New Hen House build

[Jubilee1111]

I just found this thread and read all the way through. Amazing craftsmanship and so aesthetically pleasing! I can practically smell the new house smell looking at your pics.

 

[G-Man]

Wow, I haven’t posted in this thread in a very long time. Most of my free time this summer has been consumed with landscaping the immediate surroundings of our house. No small task for one person, especially one that wasn’t exactly born with a green thumb.

While I was in the landscape mode, periodically I would break off and work on creating planting beds and a walkway around the coop and run by staking 2x4’s around the perimeter… it’s still a work in progress. I need more soil, gravel and plants.

As a break from digging holes for flowers and shrubs and messing with the drip system around the house I started a fun wood project. I built a set of carriage doors in attempt to make an unattractive bare stucco wall on the coop more visually appealing. First I thought windows would have been nice, but that’s the same wall where the solar inverter, disconnects and electrical box are mounted on the inside so that was out of the question.
I had seen someone use this design technique to break up the monotony of a long bare stucco wall on the side of a restaurant in town, and thought it was pretty clever and knew I just had to implement it somewhere on the property… why not the coop!

This was my inspiration.
This door is 8ft tall and was constructed from 19 2x6’s.



I made my doors from pine and ship lap siding.
I only have a couple images of the build. I thought the arch was interesting enough to take pictures of.


12ft radius if you were curious.






Hmm, the garage doors threw the scale off a bit.
The garage doors are 10ft tall and the one I made is 7ft tall.



I asked a friend of mine about what color and what products I should use to finish the door. I always get nervous about this part of the job. A bad finish can wreck the whole project.
The key was the wood conditioner to insure the stain would go on even and not splotchy. I took her recommendations and couldn’t be happier, Thanks Donna!

One quart Varathane Wood Conditioner no.100 (one coat)
One quart Varathane Dark Walnut Stain no. 269 (two coats)
Two quarts DEFT Defthane Polyurethane clear satin sheen (four coats)

This is after the conditioner and the two coats of stain were applied.



I researched carriage hinges online for my fake door and used a couple different ideas in my hinge design. After making a template I stacked four sheets of 1/8” material then knocked out my hinges using my router with a pattern bit.



Then I painted them using a “Hammered” finish spray paint.
The hammered look didn’t really show through very well, but it looks okay at a distance.



I need to get a welder so I can finish the handle concept I came up with.
The scrolled metal pieces are components off an old bed.



And here they are finished (minus the handles of course).





Seeing this image in particular makes me want to add a brick step under the door so it doesn’t look like it is just floating.
Always something to do.





I mounted two inexpensive fan type trellises and planted two ‘Jackmanii’ Clematis plants on either side of the door. I can’t wait for next year when the Clematis really takes off.

I added a couple of shrubs on either side of each Clematis today that should help protect their roots from the sun.. sorry no pic.

It’s probably not a traditional coop update but I hope you enjoy it all the same.
I’ll have more time to work on the inside of the coop this winter.

Thank you for looking.

 

[Mama Hen Chris]

Just beautiful. Great carpentry. You have a special gift. Reminds me of my dad who was a carpenter. Can't wait to see your girls and the finishing touches for the coop.

 

[G-Man]

Just beautiful. Great carpentry. You have a special gift. Reminds me of my dad who was a carpenter. Can't wait to see your girls and the finishing touches for the coop.

That is an extremely generous compliment, thank you very much.

Here are a few pics of the hens and one of my cockerels.

 

[7 Biddies]

Makes me wanna burn my coop down.

 

[G-Man]

Makes me wanna burn my coop down.

Oh come-on.. that's just silly talk.

Your coop is perfect!
I can really appreciate the effort you put into building it with all the automatic features.
It's attractive and extremely well thought out! Good Job!

 

[juststruttin]

If you ever decide to sell your home, the future owners will probably move their in-laws into the coop its so nice.

 

[aart]

So how about some update pics?? Beautiful craftsmanship!

I am curious how your watering system is working and if you've had any problems with excess water spilling onto the floor?

Also curious about how the feed trough is working.
Any squables about access to the feed, not sure if you have more birds than feed holes?
Any problem with rodents making it into the trough?

 

[G-Man]

If you ever decide to sell your home, the future owners will probably move their in-laws into the coop its so nice.

Hi Deann,
That's a great idea!

I took a couple pics of the Welsummer chicks I bought from you last year.
They are both very sweet and very consistent layers.


This one was taken last September.. I thought she looked cute enough to share.




These two pics were taken tonight after a long day of free ranging.








Thanks again for the nice compliment. Hope to see you at the Stockton Poultry show.

 

[G-Man]

So how about some update pics?? Beautiful craftsmanship!

I am curious how your watering system is working and if you've had any problems with excess water spilling onto the floor?

Also curious about how the feed trough is working.
Any squables about access to the feed, not sure if you have more birds than feed holes?
Any problem with rodents making it into the trough?

Thank you for the generous compliment aart.

I do have a few pics, nothing really exciting though. I've been dragging my feet a bit with regards to finishing the human side of my coop.
I did finish the nesting boxes. I had a heck of a time with the stain.. I'm still not sure if I like the way they turned out or not. but I'll post what I have.

In regards to your watering system question. I love it! I haven't had any issues with it what so ever. They do drink from it and shake their heads and fling water right around the cups, but it hasn't ever built up and dripped any on the floor. I've never had any leaks with any of the connections either.
It was a little stressful in the beginning for me.. trying to get them to learn to peck at the yellow trigger to fill the cups up when they were young. I always kept a standard hanging 1 gallon water jug until I knew for sure all of them were using the cups. Other than the slight learning curve I would highly recommend using these cups.

The feed trough is working great as well.. I only have ten birds at the moment and they take turns at the trough. The pecking order is always enforced but they all get their fair share.
Plus they get to spend quite a bit of time outside free ranging. Which is great for them (and my feed bill).. not so much for the landscaping I worked so hard on this spring, summer, fall.

Can't say I've ever seen any mice or droppings of any sort on either side of the coop. I have seen quite a few small birds fly in and out of the coop when the run door is open. I'm assuming they are going after the sunflower seeds.

I hope I answered all of your questions.