My Taj Ma Coop

Broxi

Songster
Jul 18, 2019
81
184
121
Belews Creek, NC
After much thought I decided to build a walk in coop. The enclosed henhouse area was divided for storage with a walk door to access the henhouse and collect eggs. It is built as a platform with the floor being OSB covered with sheet vinyl and wire meshed all around the bottom extending 24" out on all sides. I also built it against the existing shed that we already had and has one continuous roof over the whole thing. You can't even see the shed in my picture of it LOL My land falls away from the existing shed and that's why we built the platform as a one step into the coop on one side and it increases in height to approximately 2' on the run side and the chickens have access there. I left it open thinking that when I incorporate new members of the flock they will have a bit of protection from the older hens to hide in.

I modeled the whole build on a "Carolina Coop" styling with walk in instead of waist high. Over all size is 14.5'x22' with the enclosed run being 14.5'x16' plus under the henhouse. I wanted to incorporate an automatic chicken door because I go to bed sometimes before the chickens do since I get up for work at 3:30am and leave before dawn. The entire structure has a predator apron and is screened with 1/2" hardware cloth so the auto door went onto the outside wall of the run to allow free range, but can be closed off and still allow the girls to have outside space that is protected. Because of the lay of the land the roof at the far end of the run wound up being over 14' tall. It's impressive LOL. I don't have any pictures yet of the finished interior of the henhouse, but here is the overall view from the "impressive" side. I have kept my small coop "The Lil' Deuce Coop" for growout/isolation/broody and just relocated it to another area of my yard. It may be a bit much for my current 4 ladies, but you have to take chicken math into consideration! I'm supposed to get 4 chicks shipped this coming Monday to add to my flock so it already begins :)

It's still a work in progress. I need to add shelving in the storage area and put dirt/compost/mulch/sand in the run area. I've yet to fully decide what exact material I want to use there, but would like to be able to scoop it to add to my garden as compost. For now it's just the natural ground that existed under my trees when I bought the place. We've had some torrential storms this year and the run stays mostly dry with only a bit of wetness on half the run. Need to run electricity there as well, but that cost is for another year since we also built a concrete patio and had a hot tub installed this year. I'll wind up running a drop cord to power the brooder plate for the babies I'm going to set up in the storage side.

What material do you guys think works well for compost/chicken run that they don't live on full time?
Lil' Deuce Coop.jpg
Taj Ma Coop.jpg
 
After much thought I decided to build a walk in coop. The enclosed henhouse area was divided for storage with a walk door to access the henhouse and collect eggs. It is built as a platform with the floor being OSB covered with sheet vinyl and wire meshed all around the bottom extending 24" out on all sides. I also built it against the existing shed that we already had and has one continuous roof over the whole thing. You can't even see the shed in my picture of it LOL My land falls away from the existing shed and that's why we built the platform as a one step into the coop on one side and it increases in height to approximately 2' on the run side and the chickens have access there. I left it open thinking that when I incorporate new members of the flock they will have a bit of protection from the older hens to hide in.

I modeled the whole build on a "Carolina Coop" styling with walk in instead of waist high. Over all size is 14.5'x22' with the enclosed run being 14.5'x16' plus under the henhouse. I wanted to incorporate an automatic chicken door because I go to bed sometimes before the chickens do since I get up for work at 3:30am and leave before dawn. The entire structure has a predator apron and is screened with 1/2" hardware cloth so the auto door went onto the outside wall of the run to allow free range, but can be closed off and still allow the girls to have outside space that is protected. Because of the lay of the land the roof at the far end of the run wound up being over 14' tall. It's impressive LOL. I don't have any pictures yet of the finished interior of the henhouse, but here is the overall view from the "impressive" side. I have kept my small coop "The Lil' Deuce Coop" for growout/isolation/broody and just relocated it to another area of my yard. It may be a bit much for my current 4 ladies, but you have to take chicken math into consideration! I'm supposed to get 4 chicks shipped this coming Monday to add to my flock so it already begins :)

It's still a work in progress. I need to add shelving in the storage area and put dirt/compost/mulch/sand in the run area. I've yet to fully decide what exact material I want to use there, but would like to be able to scoop it to add to my garden as compost. For now it's just the natural ground that existed under my trees when I bought the place. We've had some torrential storms this year and the run stays mostly dry with only a bit of wetness on half the run. Need to run electricity there as well, but that cost is for another year since we also built a concrete patio and had a hot tub installed this year. I'll wind up running a drop cord to power the brooder plate for the babies I'm going to set up in the storage side.

