Our chicken coop/run construction progress

[dawntreader]

Another 100+ degree weekend, but we are close to finishing the roof. Should have the metal roof on it before the potential storms come through the area sometime Wednesday through Thursday which will keep the highs here in this area below 100 degrees.

That's the south side of the coop looking north. We have the roof decking and roofing felt up there now, it just got too hot to attach the roofing flashing and metal roofing, so we'll resume Monday morning early.

This is the view from the north side looking south. As you can see from the shadows there is good shade from the roof at mid afternoon, but that west end sun is starting to encroach on the west end.

We have attached hardware cloth to the entire under eaves roof area as shown above and attached it to the top sills above. Don't think any critter can get through that, it required a lot of cutting to place the hardware cloth in place, but it seems to be a very effective barrier as it does not give at all when pressed on either way.

We used the silvertech roofing deck material for over the coop and regular osb plywood decking for the run. I did notice a slight difference in the perceived temp below the coop area vs. the run area after we got the roof decking up.

After we get the metal roofing up the next step will be to attach hardware cloth for the entire run area and underneath the coop. At that point we will be able to let the chickens in the area a few hours a day in the morning to start acclimating them to the warmer weather outside vs. in the house. They are only 4 weeks old but they sure have grown fast! Our other three we got last weekend are also growing and have had limited, but good interaction with the older girls.

 

[Idaho Chicken Bungalow]

Looks amazing!

 

[dawntreader]

This weekend we got most of the hw cloth up in the run, and started the chicken coop walls which will need to be cut for the windows on the east and west side yet. I noticed a definite cooler environment in the coop with the east and west walls up throughout the day, even in the hot afternoon sun. Still concerned about the west side sun. For now we will place some hooks near the rafters and hang a tarp in the afternoon to block the west sun that comes in strong from about 3 pm till 6pm. We have some other ideas long term, but it won't be an issue when the temps go down. Any suggestions are welcome! The pic below was taken around 4:15 pm.

The biggest accomplishment this weekend was the installation of the hardware cloth in the run. The idea of having as much ventilation as possible was not lost on me - lol!
We also got the door in place which still needs the finishing work around the edges, and the vertical post braces on the east side. I estimate we need 3 weekends more work before we can transition the girls to the coop, but that ought to be about the right time for our North Texas weather to begin cooling down to more moderate temperatures.

We will have 1x4's cut and stained that sandwich the hardware cloth that is attached on the outside bottom sill to the bottom sill. Those will be ready for next weekend's work. along with putting up the south side wall of the coop and cutting out the east, west and south windows in the coop. You can see by the shadows that the coop is well shaded throughout the morning. We stopped work around 2:00 pm with the last west hardware cloth panel right before the sun started peeking into the run.

This is the view through the part of the coop where the nesting box will be located. Nicely shaded at 4:00 pm and noticeably cooler in that area.

We are getting the older girls acclimated to the warmer weather outside our home nearly every morning now. Their personalities are delightful to watch while we work on their home, and the younger three that we haven't yet taken outside are growing fast. Will probably bring them out next week for an hour or so in the morning. They have been close to the older girls and so far seem to be accepted. They certainly are developing personalities of their own!

 

[dawntreader]

This weekend we began work in earnest on the coop itself, and finished up construction on the run. The ladies are now full time out in the coop as of this weekend, this will be their third night. We keep them in the dog crate which has a roost in it that they get up on around dusk. Although we don't have the apron around the perimeter yet installed, we do have security lights that are very sensitive to movement anywhere around the coop. Also our dogs have taken a liking to the chickens and love to parade around the yard with them when they are free ranging with us outside. Looks like they have adopted both the younger and older girls.
We haven't got anything painted yet, we are thinking a white background for the siding, natural wood stain for the support joists and beams and blue-ish for the trim around the windows.
So the south side of the run is ready to paint:

They have entertained us quite a bit with the their antics on the swing. They've figured out how to make it move by a rocking movement, and they'll look over at us to see if we are watching and give a little sing-song.
The west wall of the coop is also ready for painting now:

We opted to have the door swing down after much discussion:

We completed the east wall, where the nesting box will be, it will also need to be painted:

We decided to make this window swing up - more room. Notice the hardware on the side = that is the rope to open the coop door which we also got installed this weekend.

It is now raining here in North Texas, and will be for the next week if the weather reports are accurate. We are thankful for the rain! At the moment we have some pretty heavy rainfall. I just now checked the coop and it is dry and the ladies are a bit animated, but are dry and hopefully will head to their roost under the coop for the night. Will check on them after getting this posted.

