After about a month of weekends, it's not 100% yet, but it's looking pretty good. It doesn't have a name yet, but I'm starting to like "Chick Inn". It was built with 3-4 bantams in mind, the run measures 6' x 4' x 2', the coop is 2' x 4' x 2' (plus an extra 5cu ft in the 'rafters').
The top portion of the ramp (colored yellow) is actually a dropping trap door between the coop and the run... however, I haven't really designed a good way to easily open/close the door. I've got an idea, but now just need the time to make it happen.
Access hatch in case it's needed. Funny to watch the neighborhood cats as they come by and visit. They spend lots of time trying to figure out how to get in, they even climb on top. The chickens just ignore them.
The entire thing weights about 70 pounds. I'm considering adding removable wheels to the coop side for ease of movement, but my wife doesn't want me to do that because she likes helping to move it... we'll see what she says a few months from now.
Here's the sliding window (idea borrowed from others I've seen here). Also, the entire top is hinged, you can see the line above the window, so I can open the coop and clean, feed, etc.
After using it for about a week now, I see some design flaws that will require adjustment. One in particular is that I put an opening below the roosting boards (covered with hardware cloth) so that the roosting chickens would fertilize the ground and not the coop... well, it seems that they aren't too keen right now about roosting over the hole, so I've put the board back in and they're a little more interested now.
The 1x2 across the top is for hanging the feeder/water... of course, after the fact I realized that I had just made a roost right above their food so I'm going to modify that to make it 'less-than-desirable' as a perching place.
There are two rounded 1x2s that can't be seen in the picture, mounted flat-side-up. Are those wide enough for bantams, or should I replace them with rounded 1x3 or 1x4?
Here they are being tucked-in to bed on their first night. I've since raised the food and water to keep it clean - boy what a difference that made.
We've gone ahead and named them. Clockwise from top left; 'Drumstick' the rooster?, 'Bucket', 'Omelette' the Frizzle, and Nugget. There's an anti-rooster ordinance in my city so, in the not too distant future, Drumstick is probably going to accidently trip over an axe and land in a soup pot.
The top portion of the ramp (colored yellow) is actually a dropping trap door between the coop and the run... however, I haven't really designed a good way to easily open/close the door. I've got an idea, but now just need the time to make it happen.
Access hatch in case it's needed. Funny to watch the neighborhood cats as they come by and visit. They spend lots of time trying to figure out how to get in, they even climb on top. The chickens just ignore them.
The entire thing weights about 70 pounds. I'm considering adding removable wheels to the coop side for ease of movement, but my wife doesn't want me to do that because she likes helping to move it... we'll see what she says a few months from now.
Here's the sliding window (idea borrowed from others I've seen here). Also, the entire top is hinged, you can see the line above the window, so I can open the coop and clean, feed, etc.
After using it for about a week now, I see some design flaws that will require adjustment. One in particular is that I put an opening below the roosting boards (covered with hardware cloth) so that the roosting chickens would fertilize the ground and not the coop... well, it seems that they aren't too keen right now about roosting over the hole, so I've put the board back in and they're a little more interested now.
The 1x2 across the top is for hanging the feeder/water... of course, after the fact I realized that I had just made a roost right above their food so I'm going to modify that to make it 'less-than-desirable' as a perching place.
There are two rounded 1x2s that can't be seen in the picture, mounted flat-side-up. Are those wide enough for bantams, or should I replace them with rounded 1x3 or 1x4?
Here they are being tucked-in to bed on their first night. I've since raised the food and water to keep it clean - boy what a difference that made.
We've gone ahead and named them. Clockwise from top left; 'Drumstick' the rooster?, 'Bucket', 'Omelette' the Frizzle, and Nugget. There's an anti-rooster ordinance in my city so, in the not too distant future, Drumstick is probably going to accidently trip over an axe and land in a soup pot.
