My husband had to build two chicken coops for me because we live in the mountains of Upstate SC half the time and in the midlands the other half. We scavenged, salvaged, begged, and bought the materials as we learned about chicken math. Coop # 1 was assembled in our midlands backyard then hauled 130 miles to the mountains where we put it inside an old dog run inside an 1885 cabin foundation. Some of the boards were salvaged from a friend's barn, and we painted the coop green and white to match our house. The whole pen was covered in fencing, and every night we locked the chickens up so tight that only a bear could get in. They stayed happy and safe from April to November, even in the monsoon that we had.
Coop # 2 was built here in Columbia, and we moved the girls (4 roosters were rehomed) into it when we came home in November. The design of this coop was inspired by Coop de Ville at Lake Norman, but it soon lost any resemblance to that. I copied the floorless design from a local vendor, and I use the deep litter method in the covered pen; my hens keep the litter turned as they "hunt and peck." We brought rhododendron and laurel branches from the mountains to make the perches, and here the girls are their usual enthusiastic selves, thrilled with their second home, too.
Thanks to a dear husband for working so hard to understand my instructions for two chicken coops and for coming to love the girls as much as I do. Because of my DH, my flock and I are happy and contented in South Carolina whether it be in the mountains or the midlands.
Coop # 1 heads for upstate SC
Coop # 1 in place
Coop # 2 in the early stages
Coop # 2 was built here in Columbia, and we moved the girls (4 roosters were rehomed) into it when we came home in November. The design of this coop was inspired by Coop de Ville at Lake Norman, but it soon lost any resemblance to that. I copied the floorless design from a local vendor, and I use the deep litter method in the covered pen; my hens keep the litter turned as they "hunt and peck." We brought rhododendron and laurel branches from the mountains to make the perches, and here the girls are their usual enthusiastic selves, thrilled with their second home, too.
Thanks to a dear husband for working so hard to understand my instructions for two chicken coops and for coming to love the girls as much as I do. Because of my DH, my flock and I are happy and contented in South Carolina whether it be in the mountains or the midlands.
Coop # 1 heads for upstate SC
Coop # 1 in place
Coop # 2 in the early stages
