Doin' the Coop de Coop

The (almost) complete coop!

Since Miss B is now officially a permanent member of our pre-farm, she needed a coop!  Now, I do have many talents (tooting my own horn here), but my friends, carpentry is not one of them.  It's something I hope to work on and develop but as of now... well... it's comical.  It is for this reason my hubby came to the rescue this past weekend!

The (almost) completed coop!  Notice it is on patio stones.  These are at the foot of the deck stairs and right now the only dry and snow-less place in the yard, ha ha!  Once the snow drops in other areas and the water recedes, we will be moving it to a grassy area.  Right now she is having fun pecking between the stones and reaching through the chicken wire to grab little pieces of grass.  She`ll also be free ranging in the backyard when we are out there with her, to keep her safe...

Before we started I showed him a bunch of plans and pictures, everything from my dream coop to a tiny temporary coop.  I've done a lot of research before now on coop requirements, so I had a pretty good idea of what was needed.  Let's discuss what I deemed to be the requirements, shall we?

- Security.  It had to be safe so that Miss B could be safe at all times.  Although our yard is fenced in, cats are able to sneak under in places, which means that small raccoons could get under ( and bigger ones over).  There are also foxes around, so they need to be kept out as well.  

-Attached Run.  In addition to a secure coop, she needed an attached run which was equally safe.  A safe coop is useless if the run isn't safe!  The run MUST have a locking/ latching door.

-Weather and Water Proof.  She needs to be warm an d cozy.  A happy chicken is a laying chicken!

-At least Two Nesting Boxes.  A good rule of thumb is one nest box per three hens.  The maximum amount of chickens we are allowed within city limits is 6, so two nest boxes will suffice for  now.

-A door or hatch for easy access to the nest boxes.  We want to have our boys involved in caring for the chickens so easy access is important.

-A large access door.  This needed to be outside of the run so I can take a wheelbarrow right up to the coop to dump out the litter.  I am going to try the deep litter method (more on that in a post coming your way soon), but when the litter needs to be changed, I want it to be done right and done easily.

-A perch inside the coop.  Chickens like to sleep in various places and one preferred place is on a perch, so I want them to have this option.

-Off the ground.  This helps in keeping it warm, safe and also gives the girls a place under the coop to get fresh air with some shelter on rainy days.  It also helps to keep it accessible in the winter (as long as you don't get 14 feet of snow like we did this year, in which case you are still shoveling it out... ha ha!).

-A place to hand their feeder and waterer.  Keeping them off the ground keeps the girls from kicking litter, dirt and poo in there.  This is the feeder I bought for her and I can`t find a link to the waterer, so I`ll hunt down something soon to show you, but so far they are working out marvelously!

I also wanted it to be cute...  hehe.  

And so he went to work.

Hubby and  Dad Start the Coop!

He started with the frame.  Yes, that is my front yard full of snow on April 13th.  Booooo.....

We made sure that all materials were untreated wood.  No point in having free run eggs if pressure treated wood is going to leach into the ground around your coop, where your girls will be foraging.

See the Nest Boxes?

Then he started to close it in, and added the nest boxes.  Then we moved it to the backyard to finish, before it got too heavy (no coops in the driveway, folks!).

 Here on the left, my friends, are the roof trusses.  A peaked roof to allow for height, which allows for that indoor perch.  That fence in the background is a 6 foot fence.

On the right, the view from the large access door, showing the nest boxes.  The little lip in the from helps to keep the straw in and eggs from rolling out.

 B (oldest of our boys) helped his dad build the door to the run.  The backyard is starting to melt, so the deck is the driest area!  He actually helped quite a bit on this project.

On the right, Miss Bridgette tries out her new coop!  Hubby even sided one side, and we will side the others soon. We also will shingle the roof.

I think the hubster did a great job.  He came to my rescue... again ♥.

I`d love to hear what you think or hear about your own coop project.. or pictures!