Hi everyone. I have been trying to get a new coop for several years now, with no luck. We moved to our current home in 2012 and put the chickens into a shed that was already on our property. It is an extremely nice shed that is 15' by 10' and has electricity. One side went to the chickens and the other side went to our goats. We knew this was a temporary situation as my husband wants that shed for a workshop and storage. But in order for that to happen, he has to build a new coop.
We are now down to one 15 yo goat and the pressure is on to get a new coop built before she passes so the chickens will be secure. She protects them now, but once she is gone, they will not be secure in their current situation.
Every year I have come up with a new location and a new plan for a coop. The husband has nixed all of them for one reason or another. I was getting very frustrated as we only have 1/4 acre and our property is very long and narrow and this severely limits where a coop can go. We also have a garage that is built onto the left side of the above mentioned shed and for a moment I even considered putting them in there! But then where would the truck go?
Then it dawned on me the other morning that since the garage wall sticks out about 6 ft from the shed wall, we could use those to walls and build the coop right into that corner and just attach the run down the left side with a shed roof that we could harvest rain water from for our veggie garden.
This would give them a secure, covered run that would be approx. 8' wide by 25' long and a very secure, protected coop that would be easy to build, very sturdy and protected from rain, snow and wind. The long side of the run/coop would face east and get the lovely morning sunshine. It would be protected from the hot afternoon sun by a large cedar tree on the south side and a solid wooden fence on the west side. Our property sits up several feet above the road, so the fence and the trees across the street partially block the setting sun.
This would also be very handy because we could literally back our truck right up to the run to unload feed or to removed soiled bedding from the coop/run. We already have a gate in the fence and I will just make sure we put a door in the run right behind the gate so we can go straight into the run from the driveway.
Since the coop/run will be in our raised bed garden area, I could plant grapes, or green beans or blue berries in front of the run as well for even more summer shade. Only two sides of the run will be exposed to the weather so it will be easy to put up plastic for the winter. Plus it will be much easier to run a hose bib to the run since there is already one on the other side of the garage. The shed already has electricity so it won't take much to put an outlet in the front shed turned coop wall. We already have motion sensor lights on the house outside this area as well as one on the shed. The only other thing we will have to do is put down some sort of side walk so it can be easily shoveled in the winter.
Viola! This is such a simple solution. It provides us with everything we wanted and needed in our new coop and will be an excellent set up for the girls. Why did it take me 4 years to figure this out? If I had a brain, I would be dangerous. Wish me luck!
We are now down to one 15 yo goat and the pressure is on to get a new coop built before she passes so the chickens will be secure. She protects them now, but once she is gone, they will not be secure in their current situation.
Every year I have come up with a new location and a new plan for a coop. The husband has nixed all of them for one reason or another. I was getting very frustrated as we only have 1/4 acre and our property is very long and narrow and this severely limits where a coop can go. We also have a garage that is built onto the left side of the above mentioned shed and for a moment I even considered putting them in there! But then where would the truck go?
Then it dawned on me the other morning that since the garage wall sticks out about 6 ft from the shed wall, we could use those to walls and build the coop right into that corner and just attach the run down the left side with a shed roof that we could harvest rain water from for our veggie garden.
This would give them a secure, covered run that would be approx. 8' wide by 25' long and a very secure, protected coop that would be easy to build, very sturdy and protected from rain, snow and wind. The long side of the run/coop would face east and get the lovely morning sunshine. It would be protected from the hot afternoon sun by a large cedar tree on the south side and a solid wooden fence on the west side. Our property sits up several feet above the road, so the fence and the trees across the street partially block the setting sun.
This would also be very handy because we could literally back our truck right up to the run to unload feed or to removed soiled bedding from the coop/run. We already have a gate in the fence and I will just make sure we put a door in the run right behind the gate so we can go straight into the run from the driveway.
Since the coop/run will be in our raised bed garden area, I could plant grapes, or green beans or blue berries in front of the run as well for even more summer shade. Only two sides of the run will be exposed to the weather so it will be easy to put up plastic for the winter. Plus it will be much easier to run a hose bib to the run since there is already one on the other side of the garage. The shed already has electricity so it won't take much to put an outlet in the front shed turned coop wall. We already have motion sensor lights on the house outside this area as well as one on the shed. The only other thing we will have to do is put down some sort of side walk so it can be easily shoveled in the winter.
Viola! This is such a simple solution. It provides us with everything we wanted and needed in our new coop and will be an excellent set up for the girls. Why did it take me 4 years to figure this out? If I had a brain, I would be dangerous. Wish me luck!
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