Smoky Mountain Hen House - COMPLETE!!! (pg 5)

[smith2]

Just another idea. My DH goes to the lumber yard/saw mill and asks them for any wrong cut lumber or board ends. They sell it pretty cheap and we built our whole coop out of wrong cut. It was about half of what first grade lumber would be.

 

[DawnSuiter]

dixy... If it were mine I would set a saw to those few uneven boards and slap a coat of paint or stain on it. It would help it to last longer.

We still have a few nip/tucks here and there, including nest boxes. We are in the process of sawing off the ends of the extra boards, but during building they were great hanging places so we left them.. we've already got a few off, you can see in the picture. We'll be using thomspon's water sealer on the exterior front (my husband wants to paint it but I don't) to prevent damage from both the elements & the sun.

smith2...My only concern is how cold will it get in the winter where you are? I am also in TN-West part and it doesn't get that cold here, but over in East Tn is usually gets a little colder. Will it be warm enough in the winter?

First, we have cold hardy birds, and the hen house will be full in the winter months (20-25 birds). A brooder light could be used if there were extreme temps, which are rare. It will have full sun exposure, all winter long as well.

Our slight elevation, 1500' gets us only a dusting of snow each year, although the top of my road can get some snow, we live at the bottom of a mountain (better water access). So, yes it'll get chilly, but there won't be any drafts because most of the open areas will get some heavy duty plastic or shrink wrap plastic.

My sis, who lives near Germantown, gets some pretty unpredictable winter weather, but our mountain location really helps regulate temps and prevent any extremes.​

 

[DawnSuiter]

HELLO Everyone! I thought it to be fitting to resurrect my own old thread from last season.

Ahhh.. the ideas and notions of a beginning chicken owner, the grand ideas and concepts that I thought might work. The worry over what to choose, where to put it, and how will the chickens like it. Well.. I thought I would update the thread as to how it went our first winter, and what were doing now housing wise.

Let me first say, this winter was COLD, seriously cold for our neck of the woods. The hen house was covered with 4mil plastic everywhere and it really did take the bite out of the cold once you were inside. In the end, with no added protection, all of my hens and 2 roosters, made it through the winter with NO frostbite and no slowdown in egg production. Although, due to our too small nest boxes, we weren't able to fit much nesting material in along with the hens, yes I built to "byc specs" but my chickens are apparently HUGE, I have been forced to rip them out and start over. I'm a complete convert now to plastic storage tubs and their ease of use, and so.. that is what we use. I am in the process of building in shelves to set the new plastic tubs on, but we are back to having young chicks as the main occupants so I have a few weeks to get that done. Other than that... OH.. we replaced the sticks and swapped them out for some 2X4s yet kept the long trunk across the back. They were all used and loved by the chickens. I think they prefer a substantial tree trunk size perch, but honestly, they are hard to come by! So.. that's it.. all in all, it's still the same.. I'm very happy with it. I have YET to use my egg collection doors, because I like going in to see everyone and visit for a few moments, take a good inventory of their physical condition and move along from there. So.. we did good.

Now to catch the thread up on our construction:

The "Aviary" we added pretty much right away once we were done with the main house. It was simple.. 2 4X4 posts placed 7 feet from the hen house and matched the width. 7 feet because each row of wire to cover it would be 21 feet.. and 2 rows could be done with a 50' roll of wire. So, we installed the posts, added clear roofing, wrapped it in wire, threw up a door we found on the side of the road et viola..

It went up in 1 day and we really didn't take any pictures of the construction since it was so fast. The chickens enjoyed this area all winter in addition to the hen house. It is now closed off to the hen house and is where my black orpington family lives.


Then I wanted to do more breedings, and have such lovely stock to work with. So in order for me to keep it all straight.. we just kept on building. Check this out as addition #'s 2&3 go up on the Hen House

Complete with doors... latches and handles still to come

And now a look inside....
Black Orpington's Place - This is the Aviary part of the original hen house/aviary and a shot looking through to the rest of the pens

The Golden Laced Wyandottes Home

The Buff Orpingtons Coop
This one has a built in isolation crate immediately to the right as you walk in, and along the front wall..

Isolation Coop

He's a young orpington/wyandotte cockerel.. very cute little boy we're calling "goldyflocks" for the moment as he is the only one of his kind on our property for the time being.

Ok.. so that's it! That's the hen house and all the permanent structures. What do you think? I'll be updating my BYC page with all the new additions as soon as I can. I hope you enjoyed a tour of my place!

 

[b.hromada]

Real nice coop, and oh so big too!! Just great!

 

[WingingIt]

Really nice. Great job!

 

[DawnSuiter]

Thanks you two... really.

I hope others in mild climates are able to obtain inspiration for their own coops.

 

[17roses]

I really like your coop Dawn. We bought our supplies from Lowes and my husband is working on the floor right now. Thank you for helping me catch the fever - chicken fever. I love the Buffs and cant wait to get some more.