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

[silkieluver_07]

Good work! You should enter your coop in the coop contest!

 

[DawnSuiter]

Hey thanks you two! I think I will enter it into the contest, but since it's not a "pretty" coop, I suspect someone with window boxes will win

after all that extra work everyone puts in to make it nice looking too, I think that's only fair; we're just throwing up whatever we have on the outside.

I went back and read my original posts... LOL it's funny how things change quickly! I said originally I couldn't imagine how we could have more than 8 chickens!! LOL

of course then we were just counting on eggs alone... then I got bit & now have some kind of fever!! chicken fever!

I already, within 1 month, have 15 chickens & 27 eggs in the 'bator! I'm crazy!!!

rooster houses are next.......

 

[DawnSuiter]

Ok everyone, HERE IT IS..
nearly completed, small touches still needed but the chicks have been living in for a week now!

Here's a descriptive pic of what we've done

next... a 4'X8' Tractor.....

 

[yellowdragon]

I just found this post. Oh my goodness. I love your coop. It is the best coop I have ever seen. I live in the country and love rustic stuff. It is wonderful.

 

[DawnSuiter]

yellowdragon, THANK you SO much!

I really appreciate your comments!!!
I am really so excited to be done with the main hen house that I could throw a PARTY!

I found out so many things while building, and I'm glad I did. Leaving 60% (or so) of my coop completely open has really been a fantastic thing. I found that during the final stages, we closed most of the vents off with wood until we got the hardware cloth in place to keep them safe. and BOY did it smell bad in there, after only a couple days with 7 small birds! 2 days ago when we finished installing the hardware cloth the smell all but disappeared, and today it seems like I surely have cleaned it out, but haven't.

I'm really happy with the sand floors too, not only did it cost LESS than 1 bag of pine/aspen shavings but they love it. It's cool when it's hot outside, it's clean, and they really seem to enjoy the roughness of it. I'm glad I found out about sand, before I filled that 99sf with $50 worth of wood chips instead of $7 worth of construction sand!

Thanks Davaroo for reminding us about the Charles Weeks book, it's been a fanstastic thing to have in my arsenal.

 

[AngieChick]

Great coop, it looks very airy and open. It also blends in well with its surroundings. It must feel great to be just about done with it!

 

[PAChickenChick]

Quote:
Yeah...that Davaroo guy has been a big lifesaver to me as well. I'll be leaving one wall open (screened in) also...and the sand is a definite!

Love that you're coop is made mostly of recycled stuff Bodyflight. I'm doing that too...and it's a lot harder making it work with what you have than it would be to just be able to go to the store and buy it! I've got so many pallets in my yard right now that we're considering making a fence now too....

 

[DawnSuiter]

Thanks for the support!

It's true, making it out of recycled items is definitely harder. I'm very glad that we did buy our base & roof though so at least that was "right" and as "true" as possible.

Originally, my husband doubted the palette construction method, but after the first one went up, he was a real believer. Those buggers are super strong, we even have one marked USS Berkley, which I thought was cool.

We have 3 rooster habitats still to build and palettes will be a major part of that I suspect. Another friend tore down his old fence, and that has also been used a lot.. everything you see that is grey came from his fence, all the natural colors are palettes.

Respect, Reduce, Recycle & Reuse..

 

[dixygirl]

That is so nice for your chickens. You put a lot of work into it. 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.

Great work.

 

[smith2]

Quote:
I am so glad to hear someone talking recycled stuff for chicken houses. I did a whole unit on poultry for my students this year at school after achiev. tests and we talked a lot about building coops out of recycled stuff and about asking people for the junk in their yards. While I know most of you probably don't have junk in your yards, a lot of people around here do have scrap boards, pallets, etc. that could easily be used to construct a coop.

Bodyflight, I love your coop. 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?