My new "Minature Barn" coop

[Omran]

That's a very nice and beautiful coop.
your hens will be very happy and they will give you a lot of eggs.


Omran

 

[felidaet]

Thanks for all the favorable comments. I will add more photos as I finish it and build the run. This evening I finished painting the white trim under the eves. I only had primer on it before. I also installed one of the windows.

A couple of you asked about the rafter software. The website is www.easyrafters.com. I will add this to my page.

And for the questions about how many chickens - Looks like it will be 14. I will also add details to my page. I did put these in last night but I did something wrong and lost several paragraphs. I was working on it way to late on a work night and decided this was a clue that it was time to head to bed.

 

[Cheep a'lil Talk a'lil]

How wonderful! It looks great! I've been carrying around the same plans from buildeasy.com for the last year. I think with all of the coops plans that I've seen I'm still stuck on this one. And seeing yours built instead of just their drawing makes it all the more better.

Did you find this to be an easy build? Other then the roof what other changes did you make? Are you going to have free range or are they going to have a pen?
Can't wait to see more pictures!

 

[felidaet]

I just finished adding quite a bit more text to my page and I organized it a little better. I should have done this before I published it last night but I was anxious to get it published.

In response to the question about what changes did I make to the buildeasy plan - a lot. It is now significently different. It is bigger, I changed the floor plan, I added a storage room, I added big windows (that I got for free on craigslist). The buildeasy plan was very useful though. It gave me something to start with. I carefully examined the plan MANY times and thought about every little detail. I happen to be a detail oriented person.

Was it easy to build? Yes. However, I assisted a friend in framing two houses in the past. I also have the proper tools except for a table saw. Many years ago I was standing near a person that lost the ends of several fingers on a table saw. I have not gone near one since and that was more than 30 years ago. I use a worm gear saw instead.

Are the hens going to free range? Only when I am working in the garden. There are too many hawks and eagles flying around my home. I love watching them but I don't want to provide them chicken dinners. I am going to build a run with a roof on it.

 

[Cheep a'lil Talk a'lil]

I am also very detail oriented. I don't like surprises.
I just noticed where you are from, very cool! We have realitives in Camas.

Do you know how large you are going to build your run? Since we are so close to the Rain Forest we get a TON of rain. We also have many hawks in the area along with a few eagles. So we will definately need a roof over our run.

We want to do meat birds but have not decided if we will do two separate areas, one for the egg layers and one for the meat birds. We are also trying to figure out if it is worth it. I don't want to have to buy my meat bird chicks every year. I would like for us to be able to hatch our own. So many things to consider.

Your family sounds like you are on the same page as ours. Self sufficient is our goal. 100%, probably not, but we'll do the best we can. I learned how to can last year and love it. The garden area is also in the works along with the chickens area.

Fun, fun!

 

[The Chicken Lady]

Great design! I love the "miniature barn" look.

 

[eggchel]

I love it, too!