Hope to have the north doors on the coop finished next weekend and the lining installed for the deep litter. We are heavily influenced by the Nantahala (North Carolina) chicken coop in regards to the cleanout doors. Thanks for posting that Priscilla Cox! Then we can let the girls in the coop after we get a ramp in place for them. I have heard that I may need to lock them in the coop a few days for them to accept the coop as their new home. We'll try it a night or two to see if they head to the coop in the evening after it is open for occupancy.

The following weekend we will complete the nesting box and install it. Don't think much will happen with the rain all this week, but at least now they have a dry place to live for the time being, and plenty of space. We are keeping the younger ones inside for another couple weeks but they seem to be assimilating pretty well with the older 4. They did mingle under close supervision for a few minutes this weekend and all was well, but this will be a gradual process.

Thanks for your comments and suggestions!

 

[Becks Chicks]

This weekend we began work in earnest on the coop itself, and finished up construction on the run. The ladies are now full time out in the coop as of this weekend, this will be their third night. We keep them in the dog crate which has a roost in it that they get up on around dusk. Although we don't have the apron around the perimeter yet installed, we do have security lights that are very sensitive to movement anywhere around the coop. Also our dogs have taken a liking to the chickens and love to parade around the yard with them when they are free ranging with us outside. Looks like they have adopted both the younger and older girls.
We haven't got anything painted yet, we are thinking a white background for the siding, natural wood stain for the support joists and beams and blue-ish for the trim around the windows.
So the south side of the run is ready to paint:
View attachment 3231316
They have entertained us quite a bit with the their antics on the swing. They've figured out how to make it move by a rocking movement, and they'll look over at us to see if we are watching and give a little sing-song.
The west wall of the coop is also ready for painting now:
View attachment 3231322
We opted to have the door swing down after much discussion:
View attachment 3231325
We completed the east wall, where the nesting box will be, it will also need to be painted:
View attachment 3231328
We decided to make this window swing up - more room. Notice the hardware on the side = that is the rope to open the coop door which we also got installed this weekend.
View attachment 3231330
It is now raining here in North Texas, and will be for the next week if the weather reports are accurate. We are thankful for the rain! At the moment we have some pretty heavy rainfall. I just now checked the coop and it is dry and the ladies are a bit animated, but are dry and hopefully will head to their roost under the coop for the night. Will check on them after getting this posted.

Hope to have the north doors on the coop finished next weekend and the lining installed for the deep litter. We are heavily influenced by the Nantahala (North Carolina) chicken coop in regards to the cleanout doors. Thanks for posting that Priscilla Cox! Then we can let the girls in the coop after we get a ramp in place for them. I have heard that I may need to lock them in the coop a few days for them to accept the coop as their new home. We'll try it a night or two to see if they head to the coop in the evening after it is open for occupancy.

The following weekend we will complete the nesting box and install it. Don't think much will happen with the rain all this week, but at least now they have a dry place to live for the time being, and plenty of space. We are keeping the younger ones inside for another couple weeks but they seem to be assimilating pretty well with the older 4. They did mingle under close supervision for a few minutes this weekend and all was well, but this will be a gradual process.

Thanks for your comments and suggestions!

Congrats to almost being done! Looks great and that is fabulous everything is staying dry in the heavy rain.

I’d love to see a video of the chickens on the swing

 

[dawntreader]

Congrats to almost being done! Looks great and that is fabulous everything is staying dry in the heavy rain.

I’d love to see a video of the chickens on the swing

I'll look for that opportunity to take that video! Probably won't happen this week, but if next weekend is dry enough for us to be working on it, I'll have my camera video ready and post that here!

 

[dawntreader]

We've made progress this weekend, but first, we've got that chicken swinging on video now:

This weekend we are much closer to finishing the coop and run completely. It still isn't painted yet, and there are a few more things that need built on the coop like the nesting box and the south coop window frames and the trim boards, but the coop is functional now and the older birds are permanently there now. The younger birds are spending their first night out there in their own dog crate. We've been integrating the older ones and the younger ones, but we don't think they are quite ready yet to be together without close supervision.

We finished the coop floor and the cleanout doors, but it needs a day for the caulk and paint stain on the wood to dry before we let the girls in. Peanut inspected it earlier today and it seems she approves of it. Her inspection was after we had some bedding in place. The pics were taken before that happened:

The roost bar turned out very nice and solid with the vertical board underneath it. The pic below shows the temporary boards where the nesting boxes (3) will be installed. we will start working on that in the garage this next week.

