Ongoing coop improvements

[TX Chick Noob]

It seems never-ending that we find things we need to fix or improve on our coop. Most recent was two more concrete "curbs" around the inside perimeter.

We had poured a 4" wide x 4" thick slab at the base of the two corrugated tin walls of our coop. The idea was to fill some gaps at the base of the wall, keep them from scratching/digging down too far under the wall, and help keep predators from digging in. We didn't do the front section or the side shared with the llama stall for a few reasons, mainly we only had a few scrap 2x4s and extra bags of concrete laying around at the time, lol. But they are working so well we decided to do those other two areas. Especially under the feeders. With the feeders I am using now there is almost no feed scattered out onto the ground, but they still scratch around so I previously had some concrete blocks under them. We did another 4" wide curb at the front wall, but a wider slab about 12" wide on the wall under the feeders. It was quite a challenge with 11 pullets running around trying to inspect and "help". But only one managed to leave "footprints" in the big slab.

Slab is covered in this first pic to prevent more footprints or "beak-prints" while it dried.

Jasmine's footprints. She landed and jumped off immediately.

For anyone who has a shed-style coop with a dirt floor, I wholeheartedly recommend doing this. It has worked really well.

 

[Auntiejessi3]

I feel ya, lol! My husband hates hearing me say "hey I was thinking we could" when it comes to the coop, but he obliges me and we get it done, lol. I've got a few small projects I'm going to do this weekend.

 

[Matejka]

Coop maintenance/upgrade is just like raising chickens, hens get old cull/replace, coop needs more nestbox/roost needs moving/repair upgrade wire. It's Neverending! And such a challenge to my ingenuity-how can I do this cheaply/by myself and what would work that I have on hand?
Oh the joy!

 

[TX Chick Noob]

Another small "improvement" yesterday. The door to the coop is about a foot off the ground. The girls only get out of the coop for short periods of time when we can supervise. They have started trying to stick their head out under the door every time we go in or out. Don't want them to get loose at a bad time, and also don't want the self-closing door to injure them. So added a plastic "chicken guard" at the bottom. Kind of hard to see it on the picture, but so far it is working well.

 

[TX Chick Noob]

The girls got some upgraded roosts yesterday, thanks to some free lumber and super-cheap mistint paint. My husband got several “scrap” 10’ long 2x4s that were part of some shipping crates.
And I had recently lucked into a 5-gallon bucket of really good mistint paint at Lowes. For only $30!!

So we replaced two of our 8’ roosts with longer ones, and painted all three to make them easier to clean. We hope to paint the entire coop inside and out at some point. But first need to set up a temporary run outside for the girls to be in while we do the work.

Paint….

Roosts

 

[Matejka]

Nice!
Come paint mine
I have paint on my to do list also, outside of coop, however, me and paint do NOT get along.
I might as well say, gonna go paint myself instead of gonna go paint coop, wall, dresser, floor. So I put it on back burner for later.
I admire your coop! It's gorgeous

 

[TX Chick Noob]

I always manage to get paint all over me. Have a special pair of pants and shoes for painting.

I managed to get most of the outside painted white a month or so ago. Wanted to do it when we built the barn a year ago but someone was in a hurry. And then wanted to do it this olsprong when we converted a stall to the coop, before we added the cattle panels and chicken wire. But once again someone was in a hurry.