Woot we have a bouncing baby coop

[aart]

It's beeeeeooootiful!!!

I was able to order the vinyl coated fencing wire in 1/2"x1/2". It's more expensive - but it allows me to achieve the dual goals of "no rats" and "no cutting up husband".

Vinyl coating will not reduce cuts and scratches much, if at all, the cut edge will still be sharp. Might be harder to cut thru too. Not a fan of vinyl coatings, it can crack and hold moisture thus rusting quicker than the bare stuff.
Use a big flat surface to work with HC, I use my garage floor, and gallon jugs filled with water to help hold it down. I did all my cutting and bending there then carried out the processed pieces to install.

Apron outside and pavers inside, they will dig down at the edge.

Ditto on the wood chippings, or chunky untreated mulch, in run.
Chipdrop can be great or not...better to contact a tree trimmer, probably more control over where and how much gets dropped. It's great to have good pile set out of the way to use as needed (good to add a bit at a time anyway) but if you don't have a place to put them better to go with bags of mulch.

 

[tpatricco]

It's done!

There is some space at the bottom of the run, because they built it on blocks so it would be level. We need to get pavers or something to block that off, whitewash the inside of the coop, and make the anti-predator apron.

The side facing the house
View attachment 1776977
Door to the coop on the south side
View attachment 1776978

Inside the run looking at the coop
View attachment 1776979

In the run looking north
View attachment 1776980
Roost with poop board tray - roost can move and the whole tray can come out for cleaning if needed.
View attachment 1776981

Nesting boxes
View attachment 1776982

West wall, window with shutters since storms tend to come from west or southwest
View attachment 1776983

The run door has springs so it will close, and a latch string inside to open it.
View attachment 1776984

Really nice!! Congratulations!

 

[twendt]

A little over-kill, I covered the entire bottom of my run with hardware cloth, then filled the run with 3 inches of sand... no flies, no odor, just an idea

 

[tpatricco]

View attachment 1777639 A little over-kill, I covered the entire bottom of my run with hardware cloth, then filled the run with 3 inches of sand... no flies, no odor, just an idea

I'm all about overkill when it comes to predator avoidance. We built a 10x20 pad for our coop - it has a full layer of 1/2" hardware cloth under the gravel.

Coop

• tpatricco
• May 14, 2019
• 3

6x6 Quaker High Side Coop with 10' run combo unit. Custom built by Horizon Structures

 

[concrete_boots]

Beautiful coop !

 

[Kiki]

Just wanted to show you the Two things I buy to put in my coop.
I only actually buy these every 6 or so months. I also add leaves and grass clippings and other stuff from around the yard.

 

[Celticdragonfly]

So, the new coop has had a LOT more work done on it this weekend, and we're just about ready. Photo story incoming!

We got a LOT of pavers - they were on sale 4 for $1 - and spent some time inside the coop digging away to get the spaces under the run supports the right size. Some spots have 1 paver, some we dug down and have two pavers stacked. It was HOT, but DH Miles put the tarp up on the west side of the run, just used twist ties mostly to hold it up, and man that made such a difference. You can see some of the pavers in this pic of the chicks checking out the run, and @Purple Rose 's cat checking out the chicks.

We ... have more pavers than we need. I think we may end up putting them around the outside of the run too, on top of the wire apron. Or maybe we just PAVE the area to the west where I'm considering putting a gazebo thingy.

Then today a LOT more work. Whew. I'm tired in a good way, and I was in the sun more than usual so I'm a little pink in the face. As it is - I did most of the organizational shopping stuff, and @Purple Rose , M. and K. did way more physical labor.

My son J. got the bags of mulch into the run and opened up and laid out, and here's the girls exploring this. We snagged a couple medium chunks of log for more interest when a neighbor was putting out tree bits he'd cut down. J. has been trimming overgrown bushes for us, and I have a smallish log chunk set aside from him that will be a chicken swing eventually.

You can see that a lot of whitewashing has been done.

Here's where Miles has been working on the bent vinyl-covered 1/2"x1/2" fencing wire to get it set up as our predator apron. At this point, one side has been attached, another side has been bent, and the other two I think he's cut them but they need to get bent tomorrow.

And I'd gone out and bought the Horse Fresh for the poop boards, more bedding, a straw rake for @Purple Rose , and various hardware bits.

Karl put the hasp on the nesting boxes for us, as we'd realized there wasn't one. There's a sliding carabiner there, and we have those on the coop and run doors too. Take THAT, raccoons. If any of you are around. We saw one down at Trinity Park Saturday at a group picnic ... never seen them here. But I figure chicken will draw them out if they're here.

He realized the screw ends were sticking out, so took a leftover piece from setting up the ramp cleats and added that on to save our hands.

Miles built the ramp for the little chickies, we took an idea I'd seen online about the hooks and eyes. And horse fresh in the poop board.

Nesting pads in the nesting boxes. I'll probably put together a curtain of some kind for them tomorrow. Going to have the water and food in here for the few days we keep them cooped up to get to know the place, then move them out into the run.

Proud young urban farmer

 

[Willowspirit]

I'm all about overkill when it comes to predator avoidance. We built a 10x20 pad for our coop - it has a full layer of 1/2" hardware cloth under the gravel.

Coop

• tpatricco
• May 14, 2019
• 3

6x6 Quaker High Side Coop with 10' run combo unit. Custom built by Horizon Structures

That's a very nice coop. It seems very harmonious.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Looks like it's coming along really well, so good job to your whole family in making additions.

He realized the screw ends were sticking out, so took a leftover piece from setting up the ramp cleats and added that on to save our hands.

That's how I handle stuff like that too. I usually have bits of scrap wood around and just cut off a piece to go over any nails/screws sticking out.

 

[tpatricco]

That's a very nice coop. It seems very harmonious.

Thank you! The chicks moved in this weekend - they are loving it so far.