My not quite finished coop...so far..

[Strongflock]

Hi all just thought I would share my coop with everyone. The majority of the wood came from what used to be a lean-to so the cost on the total project has been pretty low. First I had to build a retaining wall to get some somewhat flat ground to build my foundation. I used #9 gravel as a leveling base and also for drainage then used 4x6 beams as the base of the coop. The base is backfilled with about 2in of #9 gravel and about 3 in of sand. Then I built the structure and roof then added the hardware cloth and door. Once the run part was done then I could build the coop. I put down a sheet of laminate flooring to help with clean up and hung the hen house. I still have to put the window in the front and add a door to the back for cleaning and one to the side to be able to get the eggs. All in all I think it came out pretty good and my flock seems to like it.

 

[15WildTurkey]

We built ours this spring. I’m so proud of hubby. He comes from city tenement apt living with no diy history. He was the muscles while my 75year old carpenter dad was the foreman on our goat barn a couple years ago. He applied what he learned then and all by himself built the coop.
You should be very proud.

 

[Strongflock]

Pretty darn nice!
Lotsa diggin'!

Will you gutter the low end of roof?
Soffits look open<thumbsup> will you cover with 1/2" HC?

It was a heck of a lot of digging, we had to go down about 36in on the one end, did it all by hand. Yes I plan on putting up a gutter on the back side and running it into a drainage sock at some point...

 

[Strongflock]

Looks nice! I would add at least one window to the coop for additional ventilation as well as natural light.

Yep it is in the works, just got done framing it in yesterday.

 

[Strongflock]

Yup!
Will you have to crawl in there to get eggs out of nests?

No, the back of the hen houses are open so I am going to make an access door on that wall so that I can just open the door and reach in from the outside and just grab the eggs.

 

[goldysgirl]

Looks awesome! Love the floors!

 

[Strongflock]

Looks awesome! Love the floors!

Yes we have a running joke that the chickens have nicer floors in their house then we do in ours...lol

 

[aart]

Pretty darn nice!
Lotsa diggin'!

Will you gutter the low end of roof?
Soffits look open<thumbsup> will you cover with 1/2" HC?

 

[rosemarythyme]

Looks nice! I would add at least one window to the coop for additional ventilation as well as natural light.

 

[Ghosty]

So this weekend I tackled putting the back doors on my coop so that clean up will be a lot easier. Over all I think it turned out well and will make things a lot easier.

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On a side note when I took the back wall off of the coop to start building the door I noticed up in the far corner we had our first two eggs from the flock!!! So the egg production begins..lol.
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I do have a question though, the hen that is laying has laid three eggs so far and none of them are in the hen houses just up in the front of the coop on the floor. Will she find her way into a hen house soon er or later or will she just keep laying them on the floor. I ask this because I am about to build my access door to the hen houses but if something needs to be changes with them I would much rather do it before I cut a giant hole in the side of me coop. This is what my hen house set up looks like I have since removed the top blocker board to try to encourage them to get inside but I dont think any of them have been in them.

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They will figure it out. Get em a bunch of straw/bedding in the nest boxes and some fake eggs or golf balls to attract their notice. Purdy coop!