mindan
Chirping
I really have appreciated reading many of the articles on this site. I have been raising chickens for about 10 years. It all started when my family was in a store and my wife said they were offering a good deal on ducks. I said I was not interested in ducks but would have taken them if they were chickens. My kids were kind of excited by that because they were chickens! So I had to quickly find a place for them. I quickly converted a dog house into a coop with a run. The dog had learned long before that being in the house was much more comfortable. I then quickly with very little planning built another coop out of scraps from our garage after it was built. Last year I built a two level barn style coop which was supposed to be more portable. As you can see the barn style one still needs some finishing touches. I hope to do those this coming summer. This coop houses my daughters silkies and temporarily another daughter's rabbit. They do seem to get along. Two silkies I got this year cuddle with the rabbit at night!
Many say raising chickens is addictive. I agree. For me its also addictive to build coops for them. I am a part of mission groups who work with people in the Congo and Kenya in particular and have traveled there myself as well. I began thinking I should learn all the ins and outs of raising chickens. I feed fermented feed and fodder and will continue to figure other ways which can be used for feeding the chickens such as through composting.
So on to bigger and better with the ability to have more chickens!
I became intrigued by the Woods Open Air Coop. There is someone in the Minneapolis area with one also. The design intrigued me because my chickens had problems with fumes and frostbite in the cobbled together coop. So I read a lot of what others wrote on this site. I began drawing up layouts. I wanted something that could be moved on skids. It had to be the rough dimensions of the current lean-to style coop it was replacing. We don't own the property, which is very public, so I wanted to be careful not to go nuts. It also had to fit a friends trailer, if we were ever to move/ retire or one of my kids actually wanted it. Because of the harsh winters here in Minnesota I wanted an area they could run in and get space from each other. I also wanted to be able to breed two different flocks and separate them out temporarily. So all sorts of ideas ran through my head. I like the two level idea and finally came up with these rough designs. The upper level needed a trap door, which can be closed in case I see a predator making an attempt to get in or for separating the flock out for breeding.
In the design layout you can see from the notes some of my thoughts.
It was an especially hectic summer, as I did many different things. I started on the base right away but then had to wait. The skids and some of the lower supports are pressure treated. The plywood I had to purchase. Most of the 2x4 are from a very gracious friend who works construction and collects the discarded wood. That's probably why I was able to over build some things. I like making furniture so this was the biggest thing I have ever built.
This is the lower section which can fit on a car trailer. I built a deck with an overhang to give me a little more interior space. I was also working with the consideration of not cutting down the 4x8 plywood for the roof and still having a slight overhang. So that's why I kind of have unique dimensions. I am also trying to make sure I am as close as I can to the woods ratio for width to length.
You can see the trap door framed out in this image. I also tried to make sure there was enough support for myself to stand inside of it also.
You can see some of the progression of my building it. My dad who is an engineer and used to build many thing helped me to put up the plywood. My youngest son helped me put up the synthetic roof underlay and the tin. I probably would do more such as putting firing strips under the tin and another layer of paint, but we were fighting with a lot of rain and the impending winter!
Another thing which I worked around is that the friend, who I got almost all my 2x4's from, also gave me some windows and a small door. This really helped to keep my cost down. It still cost a lot more than I had intended, but I wanted to build this to last. I had never framed a sloping wall and stair stepped it giving more places to attach the plywood, perhaps gaining a little strength. I am not an engineer though so perhaps it did nothing but add weight.
As you can see above I departed from the Wood's open air design in a few ways but tried to keep the important ratio. It's 13.5 feet long by 7.6 feet wide.
I really like an external laying box. It is so much easier to collect eggs and your not tracking things in and out of the coop. So hopefully this protects biosecurity. The egg laying box has a few features also. It is insulated in order to possibly prevent the eggs from freezing so quickly.
The box also has to be able to be removed in case it ever gets moved on a trailer. After researching and seeing another local friend's set up, I decided on a communal box. It really seems to work very well for her and now for me! My hope is if there is a broody, the others will just move to a different side of the box. That's the theory at least! I have already had a broody pushed out of the box by other chickens. While I know its best to separate the broody with her clutch, not everyone can do that with limited space. Plus I really like how the chicks are in with the flock and I don't have to worry about their introduction to the rest of the flock. I have done the introduction of others also, but I prefer the mother hen making sure the other chickens respect the chicks.
