Phantom_k9
Songster
Hello
I have been meaning to make a post with pictures of our coop for a while now, finally got around to doing it! It is a bit of a mess, so apologies...
I was not able to get any measurements, but when I do I will update this post!
We made our coop design a bit different from your average coop. We wanted something that we could eventually repurpose if we ever don't have chickens. A person of average height can walk into the coop and stand with ease. The coop has been divided into three sections; one for the adults and the rest of the flock, another for our polish hen who got bullied a lot (rest in peace Ludwig
) that could also be used to raise baby / smaller birds, and a third section for dusting that can be used as a simple outdoor area. We are planning to get a few planter boxes for the third section to plant some grasses as well.
We have two "automatic" doors, which I plan to hook up to a light switch inside the coop; one of which is connected to section 1 and another between 2 and 3. For roosts, we used 2x4s to build the roost for the adults, and we have used big sticks and limbs that we have found and attached to the walls of section 2 to provide the rest of the flock with roosting space. We are also planning to add some more vents onto the coop to keep it cool in the summer as well as to help with ventilation. With that, the windows closest to the main door also open and have a hardware cloth layer behind them; we just have them shut because it is pretty chilly!
The coop has a total of 8 lights, one on the front, an automatic light on the other side, three in the outdoor section, and the remaining evenly scattered throughout the coop. We use hay as a bedding, though we are considering replacing it with sand...
We built this coop with safety in mind. Even now, we are still making improvements to our initial design. We have lost too many birds during the night due to a minor flaw in how we kept our birds. With that, we chose to not use any chicken wire outside of the interior divider, going for hardware cloth on the windows and the screened in porch. Every door has a lock, and the main door even has a deadbolt. We are still working on finishing the coops wiring, mainly barring the electrical and connecting the auto doors to a switch (in the event of a power outage, having them set to a switch would keep them from coming on if the power came back on during the night). Every night I even go outside at least twice to check and make sure that everything has been locked up tight.
Outer view #1
Interior view #1
Section 1 roosts, to the right of the door as you walk in
Left of the door as you walk in, nesters, switches, and a fan we use during the hotter months.
Looking through the center dividing door, left side of the coop. The cages are temporary, bottom one is housing chicks, top one is for feeding our scissor beak
Looking to the right, second level and stair case intended to give babies something to do, more roosting space. Also, don't mind the window...
View of the outer area
Door leading from section 2 to 3. This area is full of sand, which we add a fair amount of diatomaceous earth to in order to keep the bugs down. We do need to bring in some more sand, and we have had some rain for the past few days hence the wet ground.
Another view of the outdoor area, the ladder isn't a part of the coop, we just needed it and haven't put it back!
Looking into the coop from door #3, looking up at the rafters.
I have been meaning to make a post with pictures of our coop for a while now, finally got around to doing it! It is a bit of a mess, so apologies...
I was not able to get any measurements, but when I do I will update this post!
We made our coop design a bit different from your average coop. We wanted something that we could eventually repurpose if we ever don't have chickens. A person of average height can walk into the coop and stand with ease. The coop has been divided into three sections; one for the adults and the rest of the flock, another for our polish hen who got bullied a lot (rest in peace Ludwig
) that could also be used to raise baby / smaller birds, and a third section for dusting that can be used as a simple outdoor area. We are planning to get a few planter boxes for the third section to plant some grasses as well.We have two "automatic" doors, which I plan to hook up to a light switch inside the coop; one of which is connected to section 1 and another between 2 and 3. For roosts, we used 2x4s to build the roost for the adults, and we have used big sticks and limbs that we have found and attached to the walls of section 2 to provide the rest of the flock with roosting space. We are also planning to add some more vents onto the coop to keep it cool in the summer as well as to help with ventilation. With that, the windows closest to the main door also open and have a hardware cloth layer behind them; we just have them shut because it is pretty chilly!
The coop has a total of 8 lights, one on the front, an automatic light on the other side, three in the outdoor section, and the remaining evenly scattered throughout the coop. We use hay as a bedding, though we are considering replacing it with sand...
We built this coop with safety in mind. Even now, we are still making improvements to our initial design. We have lost too many birds during the night due to a minor flaw in how we kept our birds. With that, we chose to not use any chicken wire outside of the interior divider, going for hardware cloth on the windows and the screened in porch. Every door has a lock, and the main door even has a deadbolt. We are still working on finishing the coops wiring, mainly barring the electrical and connecting the auto doors to a switch (in the event of a power outage, having them set to a switch would keep them from coming on if the power came back on during the night). Every night I even go outside at least twice to check and make sure that everything has been locked up tight.
Outer view #1
Interior view #1
Section 1 roosts, to the right of the door as you walk in
Left of the door as you walk in, nesters, switches, and a fan we use during the hotter months.
Looking through the center dividing door, left side of the coop. The cages are temporary, bottom one is housing chicks, top one is for feeding our scissor beak
Looking to the right, second level and stair case intended to give babies something to do, more roosting space. Also, don't mind the window...
View of the outer area
Door leading from section 2 to 3. This area is full of sand, which we add a fair amount of diatomaceous earth to in order to keep the bugs down. We do need to bring in some more sand, and we have had some rain for the past few days hence the wet ground.
Another view of the outdoor area, the ladder isn't a part of the coop, we just needed it and haven't put it back!
Looking into the coop from door #3, looking up at the rafters.
