New to the site and looking for ideas.

[coopster1326]

Hi everyone, my wife and I are new to the site and have already gotten alot of great ideas from posts and pics posted.

Well about 8-9 weeks ago we took the plunge and bought some pullets from a local feed store so we could have good ol' home grown eggs. We got 5 Cali Whites and one Road Island Red.

Both of us had been around chickens as children and wanted our kids to have the same great memories as they grow up. I had broiler chickens as a kid and we never had a "Coop" for them since they were basicly free ranged. So we never really got eggs since they always used the wood pile as nesting boxes lol. Needless to say we found them all when stocking the wood box and wow what a smell. Never the less I wasnt scared and wanted to give it another try. My wife on the other only got to visit the chickens when she went to "grandma's farm" so she didnt really get the experiance of raising them.

Anyway... I built my own coop straight from my head with just a few pics from the internet. I made it a 4'x8' base, 4' tall and elivated about 2' off the ground. I figured it would be a nice place for them to relax in hot summer days. I decided to make it a permanant coop and run as I didnt want to keep moving it around. The run is 10'x20' and approx 6' tall (basicly so I could stand up) figuring that would be plenty of space for 8 chickens and a rooster to spend their time until I can "trust" them to be free ranged in the garden/yard. I built the entire coop/run all before I ever found this site and really wish I would have known about it before hand.

The Coop:
As I said,it's 4'x8'x4' with 1'x8' being taken by 8 nesting boxes. This is the basic floor plan:


Here is the Coop and the run basicly done:


Anda better one of the Coop:



Well thats pretty much it for the build, I still need to put some vents in, but thats for this weekend I think.

 

[4 the Birds]

Nice Run and I like the ramp to the pop door! The coop is ok but it for sure needs vents and I would add a small window away from the nest area that could serve as ventilation and a little natural light. The coop size is good for about 6 birds but you have enough nest boxes for 4X that amount. I would only use 3 or 4 boxes near the pop door and the remaining nest area can be used as a water/feed area. Then you can add roost bar at the end opposite of the nest boxes. This way the poo will stay at one end (below the roost bar) and clean at the other end near the nest boxes. The access cleaning door would ideally be large and near the roost bar for ease of cleaning. My wife and I LOVE Wyoming! We traveled through years ago before we got married.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

You do need more ventilation. You could skill saw a 3" strip along the top of each eve, front and back, then hardware wire the opening. Looking at your drawing that's basically what you drew but don't see that in construction. Unless you have those vents closed in photo and in reality you'd leave them open all the time even in winter.

With 3x8 space you could keep up to 12 chickens. 2 sqft per large bird is a minimum and I've done it to great success. Some like twice that space but in reality if you don't heat your coop so they use the run all winter and never lock them inside days it's plenty of space to roost at night. With our 4x4 coop, attached nesting box, I've kept and will again this winter 8 chickens with no problems. For winter I use a tarp to wrap around the prevailing wind corner of run providing them shelter and use straw to protect their feet from the frozen ground. I really like your large run and bet the chickens do too. Come winter you'll only need to shovel half of it if you have big snow. Our 10x10 run gets shoveled each snow fall before the driveway.

 

[coopster1326]

Yes I agree, I havent gotten the vents done yet. That is going to be tomorrow nights project.

Also we just got 3 more this last weekend and so far they are not getting along like I'd hoped. We got 2 black hens and a Rooster to keep the chain going. At first it was my hen "Red" who was doing all the pecking but now we have a white one getting aggressive. The good news is they all go in the coop at night and dont seem to have many problems in there, just out side in the run mostly


I did get the roosts up and now think I'll take down 4 of the nest boxes and put the food and water in there. That should work out vary nicely.

 

[ajscuba]

Looks good! Wish I had the space for a setup that large.... Good luck!

 

[coopster1326]

Her is a pic of the girls using the roosts and another of the nest setup



Here is what I used as a base design for my coop, I really liked the simplicity of it and added the nest boxes into the floor planas far as the only change that I made to it




The run I made was pretty much made from lumber I had already. The posts are landscaping timbers and the top rail and roof joists are all from a moble home a friend was scraping out. I think I spent the most money on the wire fence and and hinge/latch hardware lol.

 

[pizza101]

looks great. I do love tge simplisty of it. I also wish I had enough space to have a run that large. Again great looking coop!

 

[coopster1326]

Ok, got the vents done today just need to figure out a window for light and where I want it to be lol.



Also all of the chickens are sleeping in one, sometimes two of the nesting boxes, is that normal? Do they just like to be snug and feel safe having the tight walls? I never seem to see them on the roosts either, maybee I need to use the 2x4's like I've read in other posts or maybee even try some thick branches. At the moment the roosts are made from 2x2's that I had left over.

 

[JanetS]

I would block off the nesting boxes until your chickens are closer to laying age (around 16 to 20 weeks). They poop a lot during the night and you don't want that
in the boxes with eggs. The vents are great but what about a window? It lets some light and fresh air in. Your chickens look very happy with their home.

 

[aart]

I would lose those grates and just cover with hardware cloth. If you still have the pieces you cut out of the wall, you can hinge them onto the coop wall and partially or fully close some of them in the winter of you have a bad storm.