Our first coop we built I modeled after half a dozen coop pics that I printed off from this site. We have the little hen house part with the gang plank, installed windows and 8 nest boxes. A year later when half the hens would not sleep inside I realized that those cute little hen houses are for cold weather climates. Here in Hawaii it is simply overkill. The birds prefer to sleep outside with a roof. So I have been designing and redesigning our next big building project. I saw the breeding pens from the GreenFire Farms site and love them. They are in Florida so our weather is probably similar.
We decided to build it 24x12 ft. That quickly went to 30 x 12 and now I am pretty sure we are at 32 x 12.
We found the spot to build our pens...
Started leveling and filling with one of our most abundant resources here in Hawaii... cinder, except for lava rock of course. yay volcanic island
Then we changed our mind and decided to put it here...
I was thinking of having four pens that are 6 x 12 and two 4 x 12 pens. Then decided to go instead with one 8 x 12 instead of two 4 x 12's.
Here we have all the concrete form boards cut and nailed together. Next they will be staked into place and we can order concrete after my husband runs water pipes to each pen.
I will add more pics as soon as there is progress. This week I hope!!!
We decided to build it 24x12 ft. That quickly went to 30 x 12 and now I am pretty sure we are at 32 x 12.
![lol.png](https://www.backyardchickens.com/img/smilies/lol.png)
We found the spot to build our pens...
![62282_img_7673.jpg](https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/62282_img_7673.jpg)
Started leveling and filling with one of our most abundant resources here in Hawaii... cinder, except for lava rock of course. yay volcanic island
![hmm.png](https://www.backyardchickens.com/img/smilies/hmm.png)
![62282_img_7674.jpg](https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/62282_img_7674.jpg)
Then we changed our mind and decided to put it here...
![lol.png](https://www.backyardchickens.com/img/smilies/lol.png)
![62282_img_7675.jpg](https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/62282_img_7675.jpg)
I was thinking of having four pens that are 6 x 12 and two 4 x 12 pens. Then decided to go instead with one 8 x 12 instead of two 4 x 12's.
Here we have all the concrete form boards cut and nailed together. Next they will be staked into place and we can order concrete after my husband runs water pipes to each pen.
I will add more pics as soon as there is progress. This week I hope!!!
![62282_img_7680.jpg](https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/62282_img_7680.jpg)