The rubber room is open for business

[yyz0yyz0]

Hey all, so here's my new coop. I call it the rubber room because it's lined with rolled flooring scraps, so it looks like a rubber room.

It's based on the Pollo Palazzo coop: https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/pollo-palazzo

I was able to use a lot of items that I had left over from our addition and other jobs so I only have a little under $300 in it so far.

Here's the pics of the progress:

Base is in with used PT decking as the subfloor



Framing in progress, I framed it with nest boxes at each end but so far I'm only using one for now




window for ventilation








Shingles from home addition, so it matches the house.





The trim boards are stripped from Pallets



Shots of the "Rubber Room"
The floor is one piece that warps up the three sides and is folded down over the front edge for ease of cleaning. I've been holding on to these scraps of flooring for years so the wife was real happy to see me use them.










Soffits are covered with HW cloth. I plan to leave them open in the summer and block off the ones over the roost in the winter.


Temporary roost till I can get the real ones and poop boards installed. The next boxes are covered till they are ready to use them




I added slots for these boards to keep the Deep Litter from coming out when doors are opened




Here's the kids enjoying their new digs


Still have to make the pen, I scored some 6 x 12 dog kennel panels to use for the pen. I'll just have to get some fencing for the apron and I should be good to go.

 

[redneck farmer]

Very nice!! An under 300 so far... THAT'S AWESOME!!!!!! Your chicken look happy happy happy

 

[Eggsoteric]

Very nice!! An under 300 so far... THAT'S AWESOME!!!!!! Your chicken look happy happy happy

I agree, very nice indeed!! And your chicks do look happy - must be the beer.

 

[SobbaChickens]

lol I love the Bud Light wall paper

Your coop looks great though!

 

[JanetS]

Very nice coop. I love the size. We are going to start adding on to our coop this week but its to small. Cute picture of the chick standing on the can.

 

[yyz0yyz0]

Thought I'd add some updates on the coop/run build. Total invested so far is about $350. Scored dog kennel panels for free from a neighbor who was going to throw them out.

Here's the run assembled from the kennel panels. two of the panels were used on the top for added protection. Two of the panels came with gates, I cut one out and now have two gates into the run area. It's nice having a 6ft tall run as I can get in there for cleaning with no problems.



I cut a bunch of fencing and used it as an anti-dig apron around the outside. I had purchased some heavy gauge fencing wire to attach them but it was thicker than I expected so I bent a bunch of it into rings and used them to attach the apron to the the walls of the run, they worked like large key rings. The grass has grown up through the apron and you don't even know it's there.



Cut down gates fit perfectly under the ends of the coop.


To stick with the the low cost I made my own pulleys out of some conduit scraps.


Auto waterer and feeder, can go several weeks on a fill if needed, love not having to worry about them if I need to go away for a couple days.


Close up of the T-bar auto feeder, originally I had a tray on the ground but they kept walking on it and pooping in the feed that was in it. So I rigged up this hanging tray to keep them out of it.


I added a compost corner to the run. I have a horse farm near me that I've been getting manure from for a while for my real compost bin. I add more manure to the corner several times over the course of several weeks and after then have they worked through it I then clean it out and move it to the gardens. Works out great letting them compost it for me.


Here's a shot of a few of the girls in the run, I'm shocked that I still have grass in there after 5 months of use. I expect that the winter will be the end of it. I put a couple of roosts over the compost corner. To the left you can see I started a green bean plant growing on the run fencing to provide some shade for the girls, it went in too late in the season to really make a difference but it was more of a test to see if it would work. Will do it again next summer. Notice the solar LED light in the upper right corner of the pic, it's a solar security light from Harbor freight, you can see another behind the compost corner. It acts like a dim light until something moves within it's range then it gets much brighter, it was my thought that it might deter night predators. Not sure if it really works for that purpose but it makes me feel better.



Can't really see if too well in this shot but I installed a dust bath sand box under the coop, I put sand, wood ash and DE in it.


Couple of the girls tilling one of the gardens for me.


So far I'm loving the setup I've created. I try to let them out to free range at least once a day, it's funny to go out there a couple hours before sunset the girls are all camped by the gate waiting for me to let them out. Reminds me of a class of kids waiting by the door for the class bell to ring.

 

[lesgo54]

Very nice setup

 

[Primo]

I love the "compost" corner. Very nice setup

 

[yyz0yyz0]

I love the "compost" corner. Very nice setup

thanks, initially it was smaller and I would put a bunch of compost from my bin into it to let them pick through. But after getting some fresh manure that was too much for my bins I decided to make the corner bigger and just try putting the fresh stuff in there a little at a time to let them break it down. As they go through it I throw some more fresh on top and just keep adding small layers till there's a good amount of finished stuff then I clean it out to put in the gardens and just start all over. I think the compost corner is part of the reason I still have some grass in the run, they are busy scratching the compost so maybe they don't scratch in the grass as much. Don't know if that's true or not but it seems to be working so far. We'll see how the grass looks after the winter, I'm not very hopefull!