ctpat3
In the Brooder
We are a young family living in Central Victoria, Australia. My husband and I each grew up with chickens so have been keen for our children to share that experience. With the lockdown we suddenly found ourselves with free weekends at home and decided it was the perfect project for us all to do together and distract ourselves from work (we're both healthcare workers).
Our climate has hot dry summers and cool frosty winters so we were catering for a range of weather. We are on the outskirts of town so have foxes, hawks, owls etc to worry about. And of course, because we are in Australia venomous snakes (we've sighted a few Eastern Browns on our property over the years)...
So our priorities were; cool in summer, warm in winter, predator and vermin proof (so as not to attract snakes).
We decided on a fully enclosed yard with heavy gauge aviary mesh (10mm square), with a tinted polycarbonate roof to cut out the worst of the summer sun. We left the floor bare so the hens would be able to do plenty of scratching and dirt bathing. To fox proof we put a 60cm skirt of wire coming out and sloping down away from the yard. Our coop we elevated to maximise available space in the yard for the hens.
We built the coop from formply as it was more economical than marine ply. Formply is black so to keep it cooler in summer we decided to paint it. To get the paint to adhere we first applied a coat of Zinsser BIN primer/sealer, then slapped on a couple of coats of cream exterior paint. So far this is holding up well to wear and tear. We cut out several windows for good crossflow ventilation, and have put a sliding door on the south facing window to cut out the cold winter southerly. This wall opens to allow for easy cleaning. The coop has 2 perches so the hens are spoilt for choice. Will reassess the ventilation in summer to make sure it's not an oven.
We loved the idea of a sliding door that we could open and close from the outside, closing at night to give the hens added protection from foxes. The kids love being able to open and close the door with the rope (we used exterior blind cord)
We made a 30 degree ramp leading up to the coop with plenty of slats for the hens to use, even our young silkies have found this easy to navigate.
We put gas struts on the nesting box lid to help the kids when collecting the eggs and covered the lid with gal sheet to protect it from the weather.
The door has a latch that the kids can open and latches easily so the door isn't inadvertently left ajar. It can be opened from the inside via a wire that is attached to the top of the latch, pull on the ring inside and the door opens.
Only jobs left to do now is to suspend their feeder (it's currently sitting on the ground) and to install the self filling water trough.
Has been an really enjoyable project and kids absolutely love our young chooks! So far we have 3 11 week Lohmann girls, and 2 silkies that we are hoping turn out to be pullets! Once they are older they will be able to free range in our fenced backyard during the day.
We found this post https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/wichita-cabin-coop.47747/ a brilliant source of advice and design.
Our climate has hot dry summers and cool frosty winters so we were catering for a range of weather. We are on the outskirts of town so have foxes, hawks, owls etc to worry about. And of course, because we are in Australia venomous snakes (we've sighted a few Eastern Browns on our property over the years)...
So our priorities were; cool in summer, warm in winter, predator and vermin proof (so as not to attract snakes).
We decided on a fully enclosed yard with heavy gauge aviary mesh (10mm square), with a tinted polycarbonate roof to cut out the worst of the summer sun. We left the floor bare so the hens would be able to do plenty of scratching and dirt bathing. To fox proof we put a 60cm skirt of wire coming out and sloping down away from the yard. Our coop we elevated to maximise available space in the yard for the hens.
We built the coop from formply as it was more economical than marine ply. Formply is black so to keep it cooler in summer we decided to paint it. To get the paint to adhere we first applied a coat of Zinsser BIN primer/sealer, then slapped on a couple of coats of cream exterior paint. So far this is holding up well to wear and tear. We cut out several windows for good crossflow ventilation, and have put a sliding door on the south facing window to cut out the cold winter southerly. This wall opens to allow for easy cleaning. The coop has 2 perches so the hens are spoilt for choice. Will reassess the ventilation in summer to make sure it's not an oven.
We loved the idea of a sliding door that we could open and close from the outside, closing at night to give the hens added protection from foxes. The kids love being able to open and close the door with the rope (we used exterior blind cord)
We made a 30 degree ramp leading up to the coop with plenty of slats for the hens to use, even our young silkies have found this easy to navigate.
We put gas struts on the nesting box lid to help the kids when collecting the eggs and covered the lid with gal sheet to protect it from the weather.
The door has a latch that the kids can open and latches easily so the door isn't inadvertently left ajar. It can be opened from the inside via a wire that is attached to the top of the latch, pull on the ring inside and the door opens.
Only jobs left to do now is to suspend their feeder (it's currently sitting on the ground) and to install the self filling water trough.
Has been an really enjoyable project and kids absolutely love our young chooks! So far we have 3 11 week Lohmann girls, and 2 silkies that we are hoping turn out to be pullets! Once they are older they will be able to free range in our fenced backyard during the day.
We found this post https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/wichita-cabin-coop.47747/ a brilliant source of advice and design.
