6/13/06
~~ Well, I am very excited that my very first chicken coop is completed and my 8 chicks have moved in!! (2 Rhode Island Reds, 2 Ameraucanas, 4 Silkies - which I got for Mothers Day) Thanks to my wonderful husband, it's pretty much a penthouse with a view!! ....He's a "good egg"!! Let me give you a tour.... :)
Note: I'm printing off 4 pictures together and then scanning the final picture, which I will post below. If they end up too small to see, I'll post them separately.
~~ We built the chicken coop under a huge lean-to, against the back of our garage. The 4' X 8' coop sets 30 inches above the ground, which makes it easier for me to reach inside for the waterer, chickens, hanging feeder, etc. The 1/4" screen floor lets their droppings fall below where I have the ground covered with a 4' X 8' piece of landscaping fabric. When the fabric gets sufficiently "soiled", I'll just lift the hinged sidewall, remove the soiled fabric, bag it and throw it away, and replace it with a new piece of landscaping fabric. The landscaping fabric is cheap and works like a big "diaper" for the whole coop. ...A great idea that someone suggested on different poultry website.
~~ The coop has 3 nesting boxes; each nest has its own door in the back so that when I collect eggs, I only have to deal with one hen at a time. There are 3 roosts - one is 24" above the coop floor, one is moveable (intended for my Silkies) and is 4" above the coop floor, and the other roost is 19" above the coop floor - in front of the nesting boxes.
~~ On the doors to the coop we used a 19 gauge - 1/2" wire screen. The screens are attached with (long, heavy) construction staples that go in my husband's pneumatic nailer.
~~ After hearing about the fox's raid and slaughter of my neighbor's chickens last week, I decided to dig under the base of the coop, along the perimeter, and bury several stacked cinderblocks and large boulders, just as a precaution in case any digging predators try to dig their way under the coop. Any predator is going to have to dig halfway to China before he can start digging his way back up under the coop! Granted, the chickens are already 30 inches above the ground, but I do not want them to have to experience a predator (underneath) them. ....Sounds too frightening to me - I can imagine what my chickens would think about that!
~~ This detail is hard to explain without a picture, but the coop is located up on an elevated area - up on an 8-foot high retaining wall, under the lean-to. The lean-to actually covers the backside of our entire garage where the land goes down hill to our alfalfa field. The sloping away of the land makes for a great unique space under the lean to. Having the coop 8 feet in the air - up on the area at the top of the retaining wall gives the chickens some added protection from predators and weather. We access the coop area from the west side of the lean-to where the land is at the coop level. You can't see it in the picture but the large opening in the side of the lean-to has a new 4-1/2 foot wide cross-buck door that my husband built. It's has black hardware and is beautiful!
~~ My husband also added a new vinyl (barn) window from Menards and gave the chicks a great "view". They LOVE setting in the window and looking outside.
Once the chickens have settled into their new home, we'll try letting them outside to graze. What fun! Our 6 grandchildren think that the chickens are the greatest things and come to see them daily! What wonderful memories they'll make here on "the farm". …Thanks for taking a tour and allowing me to share my excitement with you!
Glenda
