Our Little Coop In Progress!

[Tbanner]

Here’s what I did for windows? I just cut holes in the side of the walls covered it with hardware cloth and then cased it out. Also I made shutters to close it off if I ever need to. I’m new to chickens as well and trust me chicken math will get you. Only Wanted 10 but now have 26 and starting on my second coop. And i have about $500 in this coop with an automatic chicken door.

 

[Soon2BChixMom]

Thanks everyone!

Duckstail, we should have been wiser when spending the money, but in our area, wood is really expensive and coops are overpriced and not so nice. We don’t have TSC... We do have additional nails and screws supporting it along with the L brackets. We are also going to be adding some other wood to make it more stable.

Soon2BChixMom, here’s some advice for building your coop... make it better than mine.

Well we are not builders either. I say more power to those of us that give it our best shot with little to no building skills and chalk everything up to a lesson learned. No worries, we have already made mistakes on our build too.
As well, I have read plenty of threads on here where mods have been made to a coop that was built and later figuring out there is something missing.
If you don't have chickens yet, this would be a great duck coop - with added ventilation of course.

 

[TheYLWFlock]

Yeah this is a LOT tougher than expected, glad I posted because I can fix the problem before it’s a problem, but feel a bit upset as well, because my coop really sucks and we put a lot of time into it...

To answer your question rosemarythyme, this winter it never got below -20 Celsius. We are hot and dry, Dry, DRY in summer, but wet and humid with lots of snow in winter... hope that helps...?

Uggghhh owning chickens is so amazing and horrible all together!!!

Tbanner, wish I had your coop...

Soon2BChixMom, I’ve already got the babies, so nothing we can do now... except try to improve... sigh.

 

[Soon2BChixMom]

Uggghhh owning chickens is so amazing and horrible all together

Times 2!

 

[Tbanner]

Thanks. However I had access to the proper equipment and I bought the surplus not so good lumber from our local hardware store. I only bought a few pieces that were actually good lumber is how I kept my cost down. And it looks ok but it’s actually pieced together and not professionally built. It’s amazing how paint and trim can’t make things look good. And don’t give up on your coop. It will serve the same purpose as mine. The main thing it have fun and enjoy those chickens!

 

[TheYLWFlock]

Tbanner, we had lots of good equipment and good quality wood (expensive! We had no where else to get it from cheap...), just not a good design.

I’m trying not to give up... but it’s hard to have fun and enjoy chickens when they might be cold, get frostbite, not go inside at night, have a run that will collapse on them, be in a coop that won’t last long term and will get moldy, not have enough space and might not be happy. Yeah, all things wrong with my coop.

I’m sorry I’m just really upset and angry at myself. No one thinks my coop is suitable for chickens and that’s the honest truth. Thanks for all of your advice and help, I’m just not feeling great right now.

Have a good evening and enjoy your happy chickens and coop. Maybe you’ll appreciate the coop more now...

 

[Tbanner]

Thanks. You have a good evening as well. Don’t get discouraged you have a good start just make a few corrections. Several small holes covered in hardware cloth will take care of the ventilation problem and a few 2x4s will help the stability. Easy fixes.

 

[rosemarythyme]

The reality is many people's first coops aren't great, regardless if they build it or buy it prefab or from someone else. So don't be discouraged, the important thing is you're asking questions now when some modifications can be done instead of waiting until later when problems arise.

I bought a prefab for 3 chickens, but I ended up with 4. Had to make modifications it to fit the extra bird. Now 2 years has passed and I'd like more chickens and that prefab that we sunk hours into assembling and modifying is looking pretty insufficient. Well, time for another coop! That's how chicken math goes.

 

[RNPAULIE69]

If there is any way possible to expand that run I would do it. It seems like enough space when they are little but I found after they got to be adult size it seemed cramped. I have a 4x13 run for 3 hens and we just added more than double that and sometimes I still don't feel like it's enough. They are always busy foraging and giving the space to do so makes for a happy little flock. We just added the pen on the left. Connected with a tunnel and door. My hubby calls it the chicken habitrail

 

[TheYLWFlock]

Good morning everyone!

Thanks for your kind replies, they made me feel a lot better!

For ventilation we will probably be cutting some holes in the wall, or figuring out another way to make it work, like by attacking one of those premade vent thingies over top of a hole so we don’t need to bother with hardware cloth... or would you do the hardware cloth cover because it lets in light? Opinions appreciated! Also, how would it work to cut through the wall? It has insulation inside of it and bordering the insulation is two layers of medium thickness plywood. Would we say, cut a 6”x6” (for example) square, then frame that with 2”x2”s or pieces of plywood, then attach the hardware cloth from the inside? Would we make a cover to put overtop if we needed to? Sorry for all of the questions!

As fur the run, we aren’t don’t stabilizing it yet, still some plywood to add to make it better. Sometimes I’m looking at it and thinking “Thats huge!” And then other times I’m like “That’s tiny!”

If it does Indeed end up being to small for 4 chickens in our opinion, then we can probably figure out an easy way to add on 10-20 more square feet. There’s always a way!!


I can’t thank you enough for all of your kind help and suggestions to improve our coop. I’m so happy we can fix the problems early... we have 5-7 weeks and counting to get it done!