Too Ambitious?

[Gordonsetter2007]

Uh, auto-correct decided I didn’t want to say “Ambitious” and thought “Ambiguous “ made a better sounding title.

I have 5 bantam hens and their rooster and want a new house for them. Ready made are really expensive or small, so I thought I might take a shot at building one myself.
Any other’s that have done this, are invited to encourage me and pass on wisdom earned while making their coops and houses.

 

[aart]

Uh, auto-correct decided I didn’t want to say “Ambitious” and thought “Ambiguous “ made a better sounding title.

I wondered about that!
You can click the 'report' icon in lower left of your first post in this thread and ask the mods to fix it.

 

[Gordonsetter2007]

View attachment 2165078View attachment 2165080

Here's an example of what I did. You see how the one wall opens up, very easy to do. We had this giant concrete pad in the back yard from an old shed, so we used it as a flat foundation of sorts. We've now covered all of the concrete with a mix of bedding pellets and straw so that the birds never have to worry about scorching their feet on the concrete. I've since added in another shade element into the left side of the run, and we have an actual sun shade that we'll attach to the entire run here as it gets hotter out.

It's maybe not as fancy as some of the 'walk-in' coops, but it gives the birds enough room to play around. We also let them free roam the rest of the backyard daily for added shade and activity.

And what can I say? They seem to really love their little home. There's enough space for a couple of roost bars in there, and the opening hides them from the intense wind storms we get around here.

There really is no limit to what you can build.

I’m impressed! As long as the birds are happy, that’s what counts. And you made use of a feature you already had in the yard. Thanks for the pictures. They helped me understand what you made.

 

[Gordonsetter2007]

I wondered about that!
You can click the 'report' icon in lower left of your first post in this thread and ask the mods to fix it.

You are a fountain of knowledge. I fixed it To say Ambitious, and kept looking for what you circled, and I think I found it (to say where I’m from). This is a lot like another group I belong to, I just have to learn different places for the same information.

 

[Folkvanger Farm]

Just joined tonight. Raised on a farm, but only got into chickens last year. Bought a prefab $200 coop @ TSC (Tractor Supply) first last year. Had several issues, namely every time I went on a business trip my roosters wound up dead. Happened twice and I started guilting my wife about it. Just a little ribbing due to being married 17 years. So last christmas she surprised me with 2 beautiful roosters. I felt sorry for them just roaming around the yard with no females and bought 3 females. Then I did some research and found out they needed about 10 hens per rooster. The evidence was how.... "active" they were. So I figured what the heck lets buy some more hens so the girls were not getting so abused.

Well now I needed a bigger coop. So I got on youtube and here and did a TON of research and watched a lot of videos. My Grandfather was a carpenter so I was like well let's do it! So yeah here is a bunch of advice for you:

1) Research what you want.... then research it some more. If this is your first time building something it is probably not going to look exactly how it looks in the pictures/ video.... unless you are an engineer. If you are then it will look much worse

2) Price shop. Once you have figured out what you want to build, DO THE MATH! figure out exactly how many 2x4, 2x6, 1x3, etc...etc.. etc.. it will take to build it and then buy 1 more than you figured (accidents cutting the boards happen). Shop around at your local lumber companies before going to the box stores. The reason why is normally the box stores are more expensive on the building materials but cheaper on the tools. The lumber yards know they have to compete with Home Depot & Lowes (I personally despise Lowes due to their horrid customer service) so the local lumber yard will undercut them on the materials, but their tools will be way more expensive because they are for the serious builders.

3) Speaking of tools, this was my major expense. If you want to build it with a manual saw and hammer fine, but if you are lazy like me you want a circular saw, a skill saw, a wheel barrow, a staple gun, a farming nail gun, a finishing nail gun, etc... etc.. etc... thank god the wife doesn't look at the "gas money" account statement from the local credit union

4) building it..... MEASURE TWICE CUT ONCE!!! the most important tool EVER in my personal opinion is the framing square. It will save your but many, many times when using it to draw your cut lines on a 2x4 etc. It will also tell you how to do your pitch and there are many instructional videos on how to properly use on on youtube. Be sure if you are doing in ground 4x4 posts to measure your diagonals to square out your layout before you cement them in. I cannot stress enough how important it is to watch a lot of youtube videos on building a coop before you ever order your first piece of lumber. April Wilkerson has some great DIY videos that I highly recommend.

5) Don't forget to do plenty of ventilation and also don't forget to check how much room each chicken needs before building. Factor in space for a few more birds down the line because after you get the small flock going you are going to want to hatch some or get some different breeds.... it just is what it is so go ahead and factor in for expanding the flock by 2-4 more ladies.

6) If you have a significant other or kids get them involved in the build. My 15 year old son, my father & my wife helped me and we made it a family affair to do a "coop raisin" together and we will never forget it.

7) lastly have fun with it.