Our coop is being built! Finished! Pg 2

[la dee da]

Lol Swampwood yes I have read the many "warnings" from the enablers here on byc

. It started as we were going to have a small coop with 5 hens, just to see how it goes. Then dad said "let's get enough so we don't have to buy eggs anymore" so we were going to build an 8x8 coop. Then it turned to 8x10. Then 10x10 then 10x12, so it's already started

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[la dee da]

Our coop has a roof! Well, sort of, the plywood is up!


Turns out the men couldn't finish hammering in the rafter brackets last weekend so dad and I had to nail those in before continuing. It was about 4pm before we were even able to start. Lucky for us our wonderful neighbor came over again and really helped in getting the roof done

!

The one wall piece you see in to the back left is the wall piece we put on before I realized we were forgetting about the window, vent, and pop door that goes on that side. I've decided we can scrap the vent (it's on the north side, after all) and just have a window and pop door. The space you see between the wall and roof in the back and front is going to be some good ventilation and we're still hoping to put a big ventilation vent on the south side. I'm hoping we can get the sides and roofing on this weekend. Wish us luck, it's going slowely

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[la dee da]

We finally have a coop! I am sooo excited! We still have a bit of touchup work to do like calking, painting and making the pop door's ramp but other than that it's completely complete! My sisters boyfriend came over and as a Christmas gift to me he finished the coop and made the run!

Here's the front, the plywood to the left is the run door.

This is the south side, with a 2x2 foot window and the vent.

And the north side, with the pop door and 2x4 foot window. The run wraps around the corner so the coop can provide shade on hot summer afternoons.

The inside! To the right of the vent and window is where the nest boxes will be. The food dish is on a chain so I can easily hang it high up at night to keep the vermin to a minimum.

And the other half of the inside. The roosts are nailed to the wall on the ends and the middle has two places where they are chained to the rafters to prevent sagging.

The front and back have ventilation where the roof overhangs as well as the southern side's ventilation hole. Dad and I are thinking about adding another window or two along the back wall where it will catch the sun's morning rays, but I don't like the idea of having a window too close to the roosts as the chickens may fight over the "window seat" so I don't know what we'll decide to do.

Feel free to give some constructive critisim on things we need to change/add. The run is only 4 feet high and I know that's a bit low. We also need the ramp on the outside of the pop door so you don't have to worry about mentioning those!

 

[BigBadRooster]

Very nice Coop. There is never enough ventilation. 4 feet high I've had a coop with a four feet high fence and only one hen ever got out in 3-4 months and she didn't go very far. Don't worry about the height if your keeping a heavy heritage type breed. If you're keeping leghorns or similiar you may have a problem. Somekind of poop tray would be awesome keeps everything cleaner and saves money cause you can keep the shavings longer. I leave my water and food outside the coop in the run keeps the humidity down and makes them go outside for there daily dose of vitamin D but others keep in the coop your call.

Looks good.

 

[la dee da]

We plan on keeping black or red sexlinks so I don't know how heavy they are. If they fly over we'll work on increasing the height. I did think about putting the food and water outside, but there is no shelter in the run so they would get rained/snowed on and the coop is plenty big to keep them in it

. I did a bunch of research on the poop tray and decided it'd be best without one since I wouldn't be able to reach the back of it and I'm doing the deep litter method.
Thanks for the feedback! I appreciate it

 

[BigBadRooster]

Yup like I said alot of people confine there hens, feed and water in there coop. I prefer the free range attitude but to each there own at least there not in a cage. You have a wonderful set up. Another thing I just thought of was egg box. I have one that you open from outside and love the idea wouldn't change it for the world. I don't have a poop tray either but I"m thinking of adding one.

Red Stars will probably give you an issue with your 4 ft run. I don't have any I keep only heritage breeds. Maybe somebody can give you guidance that keeps them. I beleive like most high egg producing breeds they can be quite flighty. I have a Leghorn rooster for now which just kinds of flies over anything and everything but he always comes back at the end of the day. He's always there when I close up the coop. I also have a American Game Batham hen that was sold to me as another breed and surprise! but anyway that one flies over anything and everything I don't think that a 12 ft fence would hold her in she can fly almost like a bird. They always come back. My heavier breeds Barred Rock, Brahma, Speckled Sussex (occasional small flight), Delaware and a cross cochin/BR they are kept in with a 4 ft fence.

 

[la dee da]

I would love to free range but it's too dangerous in our situation right now, though if the reds are as flighty as you think I may do it unintentionally

. I prefer the idea of keeping the nest boxes inside the coop entirely, though I am going to raise them so the chickens can roam underneath. I hope red stars aren't flighty, as that's the kind thats what we'll probably end up with. I love chickens!

 

[AlienChick]

Very nice! You guys are doing an awesome job!

It's similar to my first coop ('cept yours is bigger). Mine was 8x10.

Because of chicken math, I've since built a 10x12 coop along with about five other smaller coop/pens.

I started off with 25 birds thinking that was a good number for eggs and meat.

. . . then I discovered poultry swaps and egg auctions!

So now I'm approaching 100 chickens!

Fortunately, this year we'll be eating a bunch of them.

This is a pic of my first coop that looked similar to yours. We attached a little run onto the side so I wouldn't have to get up so early to let 'em out in the mornings (I just left the chicken door open).

 

[la dee da]

Haha yes chicken math is dangerous! That's a NICE looking coop!