New plan for my growing flock.

[mpmb1227]

Hello! It's been a year since my first post about my chicken coop and I was asked to keep BYC updated on my work. So, I recently acquired a more efficient coop and decided to start again. After a huge loss of life from a nearby pet dog I was left with 3 of my original 11 chickens. That number has increased to 6 hens, 3 mature and 3 that are roughly 5 months old. Here are pictures of my current situation and I will give descriptions of my plans. It's a little ugly at the moment, but it serves as the temporary chicken yard until after the holidays when I can afford the supplies for the expansion.

The enterance to their run. A durable heavy duty cattlegate with wiring and a board placed over the slots between the bars. The fence is dug about 2 feet into the ground for added safety. Soon, this entire area between the minibarn and carport will be a sort of open air covered coop. Inside is the new coop.

The new coop was a gift from a friend, and it's much more efficient than the previous coop. It's large enough to house 8-9 large chickens. This will be incorporated into the previously mentioned open air coop.

View from other side of the coop, again this will be converted to an open air coop. Feeder and waterer obviously hung from underneath the coop, protected from the rainy weather here in Washington State.

 

[cavemanrich]

What are your plans for the overhead.??? Just an idea to consider... I have my run covered with the blue inexpensive tarps. They last for 2 years or more before they rip. I have one end secured to building and the other end held taught with rubber bungie straps. My tarps encounter snow where I live. They keep the area dry even during rain. I can post pix if you would like to visualize the look. In summer tarps provide shade. They also protect from flying raptors.
I can offer you some other suggestions that are low cost solutions to increase chicken comfort as well as human access comfort. Let me know if interested.
WISHING YOU BEST..

 

[mpmb1227]

Sorry for the late response... I didn't finish posting everything on here which I had planned on. That will be on a later date. Anywho, do you experience fairly frequent strong winds? My old coop and run had a tarp covering part of it, I had it nailed to the roof of the coop and had bungie cords stretching out to the fence posts connected to the eyelits in the tarp and it got absolutely shredded by the wind. My assumption was the nails... I have someone who has excess sheet metal made for roofing which I planned on fashioning between the two structures, following the same slope as the roof of the coop at about the same level.

 

[cavemanrich]

Great to use what is available first. The sheet metal will last a long time for sure. The way I secure my tarps is I wrap the solid end around a 1x2 board. I screw the whole board to wall, thru the tarp wrapped. The bungies allow some flapping in the wind without tearing up. Naturally if the winds are in excess, then nothing will hold up well. Keep up the good work and post pix of your progress.