My First Coop.

[Almric]

Been constructing my first coop over the past couple weeks and, even after growing up on a poultry farm for over 12 years, I'm still confused about pretty much everything



Since my wife is from Norway, I'm trying to go with a Norwegian looking coop. It's a small 4 by 4 coop for a couple chickens to call home. Have to hunt down some sod to finish up with a grass roof, as well as carve a viking-looking chicken to attach to the ridge beam of the roof I plan on making some chicken wired panels for the bottom portions, one of which will be hinged so I can let them out to free range during the day.

My main problems have to do with the inside. The first is the chicken run I built. You can see it from the inside here.

And from beneath...

I'm going to add something for the chickens to grab on to on the ramp, like popsicle sticks, but want to know what other people do. I also want to know if my design will even work, as 95% of the coops on this site have a door in the front instead of coming from underneath like I have. Did I make a mistake in doing this?

The other is ventilation. I've got the gaps between the walls and the roof on either side.

Thinking back to the chick barns I grew up with, would it be ok to staple some sort of heavy cloth or plastic to the inside of the roof so that it can drape down over the gaps, cutting down on drafts?

Just want to thank everyone on the site. The information you all provide has been extremely helpful in getting me this far!

Neil

 

[PoultryGirly]

Looks good!

 

[nikki1]

Okay, so first I just gotta say I want to see your viking chicken! That'd be awesome. I also have to admire how professionally built it looks! I bet a guy with a level couldn't find a flaw there!

Just a couple suggestions. First, you need some more ventilation up near the highest part of the coop. If they're above the roosts, you can avoid drafts, but chickens can't tolerate a home without ventilation. Also, your blue drapes will stop drafts, but not predators. Everything likes to eat chickens! You'll need to seal up the gap with some hardware cloth no bigger than 1/2 inch to keep critters out.

As far as the rungs on your chicken ramp, you might need something stouter than popsicle sticks. Last winter we had a killer ice storm, and so we had a bumper crop of branches. We took some 1-2 inch branches, split them in half, and nailed them down. Other people use other stuff. Check out the coop pages for ideas.

Hope that's helpful. I'm sure lots of other people have better ideas, too. Hope you get lots of input.

--Nikki

 

[Hummingbird Hollow]

For my first chicken ramp I used 1/4"round interior house trim that was leftover from a renovation project to create "rungs" to keep the chickens from slipping on the ramp. That seemed to work pretty well. On my second, I stapled down a left'over strip of plastic poultry netting. This also seems to do the job quite nicely and was considerably less work. I probably need to keep an eye on it to be sure the staples don't pull out, but even if they do, a quick fix with the staple gun shouldn't be a big deal.

One...no two other suggestions regarding the interior. I don't know if you've planned on putting down some sort of vinyl floor to make cleaning easier. You can probably pick up a scrap at a flooring store or at the Restore (Habitat for Humanity's thrift store) really cheaply. Also, you might want to consider a deeper sill around your floor opening. You are going to want to dump a bunch of pine shavings onto the floor, and you don't want to loose large amounts every day when the chickens come down the ramp.

And yes, post photos of the Viking chicken when you have it done!

 

[Almric]

Well, now that the wife and kids are in Norway visiting the in-laws for the next little bit, I tried to take advantage of the time I have to try and finish up the coop. The area under the roof works out to about 132 sq. inches of ventilation for a 4 foot by 4 foot coop. Is that enough or will I have to make some larger vents elsewhere?

Regardless, I realize from Nikki1's post that I should in fact put up some sort of barrier over the vents I do have in order to discourage pests. I took an old pine shelf I had laying around and cut it into strips and then stole with permission some wire mesh from a pile of left over construction materials at my parents place.



I then cut it into the lengths I needed, and built 'em to fit between the roof joists.



A quick coat of stain and then I stapled on the cut wire mesh to create these works of art



Next up, tracking down some lino for the interior floor. I'm thinking something floral.....

 

[KDK1]

You should screw some 1X2s over the stapled edge of the lathe to secure it better. A coon can rip that right off. They're crafty little devils.

 

[jprs]

I would consider a ridge vent, since you haven't covered the roof yet. Will also help keep it cooler in the summer and give your eve vents somewhere to vent to.

 

[chickachee]

We used leftover shingles to put on the ramp. Good traction for the chickens!

 

[Almric]

A roof vent would be a nice alternative to cutting some holes out in the front and/or back of the coop, but since I plan on covering the roof with sod I'm not sure if it would work I did manage to spend the day today tracking down some free lino and installing it in the coop. I added some heavy baseboards to help hold down the edges so there will be no pecking of it should it curl up in the future.



I also took Hummingbird Hollow's advice and replaced the sill around the door opening with something more substantial to keep shavings (or whatever I end up using in the coop from pouring out whenever the birds come and go.



Now I need to move the behemoth to the 7 by 7 plot where it's going to stay so I can put up chicken wire. I tried to make it as light as possible so I could move it without getting a hernia. Sadly, I failed

 

[chickers]

Don't use chicken wire. Chicken wire keeps chickens in, but does nothing to keep predators out. Hardware cloth is much safer.

Great coop!