The cleanout doors are modeled after Priscilla Cole's Nantahala Chicken Coop. We have internal barrel locks on one of the doors for added security, and they hold the door tight against the coop frame.

There is a panel that holds in the deep litter which can be easily removed for cleanout. We weren't sure how this was going to work, but as we built it, leaving one side with a bracket and the other side against the left door, it pulls out nicely, yet holds the bedding in place.

The coop has plenty of ventilation that is definitely cooler than the surrounding area due to the way air moves through it from west (lower) to east (higher). The north doors and south windows provide additional ventilation and it was pleasant to work in the coop installing the liner and caulking but not so pleasant outside the coop with the temps this weekend.

We also built and installed the coop door ramp today. We liked the idea of using hooks to mount it, but didn't have those available so we hard mounted it for the time being.

Most of the trim is now in place. I will take pictures of that when we get the coop painted and the name of the coop painted on. We are thinking about calling it Manoir de Poulet which means Chicken Mansion in English. Temps are back up again in the high 90's in north Texas, but we should be getting some more rain this coming week which should knock it down to the low 90's or even 80's. So far the girls seem to be doing well, but we let them free range around the yard a lot while we are out which is delightful to watch! The younger girls pretty much stay in the dog cage unless we let them roam around the closed coop run while the older girls are out free ranging. We hope to have them integrated in about two weeks when they reach 6 weeks old at which time the dog crate can be put away and used only for medical issues or a timeout, which doesn't seem likely with these breeds.

Will have more finished on the coop with additional pics by next weekend, and hopefully catch some video of their antics that delight us to no end!

 

[Becks Chicks]

We've made progress this weekend, but first, we've got that chicken swinging on video now:

This weekend we are much closer to finishing the coop and run completely. It still isn't painted yet, and there are a few more things that need built on the coop like the nesting box and the south coop window frames and the trim boards, but the coop is functional now and the older birds are permanently there now. The younger birds are spending their first night out there in their own dog crate. We've been integrating the older ones and the younger ones, but we don't think they are quite ready yet to be together without close supervision.

We finished the coop floor and the cleanout doors, but it needs a day for the caulk and paint stain on the wood to dry before we let the girls in. Peanut inspected it earlier today and it seems she approves of it. Her inspection was after we had some bedding in place. The pics were taken before that happened:
View attachment 3238560
View attachment 3238561

The roost bar turned out very nice and solid with the vertical board underneath it. The pic below shows the temporary boards where the nesting boxes (3) will be installed. we will start working on that in the garage this next week.

View attachment 3238562
View attachment 3238563

The cleanout doors are modeled after Priscilla Cole's Nantahala Chicken Coop. We have internal barrel locks on one of the doors for added security, and they hold the door tight against the coop frame.

View attachment 3238564

There is a panel that holds in the deep litter which can be easily removed for cleanout. We weren't sure how this was going to work, but as we built it, leaving one side with a bracket and the other side against the left door, it pulls out nicely, yet holds the bedding in place.

View attachment 3238565

The coop has plenty of ventilation that is definitely cooler than the surrounding area due to the way air moves through it from west (lower) to east (higher). The north doors and south windows provide additional ventilation and it was pleasant to work in the coop installing the liner and caulking but not so pleasant outside the coop with the temps this weekend.

We also built and installed the coop door ramp today. We liked the idea of using hooks to mount it, but didn't have those available so we hard mounted it for the time being.

View attachment 3238567

Most of the trim is now in place. I will take pictures of that when we get the coop painted and the name of the coop painted on. We are thinking about calling it Manoir de Poulet which means Chicken Mansion in English. Temps are back up again in the high 90's in north Texas, but we should be getting some more rain this coming week which should knock it down to the low 90's or even 80's. So far the girls seem to be doing well, but we let them free range around the yard a lot while we are out which is delightful to watch! The younger girls pretty much stay in the dog cage unless we let them roam around the closed coop run while the older girls are out free ranging. We hope to have them integrated in about two weeks when they reach 6 weeks old at which time the dog crate can be put away and used only for medical issues or a timeout, which doesn't seem likely with these breeds.

Will have more finished on the coop with additional pics by next weekend, and hopefully catch some video of their antics that delight us to no end!

That looks amazing. LOVE the swing video and the credits at the end were

 

[dawntreader]

We are nearly done now with the coop, just a few more finishing touches! It was a great weekend for the final push to finish the construction and painting of 95% of the coop and run. The chickens are doing well in it, even with the temps in the mid to high 90's, which is about as good as it gets now in north Texas. The storms over the weekend brought the temps down, but they didn't last long so we were able to work in between the raindrops, so to speak!

