our coop got finished yesterday!

[shell3]

Hi, this is only my 2nd post as i joined up this morning.
Our chicken coop is finished and i'd love to share some pics with you all. we have never had chickens before and we ordered a coop and run online but when it arrived the coop is lovely but the run looked tiny to me, i dont know how much space they need but i asked my husband to build me this and they seem very happy in there

This is the inside, and thats the original run attached to the coop.

we recently cut down some trees in our garden and i kept some logs for them to climb on an nailed one up for a perch.
we have three chickens in here, any feedback would be great and advice very welcome.
am i missing anything? should i put a shrub or something in?
thanks

 

[SmallFarmChick]

AWESOME! It's cool. How many chickens do you have?

 

[shell3]

Thanks were really pleased with it, we have got three chickens

 

[shell3]

All was well until this morning when i went out to find my plastic roof cover has sprung a few leaks! it belted down rain all morning and we had some very aggressive hail last night! i had actual puddles in there! however some good advice on here has calmed me down as they said chickens quite like a bit of rain which i didnt know! i was worried about them getting wet feet! lol clearly no expert on chickens! i was up on the roof brushing pools of water off with a broom! still suns out now so hopefully they will dry out a bit before the next downpoor. i'd be worried that the neighbours might think me crazy but frankly that ship's sailed some time ago!

Can anyone tell me what they put in the coop i've got woodchip and shreeded paper but what keeps them the warmest?

 

[Nsampsel]

You have a chicken MANSION...lol

That's plenty of space for 3 chickens...& maybe 8-10 more...lol

As for shrubs, whatever you want them to have.

Floor, mine is all sand & works great. Just throw a bit of scratch around for them & they tend to turn it themselves. You can also rake it if need be.

As for the leaky roof, you really don't even need a roof. You can just cover it with wire if your roofing doesn't want to stay where you put it. They have a fabulous little coop to go to if it rains too hard. My silly chickens actually tend to stand out in the rain & act like nothing is happening unless we get an absolute downpour.

 

[shell3]

Oh cool! I'll be sure to tell them they are spoilt lol might keep that info from hubby thou as he only planned on it half the size and I may have bullied him a tiny bit! I kept saying how they need to fly about and to be honest since they went out they haven't really bothered lol
Sands a great idea I think I'll do that at some point.
And get some shrubs but I'll have to check make sure there not poisonous to chickens first!
As for the roof that puts my mind at ease, seems they really don't mind rain! It's just we have a lot at the moment and I'm ending up with a big mud puddle! But the cover is keeping most the rain out.
I'm really in love with them now so who knows another 8-10 isn't out of the question lol good to have room if any more rescue chickens need homes.

 

[KimKimWilliamso]

Looks roomy! I too have quite a bit of space for my small flock. I figured the bigger the better! You could deff add a few more chickens, but then your coop would need to be replaced, as thats not big enough or 10 more chickens, LOL
You could think about adding some of those corugated plastic sheets to the top of your run on one side, giving them a rain free spot in the run. We need to pan something like that for our run too.

 

[Nsampsel]

The sand will help a lot with your puddles. It soaks it right up & helps it drain away. It also acts as a filter to help break down the poo when it gets rained on too...so actually rain is a good thing...lol

 

[shell3]

Oh sands sounding better by the minute! Lol can it be any kind my husbands in construction so I have plenty of builders sand but my neighbour said that's not good for them, he suggested kids play sand but that's quite a bit more money! He has cockiteils btw so not a chicken expert just an opinion so if he is wrong please let me know.
Corrugated plastics a good idea too I will mention that to hubby when he gets home!

 

[nh104]

probably only need a 900-1000 kilos of play sand. I would imagine it would be well under £100 if not free since hubby in in the trade.