New Coop- Under Construction!!! **Photos Added!**

[WaddleWaddle]

I currently have a small coop which is made of a repurposed shipping crate and holds my 11 hens. Their run is fenced with about 400ft of fencing which they also share with my 3 muscovies.
I have 22 chicks and 18 ducklings coming March 18th. Time to upgrade the coop! We currently are building a 12'x16' shed coop and increasing their run by about 350ft of fencing. We are building the shed on the weekends and plan to be finished in 2 weekends (my husband works Saturdays so we only have Sunday to work on it). We are planing on the front door of the coop being outside of the run and when yo enter that door there will be a four foot deep work area to store feed, etc. The dividing wall will be framed up and covered in chicken wire. We will have a door into the run on the right hand wall as well as their pop door.

I have been concerned about what kind of brooder to use for all these guys and my husband came up with what I think is a genious idea! We were planning on putting a pool into the run and found this today:
http://m.lowes.com/product?langId=-...=4667327&store=1803&view=detail&nValue=SEARCH I am going to use it as my brooder and then after the babies are grown up we can install it in the run. I plan to put some cardboard or wire up to increase the height.
I will get some photos of the beginnings of our coop tomorrow and our progress along the way!

Any advice and suggestions are welcome!

 

[henless]

Love the pool idea! Really great that you can use it for the ducks later.

How big is the pool? Depending on the size, it may not be big enough for both your ducklings and chicks. You may have to find another temp brooder to put one or the other in.

 

[WaddleWaddle]

The pool is 270 gallons and measures 7.5' long by 6' wide. Do you think it will be big enough?

 

[henless]

Remember, I'm new to chickens. I haven't even gotten mine yet. My brooder plate should arrive today, and once that is here, I can get me some babies!

From what I have read on here, babies need about 2 sq ft per bird. Your pool measures out 45 sq ft, which should be big enough for 22 babies.

Question, is this measurement taken at the top of the pool edges or the lower portion? Your pool has two levels, so be sure and take than into account when you do your measureing.

 

[WaddleWaddle]

Here are some photos! We worked on it both Saturday and Sunday. Just my husband, my brother in-law and myself. This is where we ended up. This weekend we will put shingles up and siding as well as install the windows and doors and build the nesting boxes and roost bars.I keep going back and forth as to how I want to configure the inside. I was thinking about having the nest boxes about hip height and then have the roost bars above the nest boxes with the roof of the nest boxes extended to about 24" and making that a poop tray with a lip for Sweet PDZ. Would that encourage sleeping in the nest boxes? I was thinking something like the below drawing. Any ideas for placement of interior items would be great!










Back wall





Front wall with entrance from the yard





West wall






East wall with entrance door on the left to the run

 

[jetdog]

Your nest boxes and roost will be perfect, that's how mine are set up.

 

[WaddleWaddle]

thanks @jetdog I was hoping someone would say that! How high off the ground are yours?

 

[jetdog]

The nest boxes are 14 inches off the floor and the roost are about hip height, trying to load a picture but it won't let me.

 

[WaddleWaddle]

Thanks. I think I am going to make mine a little higher with the nest boxes at about hip height since my ducks will also be sleeping in the coop. I was thinking about making a couple of "nest box stalls" for the ducks under the chickens nest boxes on the floor.

 

[jetdog]

Ha got it.