So here's the results of a weekend of construction, painting and enjoying the girls antics as they free ranged in the backyard:

That's the east side of the coop and run with the nest box now constructed and in place. This is what the coop looks like in the inside - we have the dividers turned 90 degrees to block the girls from getting into the nest boxes until they are ready. They are only 12-13 weeks old, so we anticipate them starting to lay sometime in the next couple months. We will probably stain the inside wood next weekend.

The north side is where the clean out doors are located which turned out very nice for interior coop access when needed:

The area to the left is the entrance to the nesting box. We had an old staircase handrail that had been sitting around for years that we repurposed for the step into the nesting areas. That was one of the fun parts of this project, as we repurposed several things that had been laying around for years into the coop.

The west wall also got painted by the wonderful painting skills of my wife - she did a fantastic job bringing this to life!

We hung a tarp on the west side for additional shade from about 3:00 pm till 6:30 pm when the southwestern sun lights up the coop.

Right about dusk the girls of their own accord head up the ramp and into the coop and are settled within a few minutes. Really neat to see this habit being formed!

We also will probably wait another week or two before removing the dog crate so that the younger ones get used to going up into the coop at night. They have been up there, and we placed them on the perch, but they didn't stay long before heading down the ramp and back to their dog crate cage. the two groups seem to get along, but I think that the little ones need to grow a bit more to keep temptation at bay with the older ones being more aggressive in establishing pecking order than is required.

So next weekend we will complete the south side coop window covers, and make sure we have all our bases covered for the upcoming fall and winter with the chickens and their coop home.

So let me tell you about those girls and their "protector":

They are quite fond of our dog Milo, and he has total trust in them to take a spell watching over him when he needs a nap:

The three younger girls are growing every day. They don't want to be in the coop at night, but in the dog crate under the coop on their perch. They are only 5+ weeks old. The older girls have adapted to them well now. They can mingle in the coop run during the day while the girls come and go in the coop run. They don't prefer to go out free ranging as much as the older girls, but they do enjoy a half hour or so outside the coop. When they hear a hawk, however, they all rush in the coop or under a cover, so I think they are learning how to sense danger before it is upon them.

The hawks can be heard from time to time, but seem to lose interest when the chickens get in the coop or under the tarp, or in the pavilion. Our dogs keep them away with barks before they even get in the area, which is also nice to see that happening!

It really seems to make a difference in having a good environment for the chickens as to their friendliness, well being and ability to be around us and be comfortable with that. I am so grateful for the suggestions and ideas that people have posted on the web on this website and others to help us newbies ease into this pastime! we have taken much of your knowledge and wisdom into our coop plans and thoughts on raising chickens - we are grateful!

We are learning more about the different types of run floor materials, and think that our next clean out of the coop run will involve bringing in some natural mulch from area trees, dry leaves and a place for composting kitchen scraps based on what we have learned from other's experiences.

Thanks for any comments or suggestions!

 

[Jasfarm]

We started with laying the foundation by manually excavating and leveling the paving stones and the floor sill during the hot temps in north Texas of 100+ degrees. The area is 6' x 16' to support up to 10 chickens.

View attachment 3206255

We started coop framing soon after. Coop area is 6' x 4'.

View attachment 3206258

Framing the coop took a few days, slowed down by babysitting, hot weather and design "discussions" at the computer. We used a poly plastic liner for the coop floor, intending to use the deep litter method.

View attachment 3206262

Rachel is the go-to staining expert! We bring our chicks out to enjoy the time with us in a chicken tractor we put together when the weather permits. You can see them in the chicken tractor.

View attachment 3206263

We started the run this weekend by framing the walls and then attaching them to the floor sills, leveling the walls with the coop and the base foundation.

View attachment 3206265

This is what we've accomplished this weekend. Next weekend we will install the rafters and roof. We did get a bit of rain this weekend after almost 2 months of no rain and high temps. We are so thankful for the rain and pray that area farmers receive most of it! One of our two dogs is seen here inspecting the progress. He loves the chicks, even though he is not quite OK with them riding on his back yet. The other bigger dog pretty much ignores them. I've seen expressions on his face I've never seen before in the years we've had him since a pup. He does not seem to like them pecking his nose, but he is a good sport!

View attachment 3206266

Looks amazing!! They will be some happy chicks!