The Annex!

[CityGirlintheCountry]

Yeah, me too. I'll take more pics once it's totally done. I was desperately trying to get the inside done so the chickens could move in. They were pretty crowded in the original coop. I still need to put 1x6's around the bottom of the coop part. The playhouses are up on bricks to keep the floor from rotting. I want to block the gap so as to deter critters from getting in.

This is the whole set up.

 

[CityGirlintheCountry]

Sianara, if you were closer I'd say come on over!

I eventually want to plant grapevines over the original part and blackberries and raspberries around the new part. I'm hoping the thorns will also help deter predators.

 

[sianara]

Oh, that's a good view too!

I just checked out your website/blog. If you click on a photo it comes up in a separate page. You can then hold down the ctrl button and slowly spin the button/dial on top of your mouse to enlarge or shrink the picture. This helps to view photos in more detail as well as (actually better than) using a word doc.

Maybe you could post some photos on your website/blog when you're all done painting them? I'd love to see it then!

 

[sianara]

Quote:
Too bad we're so far apart, cuz I'd bring coffee too! lol

The berry bushes are a good idea. I've been thinking of putting some kind of plants around the perimeter of my chicken yards (for next year) so it would "pretty it up" a little and give them something to eat too. Are the leaves on the berries toxic to animals, do you know? Just wondering...

 

[CityGirlintheCountry]

If I ever get it painted I'll post a gazillion pics on the website. That's my incentive to actually go paint.

It's still hot and reeeaalllly humid here. It's pretty ooky to be painting right now. Plus every time I have a chunk of time and am actually motivated, it rains. Go figure.
I think both grapes and blackberries are okay for them. I feed mine grapes all the time now and they love them! Dunno about the leaves and such. I'll have to do a little research...

 

[sianara]

Great! When you do finish painting and post some pix on your site, please mention it in this thread as I'm subscribed to it and I want to see them all finished. I think the coop&run design section is my favorite part of this entire forum.

Today we had a beauuuuuuuuutiful day in MA! It almost felt like fall ~ cool and crisp. I should have been outside finishing some animal yard chores (which includes some painting too) but I ended up spending most of the day online looking for a PT job! We've had an unusually wet and humid summer this year and everyone around here is looking forward to a cool fall!

 

[dangerouschicken]

OMG you so rock! I love this!!!! Congrats on the whole thing cuz you should be very proud!


Edited to add, grapes and blackberries are great edible shade covers. I want to do a whole row of grape vines in the future.

 

[CityGirlintheCountry]

Thanks, Dangerous! I'm pretty pumped. I have a love/hate relationship with power tools. And the concepts of square and plumb.

I'm just please it all came together. The poor chickies were crammed up in the original coop!
Thanks for the update on grapes and blackberries!

Will do, Sianarra. They're now saying that Saturday will be sunny and in the mid 80's. That's better than the mid 90s we've been having! I'm so jealous that you are starting to get fall weather. I want it to be fall down here!!!

 

[Sandrachx]

how do your chickens navigate in those Lowe's playhouse structures? are they bantams or standards? i have one also and use it as a transition house for my chicks when they are old enough to meet the elders (with a fence separating them as well). my chicks were silkies and they wouldn't be flying up, but my packing peanut roosters wanted/needed a pole. how high is your roosting pole and how do they navigate the skinny space? i am currently reconfiguring our existing coop, which is bigger than yours but still shallow in depth, because my youngsters have already hit the windows and doors getting off the roosting poles. i have heard them bang the door from my house and they are down the hill!! this is their first season of cooler weather and winter is coming fast - at least in michigan.

 

[CityGirlintheCountry]

I have 17 chickens total. The plan was to have 8.

I have two silkies, two mille fleur d'uccles, and a sebright. The other 12 are standard size. Two of the 17 turned into roosters- a mille fleur and a buff orp (who is now ginormous!).

This was the original setup when they moved in:

This is when they were still small and could all fit on a 4' roost.

I eventually added 4'roosts on either side of the door. So that one has a little less than 12 linear feet of roost. I edned up moving the ladder to right in front of the door. They had no trouble at all getting to the roost, even the big buff boy. They just hopped up the little ladder. Even the silkies were good at it.

The new setup has roosts all in the building on the left. They are spaced a foot apart and a foot higher from the previous post. They hop right on up with no problems. There is some flapping around, but from what I can tell it is less roost coordination and more pecking order dynamics.