The egg box on the side does make it more prone to drafts. I ended up using some weather stripping inside the door to seal it up as much as possible. It did help. There is a very very slight draft yet but will probably have to do something this coming summer with it. The rest of the structure is air tight. I even stood in there one windy day making sure I sealed up every crack. The chickens were a bit freaked out about that though!
My youngest daughter also helped to paint. She started to paint a wolf scene on the side of it, but with winter coming it didn't get very far. You can see what looks like handles higher on each side. These are solar motion lights. My thought is it might scare away some animals. The front screen door on the right can open up. I usually feed them there. The upper and side windows can also open up. With the temperature being -4 f, which is actually mild compared to what it can be, these windows won't be opening soon.
The whole left side of the lower section is divided into two doors which open up in order to get to a sick bird. I do use a landing net to help me in this. I also have a small door on the right, so they can free range. I also hope Lord willing to build a egg laying box for the lower section for during the summer. I will close it off in the winter. This would be so I can collect eggs easily for the flock int eh lower section when I separate them. Right now I have two main flocks of Australorps and Speckled Sussex. I also have a couple Rhode Island reds, a Barred Rock and a Barred Rock/Jersey Giant cross in there.
Above you can see the trap door. I admit I have not closed it yet at night. I have not seen any signs of attempts or attacks yet. I hope to make a wire skirt to go around the bottom to help avoid any issues later. Inside the coop I did coat the floor and laying box with tar to help protect the pressure treated plywood from the droppings.
If you are wondering, I was able to move this. It did slide pretty well even across a road. I did accidentally take a small apple tree out on my way! I also had to put the truck into four wheel drive because of the weight. Hopefully I can move it in the spring!
Overall it was fun to build and have a couple of my kids help me. Although my dad wasn't able to help as much as he wanted, because of weather and things which came up with my schedule, I enjoyed working with him. He was also happy he could still teach me some things! He truly did! Now that I am almost 50 I probably am more willing to learn than when I helped him on projects when I was 11 years old.
This was a very large project! It's fun that God gives us the ability to do these things(Acts 17:25)! I will post some more pictures of the inside later, so you can see the 5 gallon bucket watering system and roost bars. I plan on building a PVC system for the summer for water and feed in the lower section also.
Many say raising chickens is addictive. I agree. For me its also addictive to build coops for them. I am a part of mission groups who work with people in the Congo and Kenya in particular and have traveled there myself as well. I began thinking I should learn all the ins and outs of raising chickens. I feed fermented feed and fodder and will continue to figure other ways which can be used for feeding the chickens such as through composting.
So on to bigger and better with the ability to have more chickens!
I became intrigued by the Woods Open Air Coop. There is someone in the Minneapolis area with one also. The design intrigued me because my chickens had problems with fumes and frostbite in the cobbled together coop. So I read a lot of what others wrote on this site. I began drawing up layouts. I wanted something that could be moved on skids. It had to be the rough dimensions of the current lean-to style coop it was replacing. We don't own the property, which is very public, so I wanted to be careful not to go nuts. It also had to fit a friends trailer, if we were ever to move/ retire or one of my kids actually wanted it. Because of the harsh winters here in Minnesota I wanted an area they could run in and get space from each other. I also wanted to be able to breed two different flocks and separate them out temporarily. So all sorts of ideas ran through my head. I like the two level idea and finally came up with these rough designs. The upper level needed a trap door, which can be closed in case I see a predator making an attempt to get in or for separating the flock out for breeding.
In the design layout you can see from the notes some of my thoughts.
It was an especially hectic summer, as I did many different things. I started on the base right away but then had to wait. The skids and some of the lower supports are pressure treated. The plywood I had to purchase. Most of the 2x4 are from a very gracious friend who works construction and collects the discarded wood. That's probably why I was able to over build some things. I like making furniture so this was the biggest thing I have ever built.
