New to chickens...UPDATE!!! PIC HEAVY

[Countrypunk92]

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Link?

 

[NevadaRon]

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Link?

Sure... you can find it here.

Click on the pictures for the PDF file.

 

[Hoosierchickens]

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Thanks. It's not finished yet but it's getting close to ready to move in. One run is almost ready to fence in. Then I have an identical run on the other side to build although there's no rush on that one. The weather has slowed me down a bit too.

 

[ddmiddle7]

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Thanks. It's not finished yet but it's getting close to ready to move in. One run is almost ready to fence in. Then I have an identical run on the other side to build although there's no rush on that one. The weather has slowed me down a bit too.

I'll come out and help you finish yours....lol

and you come come help me finish mine... I am nervous about cutting the plywood. I want to make sure it is all going to be flush and tight together. I don't want any gaps, especially in the front.

 

[ddmiddle7]

Alright....so with all this crazy Indiana weather...It took me a while to get back to working on the coop. Everytime we had a nice day where it wasn't cold/rainy I never seemed to be in town or at home. So this last week was nice about every day so I finally got some more accomplished.

This will be the human access door:

This is the side that will have the hen door:

I had to redo the back wall a bit. I made the nesting box hole way too small. Here is the new back wall:

I got all the rafters and roof hung, I decided to go with the white PVC Corrugated Roofing:

Here are the girls supervising:

I got the side walls up yesterday and the back wall cut...hopefully I will be able to get it all hung up today so I can start painting and putting up the harware cloth.
Anyone got any suggestions or ideas that i should change, add, or adjust before I get everything else hung up.

Thanks,
Dereck

 

[ddmiddle7]

Alright so I got all the walls up and it is ready to paint...unfortunately it is supposed to rain tonight and tomorrow...hopefully Monday will be paint day.

All I have to do to the left side wall is cut out the hen door and frame it up.

Here's the front side:

Inside of the front wall:

Here's the backside with the external nesting box:

Inside view of the nesting boxes (still gotta put up a piece of wood to keep the ladies from kicking all the shavings out):

Side view of the human door access:

So, I have a few questions...I originally planned on putting the roost all the way across in front of the windows, but I didn't think about how to attach it to the wall and made the human door the entire wall. So now I have nowhere to attach the roost to on this wall. maybe I could put up another 2x4 and attach it there? I want to make sure I have plenty of roosting space for my five girls. If I put up the roost across the side wall it would give them 4 foot of roosting space. Or I could go with a double roost, ladder style, but I thought that would be overkill for just the five girls. Any suggestions or ideas on how to do the roosts?

Thanks in advance!!

Dereck

 

[NevadaRon]

You're not taking chicken math into account - you may get more!

Seriously though, I really like your coop. The full side door is an excellent upgrade! You could make the roost by attaching a couple of 18" 2x4s at a 90° angle to your wall studs then mount the roost on top of that. Chickens aren't that heavy so it should be able to support them. If it doesn't look like it will, a couple more pieces of 2x4 at a 45° angle to support them should do the trick.

ETA: Spelling.

 

[drumstick diva]

Love the flooring in your coop. Everything looks so nice, if only you could teach the hens to poop outside and keep it spotless.

 

[ddmiddle7]

Eggcellent idea!!!

(pun intended) Thanks. I will try to see if I can do that tomorrow...if there is isn't any rain...

I have read about the chicken math...but that shouldn't happen for at least the next 2-3 years anyways... My landlord said 5 is the max and I don't wanna tick him off...so whenever I move I will definitely be getting more but for now my five lovely ladies will just have to do...

Still looking for any other ideas on the roost though....just in case this method doesn't work.

Dereck

 

[ddmiddle7]

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I was thinking of installing my son's old toddler potty in a corner and trying to train them to use that....

Thanks...I just bought whatever was the cheapest....I knew it would end up looking the same....covered in chicken poo....lol