Texas Playhouse coop- too many windows?

[Txbufforpington]

I recently started making a 8'x20' coop. I put two 36" x 34" windows and a 48" x 60" window as well as two doors one with a 16"x16" window and it seems that is still not enough ventilation. I was working on it yesterday I'm west of the DFW and it was only 88* and seemed pretty hot inside. I will be opening vents on the top close to the roof on both front and back see if that makes a difference. You can never have enough ventilation here in the south...

 

[monica.stromberg]

More pictures! As you can see, my DH is working hard! He is rather sick of the chickens in the storage room, and in the kitchen- in fact, he is getting not so D anymore, but at least he is still my H!

I wanted nest boxes on the end, so I did not have to give up the windows. We just need the little roof added on here.

I thought this was rather clever, my DH made it so the floor of the nest boxes was a drop floor, to make it easy for me to clean out!

I want my roosts to be 2X4's so that the girls can roost comfortably, DH fixed it so that I can remove them if I want to clean the roosts or deep clean the coop.

I love this waterer! I ordered nipples from TEKSupply, and bought the pitchers from WalMart. No more drenched wood chips, and nasty, poopy water! I am going to have him make me a feeder out of PVC pipe next.

So far I have kilzed the whole building, painted the inside of the coop a soft, sunny, yellow, the floor is light green and the door is bright red. (all leftover paint from the kid's rooms) I am going to paint the outside white, with the trim around the windows and the littlr front porch dark green. DH is going to make me shutters for the big windows for very cold nights or bad storms. We are going to shingle the roof and the nest boxes with a light grey, and I bought some cool stencils of a rooster, Dominique chicken and some little chicks on the outside. I may put little flower boxes on the front of the little windows.

Here are my girls, their first night in their new coop! They seemed to love it. I started with 8, lost one, and now have 12 total (including a little roo). Too much fun!

 

[bustermommy]

edited for stupidity; missed the last part

 

[CoyoteMagic]

WHOA!!!!!!! He did an AWESOME job!!

ETA-- Definately MUST have flower boxes!!!

 

[leight54]

I LOVE the removable roost idea! Mind if I steal it?

I, too, am converting a wood playhouse. I can't decide whether to paint the inside or not. I do have some sunny yellow paint that I'd bought for my kitchen, but it was a little TOO sunny for my taste.

Keep the pictures coming, it's adorable!

 

[flowergirl60]

That is a really cute coop. The only concern I have is the chicken wire covering the window. You really should consider hardware cloth. Predators such as racoons can get through chicken wire. Other than that great job. BTW you can easile just cover the chicken wire with the hardware cloth. No need to remove the chicken wire.

 

[aggie9296]

agree with the hardware cloth over windows. i put mine over chicken wire so I didn't have to remove it.

And does the nipple waterer work sideways? I read where it had to be pointing down so it didn't leak?

 

[monica.stromberg]

Quote:
So far it is working great! I wanted it in the side so I could sit it down flat to fill it up. I have had it three weeks now, check regularly to make sure there is no dripping, and everything seems fine!

Paradise Chickens
"Poultry in Motion!"

 

[monica.stromberg]

Quote:
I used the chickenwire because it was free- I will check out the hardware cloth. Thanks for the advice!

Paradise Chickens
"Poultry in Motion!"

 

[BlueBetween]

it's really cute, and you can always cut out shapes to cover the holes in cold winter - either put them on with hinges or have those toggle things like old storm windows used to have to keep them on? Cute. Looks like a fun project.

Oh wait, I see you did it. Sorry! Still cute!