THE COOP IS DONE **PICS ADDED**

[chickengirlnm]

well we have finally been able to start the coop- should be done in a few days ( i hope)

here is the start to the floor - we got the pallets for free !! and we will going back to get one more to make a winter house for the ducks.

here is with the back wall and one side wall up the floor is vinel (sp) flooring left over from another project thought it would make clean up easy

picture is really dark but the chickens door is on the wall facing the house- the other half of front is going to be on hinges so I can open up on half side to make clean up easy

and of course the whole time we are working there was always a chicken looking on to make sure we did not mess up !!

I still have to cut out windows and put up the chicken wire to cover windows add the support beams across the top,perches,and finally think of nesting boxz ( which might wait till spring )and some wood chips painting will most likely have to wait unless weather stays nice and dry. I will keep adding pictures as we go along.
If you have any suggestions that I might need to add please let me know since this is a make it up as we go project - we are a little clueless about building a coop LOL

thanks for looking..
Julie

 

[justusnak]

Looking good!!! I love FREE wood! We are collecting more pine crates for another coop....this one will be a monster coop...30 feet long! Whew.

 

[chickengirlnm]

30 feet long - what are you planning on living in there - the whole farm LOL - i want to come back in my next life as one of your chickens LOL

 

[justusnak]

We will be moving 14 RIR, 5 banty frizzles and 16 Buffs to the new coop, when we build it next year. Of course they will be seperated...BO room and RIR room and Banty room.Right now they are in a lean too part of DH's shop...and he is NOT happy with this situation! LOL

 

[chickengirlnm]

Ok we finally have the thing done !!!!! I will post pics this weekend.
It is 8'x8' along the back wall they have a 6' perch and below that another perch that is 8' both perches are on a digaginol (sp) and I made them into T's so the middle would have extra support the perches are held up with L brackets that way I can remove them for cleaning and replaceing them if needed.
They have two windows coverd with chicken wire and I added shutters so I can close them during really bad weather rain/snow/ high winds etc....
The coop is not very tall so walking in it will be alittle hard on my back , but to make things easy I have one "half" wall that is on hinges that I can open wide to allow me to rake out old shavings and check for eggs and just open it up for a look around.
I placed the perches in the far back since I will not need to get to them every day and when spring gets here I will be adding nest boxes toward the front so I can get to them.
They have a little chicken door in front that has a ramp for easy walking which is on hinges so at night I just shut the door.
For being my first coop ever I am very pleased with how it looks -it is not painted yet but if the weather holds out I will have that done soon if not wait till spring.
Pics will be here soon. If I have forgotten to add anything please let me know.

thanks Julie

 

[Dawn419]

Julie,

Looking forward to see your pix this weekend. The only thing that I would personally change would be the chicken wire covering the windows. It will keep the chickens in, but it won't keep anything out. I'm using half inch hardware cloth on our windows to keep the pred's out. Hope this is some help!

Dawn

 

[chickengirlnm]

well I am lucky to say that we dont have any real threat to our chickens - we dont have coons, or any ferretlike critters around here, the only threat is from neighborhood dogs and thankfully there are so many people in my neighborhood that have chickens, the dogs that do run lose are so used to seeing chickens that they really dont mess with them. But I still keep an eye out for them anyway - to get to the chicken coop you have to get in thier run which I have built right up against our house so I can see the whole thing from my livingroom window - but I might change the chicken wire if it looks like it will be a problem area-
thank you for the advice.

 

[chickengirlnm]

ok here are the pics of the finished coop, complete with halloween decorations !!

this side i am able to open to make clean up easier

inside with the perches

here are the windows complete with shutters so i can close at night andduring bad weather

bonnie checking out the decorations

so far they seem to like the new home

my hubby calls it The Manson I am going to be painting it and adding a few little homey touches

Well what do you think of the first coop I ever built??
I am pretty happy with how it looks but if I missed something please let know - I still have to find a place to put the nesting boxes without losing to much floor space.
Any ideas?

thanks for looking
Julie