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

[Raz'sRoost]

What have I learned?

1. Build the coop before you get the chickens!

2. Chickens love to take off with your stuff (nails, bits, whatever...)

3. Related to 1 & 2, don't let the chickens range while you are trying to work....they will spill stuff, fly up on you thinking your playing, do funny things to make you stop and watch them....basically triple your build time. LOL

4. A drill bit CAN fillet a finger (ok, maybe I was the only one curious about that).

5. It would probably be ok to go to your grave without the claw side of you hammer being introduced to your face!

6. As soon as you get the duck pool in they will find the creek!

...I am sure I will learn more since I am still in the building process...

 

[kristenm1975]

If painting, count on it taking twice as much as you expect and buy more!

 

[thekla]

Quote:
ditto there - but I totally lucked out... I had mixed several cans/p
artial cans of paint I had on hand to make my two main colors, a nice grapey purple and a light olivy green, was running low on both of them and on my cash flow, but noticed a FreeRecycle ad forseveral (6) cans of paint - somehow managed to be the one to get picked, got 6 cans one turquoise blue, one rosy red, one lime green, one emerald and a purple, so I mixed the red, blue and what I had left of my purple and added abit of a pinky color I had on hand to lighten it, got a match so close you can hardly see the diff (plus it made almost 3 gallons) mixed the lime and emerald but it was too bright/raw so added half a qt of brown that I had aroud and got another almost perfect match... the moral here..FreeCycle, FreeRecycle, PayItForward groups are an excellent source of FREE STUFF - if you aren't on one check them out - they are national Yahoo groups with local chapters almost everywhere, and all you can do is give stuff away for free or ask for things you need (and often get them) and - all that on-hand paint - from the mis-mix bin at my local hardware store - they mark it $1 a qaurt, $5 a gallon and the chickens don't really care about the colors and you can mix them pretty easily to get what you want at a fraction of the cost - check out your local paint/hardware stores etc because they usually sell off the mis-mixed ones for way less than normal (many that I got were $30 a gallon paint for $5.

 

[farmerkim]

build a bigger coop than you think you need because you will want more chickens later. They're addictive.

 

[LaSombra]

Quote:
according to the 4 sq ft per bird rule, I should be able to fit 20 chickens in my coop (It's 10x8). I'm already up to 16 and I just built the coop last month!

 

[farmerkim]

Quote:
according to the 4 sq ft per bird rule, I should be able to fit 20 chickens in my coop (It's 10x8). I'm already up to 16 and I just built the coop last month!

I built mine just big enough for 10 chickens. I thought 10 chickens is more than enough.

I have 9 now and I want more. Now I'm gonna have to build another one.

 

[mechagrue]

Hm, here's a design flaw I just discovered:

I thought I was terribly clever for having the ramp rest against the frame at the bottom. Since the ramp is fixed, and above the ground, I can drag the tractor around without having to lift or move the ramp first.

Here's the problem: the chickens like to stand around on the ramp. The (inevitable) poops roll down the ramp and fetch up against the hardware cloth at the bottom.

This chicken tractor has only been in use for about a week, and there's already a pretty sizable pile of poops built up. I guess I'll have to start going in there a few times a week and scooping them out with a trowel or something.

(I'm amused by the way it looks like Martha and Dolly are checking out the big yellow arrow!)

 

[Fruit Juice]

My dad built the coop and he learned to MAKE IT STRAIGHT! It is much easier to cut a peice plywood in a square.

 

[Heelers&Chickens_OhMy]

I'm mid coop/run construction. Right now I'm looking at 8'x3'x3' . What have I learned?

Wear shoes while building coop even if it IS 110 outside. Shoes are necessary to avoid 2" long splinter in foot that requires trip to ER at 11 pm at night after you've been in unbearable pain for 6 hours.

 

[Omran]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=203807&p=3

please check the obove out.