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[IttyBiddyRedHen]

Nice door!!

 

[Aacre]

Balloonjuice, I absolutely love your coop!

 

[Balloonjuice]

Balloonjuice, I absolutely love your coop!

It is a "work in progress." I am thankful for what we found, but the repairs and modifications go on. Today a friend with an augur is coming over to drill some holes for fence posts. We'll have the run up shortly and the chickens are already eager to get out of the brooder although they are only 4 1/2 weeks old as of today (March 22).

Thanks for the encouraement.

 

[Balloonjuice]

And now the chicken door is fixed. It was all rotted out with wet rot and the sill and frame were rotted as well. I built a new door (similar in design to the man door but smaller), and my son and I installed it, redid the framing, and put some plywood sheathing along the bottom 24" of the side where the rot was. As soon as I get a bolt for the door, the coop is ready for my chickens, who are five weeks old today.

It may seem a bit cruel to keep them "cooped up," for the time being while I build the run, but the truth is that they will have way more room than they have in their brooders. We having nice 75-80 degree (Fahrenheit) days and they are just about fully feathered, so they should be fine.

Just the slightest hint of comb and wattles at the present time. They have definitely outgrown their brooder.

 

[Aacre]

Beautiful! I just love your carpentry skills! Do you put knobs on the doors? I think in the pictures, I can't see them.. I'm strange, I would be stuck without knobs and handles!

The little chickens will have to deal for now, for they will be greatly rewarded later on!!

 

[Balloonjuice]

Thank you for the kudos, Aacre. Short answer is Yes, I will put a pull of some kind on it, but have not yet done so. I will likely use a barrel bolt since I have lots of them sitting around the shop. On the man door I used a galvanized handle that attached with four screws. I will use something similar but much smaller on the chicken door. The pic here is of the man door I built.

 

[Balloonjuice]

Here is the barrel bolt I installed on the chicken door.



And here are four new nest boxes constructed from repurposed fence lumber.