SandyEggO's Finest

[SandyEggO]

Welcome I have been at this off and on the last two weeks. Didn't find this site till I was almost done. Any comments critiques or advice welcome. I still need to put in some vent holes. I also need to finish the food and water projects. I built 8 nesting boxes and a little storage area. I think I am starting to regret the loss of valuable space inside the hen house. I see now that I don't need a nesting box for each hen. thinking about tearing them out and leaving four. would love some feed back cuz the ol lady thinks i am nuts. here are a couple pictures. I haven't gotten chickens yet. waiting till i have everything ready.



going to build a little water station next to the wall feeder under cover.

thanks for looking.

 

[SandyEggO]

Bump.

 

[aart]

Nice run! Coop looks congested but not sure......what are the dimensions and how many/what breed birds?

How do you access the nest boxes (yes too many) to get eggs, got a pic?

How do you access the coop for cleanout?

What have you done to prevent predator dig unders?

 

[SandyEggO]

Thanks for stopping in aart. The dimensions of the coop is 5 x 4 and the run is 10 x 5. It definitely feels a little congested. I wish I had found this site prior to building the coop. I don't have any birds as of yet. I was thinking 8 originally but have decided on 6. I just want them to be happy and have a nice life. do you think that's too many for the size coop I built? How many nesting boxes would 6 birds need? I have been thinking of ripping out the boxes and storage to give the coop more room for the birds. I buried some bricks on the edge under the 4x4's to prevent dig-unders. I also included some pics of the big door on the side for clean outs and the back with the two doors one for storage on top and the nest access on the bottom. put up some perches yesterday. i will put a few more pics of that. thanks again for helping out.

back access I can move box dividers in and out storage door cracked open above boxes.


big side door for clean outs.


here you can see the bricks under the 4x4 they are just like the one you see on its side in the picture.


all wired up.


the perches and ramp to coop with funky paint job


chicken security system

 

[vickichicki]

I currently have four 5 gallon buckets for nesting and only have 9 girls using them. Most times they will lay in three of them and leave one empty, with a certain one on any given day holding four or more eggs.

As they sit right now the 4 are not in the way and I could probably remove one if I wanted. I have never been in the coop and seen all 4 nests being used all at once.

Is there a way to put the nest boxes on the outside? That would increase some floor space for them in the coop section.

 

[SandyEggO]

thanks Vicki. I can move the boxes outside. I have decided to remove the boxes and storage and start over. I am just glad I have waited on getting birds, so I feel no pressure making changes till I get it right. I am thinking of three nest boxes. thanks again for sharing you have helped me make the decision to change the lay out. I will take pictures when I get something done. Looks like I have a busy week at work so not sure when I will get a change to play with the coop.

 

[vickichicki]

Glad I could help. It is nice you are not rushing to make changes. I think alot of us end up with chicks before we build which leave us scrambling to build and not having a coop exactly how we would like.
Looking forward to seeing updated... keep us posted.