Things you've learned while building your coop...

[cook_kaka_ook]

Use screws instead of nails. It is easier to make revisions and corrections if needed.

 

[Backyard_Chicken_rancher]

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I have learned the square or star headed may cost a bit more but well worth it they don't strip nearly as easy and are always great to reuse for revisions just need to be careful they will twist your wrist hard to the point you will need a bandage wrapand some ice the next day (please don't ask how I know

).

 

[Kismet]

My newest coop is on a slope - one end is about a foot off the ground and the other end is about three feet off the ground. I have the open space underneath fenced so that chickens have access through a trap door to this run. I planned a "cleanout door" at the three foot high end. When it is time to clean out, I just shovel the bedding out the door - the floor is vinyl so it is smooth. It drops into the compost pile below which, after a couple months of composting, will be spread onto my gardens. I built the roost as a ladder out of 2x4's (screwed in case I want to change any part of it). The lower end (about 15 inches off the floor) is nearest the wall and the highest rung is about six feet out from the wall and in line with the cleanout door. Since they like to roost high, the droppings are easy to just push out the door. The other advantage of having the roost face backwards (compared to most ladder-type roosts that I have seen) is that there seems to be more coop space - I don't trip over the lower ladder rungs because they are close to the wall (no dung on the wall, because they don't roost on the lower rungs near the wall).

 

[raimnel]

ok so I don't read all the posts, but if someone said this it is worth repeating. This comes to mind from me the one who started the post titled CRAP!!!! this morning.

Either make sure that your door lock wont lock U in.
Or make your chicken door wide enough for YOUR hips to get through.

 

[lauriruth]

HAVE A SECOND PAIR OF HANDS on call..... i am building my 4 x 6 coop with attached 6 x 12 run alone and have invented a new list of bad words...

as a result!

 

[LittleFeat]

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Have LOTS of clamps on hand!! They work like a second pair of hands.....without all the "lip"!

 

[Backyard_Chicken_rancher]

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when I built mine I did it by myself and have the same list of bad words we will have to compare notes

 

[gryeyes]

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when I built mine I did it by myself and have the same list of bad words we will have to compare notes

Me three. Whew. Blistered the air around me a few times, too.

 

[Oakville Shooter]

Well I did not learn this building my coop since I have yet to start construction. Maybe this weekend?????

Anyway, when planting posts in the ground with Quickcrete, concrete, etc, don't encapsulate the post on the sides and the bottom.

One option is to pour the concrete in the bottom of the hole and let it set up. Then set the post on top of it and pack the hole tight with gravel and dirt.

The other option is to put some gravel in the bottom of the hole, set the post, maybe add a little more gravel, then pour the concrete to fill the rest of the hole. You may or may not pour all the way to the top depending on how deep the hole is and what the post is doing. (Holding the corner of a coop, mailbox post, etc.)

If you pour concrete in the bottom of the hole and set the post in the wet mix, then continue to pour up the sides of the post, you will have problems later on. As the wood shrinks back away from the post it creates a gap. When it rains, water runs down in the gap, but has no where to go. So the post then sets in water. Even a treated post will rot. This speeds up the process.

So if you have concrete on the sides of the post, you want the bottom to be open so that it can drain. If you want the concrete under the post to prevent sinking, then set the post on hardened concrete and don't put any on the sides so that it can drain.

 

[BarredBuff]

I have learned that its best to have roosts like this coop has https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=30900.