Awwww, thanks, Duke! Glad you like it. I wish now that all mine were made like it. It has worked out very, very well.
The actual interior floor space is 3' wide by 8' long. There are currently 2 roosters (one is leaving soon), 4 standard size hens, 2 silkies and 4 half grown babies living inside. They all tend to cram up on two of the roosts, with the alpha roo and alpha hens roosting on the crosspiece that connects the back wall to the front. Nevermind that THAT roost is hard to get to and not really a roost at all. They will insist on perching up there. Silly chickens. The splash roo will hopefully be off to his home sometime this month. One of the black babies is a roo and I'm not sure if I will keep him or not. At the moment all of the girls are staying. We'll see what happens when they start laying.
The Blue Coop is my ameraucana pen with a couple of EEs thrown in for good measure. The silkies are my brooders.
The vent window is currently covered with shower curtain liner. I left enough gaps to keep ventilation happening, but it does block the worst of the wind and cold. The freaky extreme cold we've been having lately has thrown off my plan. I thought we wouldn't get the below freezing weather until around February or so. It should be a balmy 50 degrees or so right now!
The milk crates work great. The only downside is that the babies are roosting on them instead of the 2x4s. I figure with time and cold they'll move down to the proper roosts, but for now it's messy. The good news is that the milk crates are really easy to clean.
Things I have learned-
The chickens only sometimes use the front porch. Mainly they poop on it. I have a scraper that I clean it off with, but it stays dirty. I do like that they fly up to that and then hop in through the pop door. Hopefully that will keep their feet bruise free. I do find them perched on the chicken tree I built in the run. It's pretty funny. I used the leftover 2x4s to build a vertical with a bunch of horizontal pieces sticking out in all directions. They use it all the time. I'll try to get a picture of it for you.
The under area is great. The food stays dry no matter what the weather and I find that the chickens prefer to hang out under there (especially when the weather is bad. I had originally intended for half of that area to be a brooder pen. I'm finding now that 4'x4' is too deep for the brooder area. I can't get under there to clean and check on things. If I ever get eggs for hatching I'll likely block off the back part when I put the broody hen under there. Other than the depth it's perfect. A bale of hay should take care of it and should help insulate the area.
I'm glad you like it. I have been very pleased with it. If I decide to build another one I'll likely repeat this plan. The chickens seem to like it and I love that it's easy to clean out. Plus, other than taking some time, it wasn't that hard to build. I figure if I can do it with my limited carpentry skills, it should be easy for just about everybody!
The actual interior floor space is 3' wide by 8' long. There are currently 2 roosters (one is leaving soon), 4 standard size hens, 2 silkies and 4 half grown babies living inside. They all tend to cram up on two of the roosts, with the alpha roo and alpha hens roosting on the crosspiece that connects the back wall to the front. Nevermind that THAT roost is hard to get to and not really a roost at all. They will insist on perching up there. Silly chickens. The splash roo will hopefully be off to his home sometime this month. One of the black babies is a roo and I'm not sure if I will keep him or not. At the moment all of the girls are staying. We'll see what happens when they start laying.
The vent window is currently covered with shower curtain liner. I left enough gaps to keep ventilation happening, but it does block the worst of the wind and cold. The freaky extreme cold we've been having lately has thrown off my plan. I thought we wouldn't get the below freezing weather until around February or so. It should be a balmy 50 degrees or so right now!
The milk crates work great. The only downside is that the babies are roosting on them instead of the 2x4s. I figure with time and cold they'll move down to the proper roosts, but for now it's messy. The good news is that the milk crates are really easy to clean.
Things I have learned-
The chickens only sometimes use the front porch. Mainly they poop on it. I have a scraper that I clean it off with, but it stays dirty. I do like that they fly up to that and then hop in through the pop door. Hopefully that will keep their feet bruise free. I do find them perched on the chicken tree I built in the run. It's pretty funny. I used the leftover 2x4s to build a vertical with a bunch of horizontal pieces sticking out in all directions. They use it all the time. I'll try to get a picture of it for you.
The under area is great. The food stays dry no matter what the weather and I find that the chickens prefer to hang out under there (especially when the weather is bad. I had originally intended for half of that area to be a brooder pen. I'm finding now that 4'x4' is too deep for the brooder area. I can't get under there to clean and check on things. If I ever get eggs for hatching I'll likely block off the back part when I put the broody hen under there. Other than the depth it's perfect. A bale of hay should take care of it and should help insulate the area.
I'm glad you like it. I have been very pleased with it. If I decide to build another one I'll likely repeat this plan. The chickens seem to like it and I love that it's easy to clean out. Plus, other than taking some time, it wasn't that hard to build. I figure if I can do it with my limited carpentry skills, it should be easy for just about everybody!