What material do you guys think works well for compost/chicken run that they don't live on full time?View attachment 2299540View attachment 2299541
In my run, I just have a mix of dirt/mulch/sand/shavings/woodsy ground cover. I kick a lot of the old shavings into the run when I'm cleaning out the coop, so those add up a bit. Beautiful coop!
 
Layers bottom to top: Dirt floor, large wood chips to allow drainage, pine shavings with a mix of leaves and cut grass. The wet chicken poop will be absorbed, the chickens will stir everything up, and after a good while you'll have some cold compost. Or you can shovel it out of the run when you want and put the stuff in your compost bin and stir it yourself for faster results.
 
What material do you guys think works well for compost/chicken run that they don't live on full time?
My runs have semi-deep litter(cold composting), never clean anything out, just add smaller dry materials on occasion, add larger wood chippings as needed.
Aged ramial wood chippings are best IMO.

 
It's gorgeous!
Nice work!!
I love seeing those tiny dollhouse coop next to the newer bigger coops.
Save that tiny one for an isolation coop.

Thank You!
I moved the small coop over semi near my aipiary. I plan to use it for grow out and isolation. It's been suprisingly tougher than I ever though it would be. It's anchored down to landscape timbers to protect the bottom since the wood seems extra cheap, and has been moved twice during our build of the new coop. Considering I call it my Ikea coop all the time, it's held up better to relocating than any piece of Ikea furniture I've ever seen LOL.
 
WOW!! That looks impressive!

I'm very envious of your coop and your lovely land and trees. Lucky chickens!

Thank you!
I have not quite 1/2 acre property. It's pretty common here in the Peidmont of North Carolina. I'm originally from So Cal, so I think this property is just about Nirvana. I call the place Shady Roost like the youtube homesteaders name their properties LOL. In the fall it gets a few inches thick with leaves but the riding mower chops them up really well to add to the real compost pile in the back corner.
 
After much thought I decided to build a walk in coop. The enclosed henhouse area was divided for storage with a walk door to access the henhouse and collect eggs. It is built as a platform with the floor being OSB covered with sheet vinyl and wire meshed all around the bottom extending 24" out on all sides. I also built it against the existing shed that we already had and has one continuous roof over the whole thing. You can't even see the shed in my picture of it LOL My land falls away from the existing shed and that's why we built the platform as a one step into the coop on one side and it increases in height to approximately 2' on the run side and the chickens have access there. I left it open thinking that when I incorporate new members of the flock they will have a bit of protection from the older hens to hide in.

I modeled the whole build on a "Carolina Coop" styling with walk in instead of waist high. Over all size is 14.5'x22' with the enclosed run being 14.5'x16' plus under the henhouse. I wanted to incorporate an automatic chicken door because I go to bed sometimes before the chickens do since I get up for work at 3:30am and leave before dawn. The entire structure has a predator apron and is screened with 1/2" hardware cloth so the auto door went onto the outside wall of the run to allow free range, but can be closed off and still allow the girls to have outside space that is protected. Because of the lay of the land the roof at the far end of the run wound up being over 14' tall. It's impressive LOL. I don't have any pictures yet of the finished interior of the henhouse, but here is the overall view from the "impressive" side. I have kept my small coop "The Lil' Deuce Coop" for growout/isolation/broody and just relocated it to another area of my yard. It may be a bit much for my current 4 ladies, but you have to take chicken math into consideration! I'm supposed to get 4 chicks shipped this coming Monday to add to my flock so it already begins :)

It's still a work in progress. I need to add shelving in the storage area and put dirt/compost/mulch/sand in the run area. I've yet to fully decide what exact material I want to use there, but would like to be able to scoop it to add to my garden as compost. For now it's just the natural ground that existed under my trees when I bought the place. We've had some torrential storms this year and the run stays mostly dry with only a bit of wetness on half the run. Need to run electricity there as well, but that cost is for another year since we also built a concrete patio and had a hot tub installed this year. I'll wind up running a drop cord to power the brooder plate for the babies I'm going to set up in the storage side.

What material do you guys think works well for compost/chicken run that they don't live on full time?View attachment 2299540View attachment 2299541
Would you be willing to share/sell your plan idea for this coop? I LOVE it!
 

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