoleum on top of that.

Also, since we get down to 20 or 30 below zero sometimes, would double pane windows be a good idea?

Thanks for any information and I will try to provide picks as things come together.
 
Yes they are pneumatic tires.
Not much snow left but everything is pretty mushy with all the rain we have been getting...last rain spell was 2.72 inches earlier in the week.

We are supposed to get more rain for the next couple days.
When things dry out a little, I can level off the location and roll it out there and start building the darn thing.
 
I have been so busy with work and other stuff I have not taken the t8me to do any updates, I sincerely apologize.

We got the chicken coop mostly built.
I have to finish the roof, a tarp acts as a weather barrier for now. Plus I have to add the other roof which will act as the dry and shade area for the birds.

The first few pictures are of our progress building the walls.
My daughter was my assistant....read that ass “ go for “ she did great, worked hard and never complained a bit.

These two pictures represent what we did on Saturday.
 

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These pictures are of the primed coop, inside and out all primed.

Doors made, fence put and the lock in the run.

We still have a few big things to finish like the shade roof.

You can see how close the neighbors house is, everyone has been in the run six days and the neighbors ya they haven’t heard a peep from the flock.
 

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Looking good! Nice big run. I see ducks?
Yes, we got two Pekin and three Khaki Campbell.
The Pekin are going to be meat birds, the Campbells will be layers. To be honest, I am not sure I like having the ducks, they tend to be territorial around a watered. So we ended up getting two waterers, they also don’t like it when the chickens get around their pool. But a lot of this is a learning curve for us.
 
Welcome to BYC!
Thanks for adding your location...it really helps when giving advice.
Double glazed windows can be good, top hinged are best IMO.
Don't confuse a closed insulated coop with healthy chickens they need ventilation all year round.

It's actually good that you have all winter to research and plan,
should save you some pain, suffering, and money when it's time to actually build.

There's a lot to learn, take your time, separate the wheat from the chaff.
Take notes and save links.
I use a word doc with headings like coop, roosts, nests, ventilation, etc so easier to find info later using document search function. Also have a spreadsheet file with labeled sheets.


Here's some tips to peruse while you're planning:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/coop-stack-up-how-high-stuff-works-well.73427/

http://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1048597/ventilated-but-free-of-drafts

http://www.backyardchickens.com/a/how-much-room-do-chickens-need
 
The wheels are for moving it into position easier, the deck weighs a bunch, I can just roll it into position and if I want to, need to, I can jack it off the blocks and move it to a different location.
The wheels are about 6 inch diameter, I already moved it around and bit and had no difficulty pulling it around. Two of the pivot for steering, the other two are fixed.
 
Looking good, I would extend the roof out on the man door side to help keep rain out of the door... I wish I had extended the roof of my run like that so I don't have to stand in the rain when opening/closing the door.

JT
I have been thinking of that addition as well, in the winter it would be much more convenient to have a small roof there, as well as a gutter to direct the rain away from the run area. Thanks for the tip!
 

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