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

[The Chicken People]

Dont pinch your hand or fingers between the wire cutters while cutting the fencing...Trust me blood blisters hurt!! Maybe two many beers that night!! LOL!!

 

[kassy68]

Quote:
Its still only a couple weeks old, I have been scraping it into my bucket and dumping over in the tree line.. I put a layer of DE on the vinyl and it makes clean up even easier, you could also throw wood shaving on it too.. I wanted the poop tray to be light weight too.. so as I can pull this out and kind taco it to get it out the door. dump and wash off and use again..

 

[carniven]

Can someone tell me what the width of a droppings box should be? I know the roost should be 18 inches off the wall but how much wider should the droppings box be? Is a 30" width enough or should I make it 36"???

 

[pamiejune]

I would think the length of your chickens' butts away from the outside roost and then add a few inches for roll-offs would be wide enough...30" sounds like a lot if you're only talking one roost...unless you've got chickens that can project their poo! Do you have shooters?!? Well, then, I guess you would have to have more poo board space...

PamiePooJune

(By the way - THANK YOU to all who have so graciously shared their coop-building wisdom and hilarious out-takes - you gave me some chuckles and guffaws and have helped me design the *Perfect* chicken coop. I shall document it as soon as I have saved up about $1,000!!! That's what I figure it will cost after reading all the tips here - unless I decide to build a "Pallet Palace"!)

 

[hearthnsoul]

It's amazing my husband and I have been married this long

 

[LaSombra]

man, we've got some bears around here but they just stick to fish and blackberries, as far as I know. I haven't seen one but I hope they stay away from my chicken coop, from the sounds of it

 

[Zahboo]

One rule I've learned, when you estimate cost, times the end result by 2

 

[Monk]

Quote:
That's kinda like what I was going to say...

Figure the budget/expenses carefully, then double it!

 

[Blue Hill Farm]

Quote:
Haha! Or 3 in my case.....

I warned DH math was not my strongest subject.

I've learned alot of the same lessons already posted (and more to follow I'm sure) but some that really stick out are:

Measure twice (x3 for me,

), cut once.

Never make the people door to the coop shorter than your height.....many goose eggs later the frame was "manually" moved up by DH to 6ft.

Chicken wire sucks, hardware cloth rules. Seriously!

 

[RuffTuffCreampuff]

I like to build hoop coops with cattle panel. Here's what I have learned:
1. When forming the hoop, tie the botton of the panel with a length of rope. Those things are springy, and will flatten you as well when they "unspring".
2. Shake out work gloves BEFORE putting them on. Brown recluse bites ain't much fun, and definately crimp your style. Stomping on gloves is also recommended...it softens them up and gets your blood pumping as well.
3. Locate at least three supply stores that handle j-clips, hog rings, and the tools needed to install them. The big building supply stores usually don't carry this stuff.
4. The tool you need will always be either just out of reach, or gone altogether.

John