Chicken Coop

[mot krig]

As the title says this is my new chicken coop. I built it this summer, it's 8ft deep x 22ft wide and approx 13ft tall. It has 3 rooms - the left side is obviously just chicken wire, the middle section which has the roost and everything, and the right section which just has a light in it. I will use it to segregate my turkey/chicks/whatever.

Currently I've got 14 chickens, 1 rooster, 2 ducks and 1 turkey in there - and actually since I took the picture I've put a "chicken door" to the outside out of the mesh room which is actuated by a pulley system and allows the chickens to go into a "chicken run" so the coyotes cant get at them.

Sorry - no welding YET, but I'm going to build some cool latch or something for the main sliding door (which is 5' wide so I can fit my tractor bucket in there for easy cleaning).

Thanks for looking.

[runningjalapeno]

That is a nice chicken coop, nice parking lot.

[mot krig]

Ha, it's a basketball court! But I use it as a parking lot since my tractor can't fit in my garage unless I take the canopy off. Actually my truck only fits in by 1/8" if I have the canopy off. If the canopy is on the work gets done out here. It's good for changing oil and staging material for projects.

Thanks for the compliment. I should have specified a bit more, it's built all from 2x6 and 2x12 pressure treated wood except the siding which is custom cut 2x10 1" thick cedar that I cut and dragged out mostly from my dads property. I have mostly hemlock on mine. D'oh!

[Bistineau]

That's not really a chicken coop, it's the start of your own MAN CAVE. Sure you may keep poultry in there now, but in the future it'll probably end up a beer drinking hangout for you and your buddies. The birds will be on the grill you haven't built yet

[PapaLion]

keen... well done, chickens will like that.

[strube1369]

Very nicely done. I think that is probably the nicest looking chicken coop I've ever seen. I think we forgive ya for not having any welding yet because, well, it's interesting!

[netman]

Nice. I love my chickens. Just got done battling a herd of coons working my flock. I cleaned a snapping turtle today and let the chickens pick the meat off the shell. They did a wonerful job in no time.

[d94jonca]

Wow! That has to be the best built - and most spacious - coop I've ever seen. looks like it'd be big enough for 60 of them in there. I assume you are planning to keep them year around? Are you planning to heat it?

I've kept six of them in an a-frame i hacked together this spring. They are still not laying and I'm starting to think there will be a lot of chicken for thanksgiving... Anyway, it looks OK compared to what most folks use around here but totally Ghetto next to yours I'm happy with how the water feeder turned out. It doubles as their top perch.

[mot krig]

Hey guys, thanks for the compliments.

I have had issues with coons and rats so I burried 2x12's and 2x6's around the perimeter so they can't dig in. I have also - on post coops put double chicken wire 3.5"ish apart (around a 4x4) so they can't reach their grubby little hands through and get em.

My biggest problem now is coyotes, but they can't get into this thing. Surprisingly the best thing I do now is just pee behind the coop on the woods side. They haven't been back since I started doing that ever few days.

D94, that's a real nice chicken tractor you got there. If I had fewer birds (and no turkeys) I'd build one like that and just move it around my yard. They do a great job fertilizing and thatching, but you gotta move it before they kill the grass. They take a good 6-8 months to really start laying then lay real good for about a year, then kind of slow for a year and a half. I butcher them at that point, crock pot them for 16 hours and make chicken pot pies. WAY better than anything you can buy at the store, especially with all the other carrots and stuff out of my garden! I can't tell if all yours are buffs or not, but I have a bunch of those too and they're good layers. I'm going to slowly switch all mine to barred rocks though, because they get bigger which means more meat when I do butcher.