Our Shipping Crate Coop - finally finished!!! (pic heavy)

[Moogie]

That's a great price for those! Good luck with all your projects!!

Kathi

 

[smcgill]

Great Idea Moogie !
The coop came out realy nice!!!
How is it holding up.
Have you changed anything since you have used it?
Did the birds ever get used to the chunnell?

 

[Moogie]

Thank you! The coop is holding up great - the windows could use a good cleaning now - something I'll do when it cools off a bit this fall.

The formica-type board I used for the poop deck collapsed - I suspect that several birds jumped on it at the same time. They were probably using it as a trampoline while I wasn't looking... So I need to replace it with something more durable, since it made for a really fast daily cleanup and keeps me from having to clean out the entire coop.

And yes - they use the chunnel all the time. I put one of the nesting boxes in there and the chickens come and go - for some reason, it really appeals to the Americaunas and Legbars. So I always find the blue eggs in the mini coop and the brown eggs in the hoop coop. Weird...

 

[smcgill]

Thanks for replying!
I'm glad it'sworked so well!
You do need to keep them chicken happy!

 

[CrazyTalk]

Very nice - really liked it,


Did I miss a pic of nesting boxes? Didn't see any.

 

[Moogie]

You're right - I don't have any pics of those since they were added much later, after the girls were old enough to lay.

But I just use 3 kitty litter boxes - I've tried other things, but the litter boxes are by far their favorites (I think because it's dark inside). Oh, and pine straw for bedding. Wood shavings? they kick it out. Straw? "HateIt,HateIt,HateIt!" So, every fall, I'm raking & storing a year's worth of pine straw for these picky hens.

The things we do for our chickens, lol!

 

[venymae]

this is so cool!

 

[chicklover56]

Beautiful coop! Great Job!!

 

[kenya1977]

So, in Knoxville, TN there is a business that is trying to get rid of a bunch of these shipping crates. (5X7X7) for $45 each. I scored one. They disassemble it so I could easily load and unload it with one other person. I'm using this as a sort of a template for my coop, but given mine won't be under a pavilion I was worried about how the roof would hold up. I'm considering making a barn style roof instead.

http://knoxville.craigslist.org/grd/5126332942.html

 

[Star2014]

We have a shipping crate coop too! Yours looks really nice!