This is the lower section which can fit on a car trailer. I built a deck with an overhang to give me a little more interior space. I was also working with the consideration of not cutting down the 4x8 plywood for the roof and still having a slight overhang. So that's why I kind of have unique dimensions. I am also trying to make sure I am as close as I can to the woods ratio for width to length.
You can see the trap door framed out in this image. I also tried to make sure there was enough support for myself to stand inside of it also.
You can see some of the progression of my building it. My dad who is an engineer and used to build many thing helped me to put up the plywood. My youngest son helped me put up the synthetic roof underlay and the tin. I probably would do more such as putting firing strips under the tin and another layer of paint, but we were fighting with a lot of rain and the impending winter!
Another thing which I worked around is that the friend, who I got almost all my 2x4's from, also gave me some windows and a small door. This really helped to keep my cost down. It still cost a lot more than I had intended, but I wanted to build this to last. I had never framed a sloping wall and stair stepped it giving more places to attach the plywood, perhaps gaining a little strength. I am not an engineer though so perhaps it did nothing but add weight.
As you can see above I departed from the Wood's open air design in a few ways but tried to keep the important ratio. It's 13.5 feet long by 7.6 feet wide.
I really like an external laying box. It is so much easier to collect eggs and your not tracking things in and out of the coop. So hopefully this protects biosecurity. The egg laying box has a few features also. It is insulated in order to possibly prevent the eggs from freezing so quickly.
The box also has to be able to be removed in case it ever gets moved on a trailer. After researching and seeing another local friend's set up, I decided on a communal box. It really seems to work very well for her and now for me! My hope is if there is a broody, the others will just move to a different side of the box. That's the theory at least! I have already had a broody pushed out of the box by other chickens. While I know its best to separate the broody with her clutch, not everyone can do that with limited space. Plus I really like how the chicks are in with the flock and I don't have to worry about their introduction to the rest of the flock. I have done the introduction of others also, but I prefer the mother hen making sure the other chickens respect the chicks.
The egg box on the side does make it more prone to drafts. I ended up using some weather stripping inside the door to seal it up as much as possible. It did help. There is a very very slight draft yet but will probably have to do something this coming summer with it. The rest of the structure is air tight. I even stood in there one windy day making sure I sealed up every crack. The chickens were a bit freaked out about that though!
My youngest daughter also helped to paint. She started to paint a wolf scene on the side of it, but with winter coming it didn't get very far. You can see what looks like handles higher on each side. These are solar motion lights. My thought is it might scare away some animals. The front screen door on the right can open up. I usually feed them there. The upper and side windows can also open up. With the temperature being -4 f, which is actually mild compared to what it can be, these windows won't be opening soon.
The whole left side of the lower section is divided into two doors which open up in order to get to a sick bird. I do use a landing net to help me in this. I also have a small door on the right, so they can free range. I also hope Lord willing to build a egg laying box for the lower section for during the summer. I will close it off in the winter. This would be so I can collect eggs easily for the flock int eh lower section when I separate them. Right now I have two main flocks of Australorps and Speckled Sussex. I also have a couple Rhode Island reds, a Barred Rock and a Barred Rock/Jersey Giant cross in there.
Above you can see the trap door. I admit I have not closed it yet at night. I have not seen any signs of attempts or attacks yet. I hope to make a wire skirt to go around the bottom to help avoid any issues later. Inside the coop I did coat the floor and laying box with tar to help protect the pressure treated plywood from the droppings.
If you are wondering, I was able to move this. It did slide pretty well even across a road. I did accidentally take a small apple tree out on my way! I also had to put the truck into four wheel drive because of the weight. Hopefully I can move it in the spring!
Overall it was fun to build and have a couple of my kids help me. Although my dad wasn't able to help as much as he wanted, because of weather and things which came up with my schedule, I enjoyed working with him. He was also happy he could still teach me some things! He truly did! Now that I am almost 50 I probably am more willing to learn than when I helped him on projects when I was 11 years old.
This was a very large project! It's fun that God gives us the ability to do these things(Acts 17:25)! I will post some more pictures of the inside later, so you can see the 5 gallon bucket watering system and roost bars. I plan on building a PVC system for the summer for water and feed in the lower section also.
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