Garden Coop (expanded and modified) finally finished!

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jcnick34

jcnick34

In the Brooder
5 Years
May 13, 2014
11
1
24
Got the parents working on sanding, staining and painting. Plus Dad was the master of framing and construction.





Added another section on it to make it bigger compared to the Garden Coop Plans. Alos turned the roof around so it would match with the garage roof.



Resting. Beer. Good times!



Sugar and Bits were the daily QC inspectors! Put some branches up in the run area and they really liked them so I left them in the final version.

The rest of the girls checking out the progress.

Hurry up humans!

Our local university football colors - maroon and silver - Go Griz!

Nest boxes closed off until they are older. Got some nice curtains to make. Got a month or so to get them done. The hens seem to love the 4" perches. Will be good for when the temps drop too.

Avian Aqua Miser hung in the coop. Don't know if it's necessary but it makes me feel better knowing they have water access even in the hen house. Sliding window is a re-purposed dog door window. Sand box floors, floating insulated walls. Wide perches. Ready for winter!

Put the access door on the outside of the coop instead of the inside like the plans said. Want to be able to clean the hen house and droppings board without going in the pen. Smoky polycarbonate roof panels give a lot of light to the hen house and run.

Use sand in the run (and coop). Hens love the all-access dust bath it seems :)

Hard to see chicken coop sign posted above the window.

Made a porch type thing to block any wind that may come up in winter. Ramp leads to the porch then the hens make a 180 to get into the main part of the house. They figured it out pretty quickly.

Hung up a flag I found at Ace.

Made the bottom panel solid to block some winter wind and rain/snow. Hard to see but the left part is a chicken door that I can open up so they can run around in the yard all day and come/go from the run whenever they want. Which seems to be often.

Chicken run door open. Panel needs some decorations :)

Set up a Brite Tap waterer on an Igloo cooler. WOrks wonders and no mess/spills. Cleanup and filling once or twice a week. Super easy and clean.

DIY 5 gallon bucket feeder with two access spouts. Saw it on this forum. Took only about 10 minutes to make -and that was with reading the instructions for my hole saw! Took 2 minutes for the hens to figure it out. No mess, fill each week. No spillage, dogs can't steal any feed (my old dog apparently thinks chicken feed is crack).
 
The plans said it would cost around &700-$750. I scrounged some of the supplies but I bet it was around that anyway. It is sturdy though. And insulated. Which for Montana was pretty important. I only have 6 chickens and I think it is plenty of room for them. Even in winter when they will be pretty much kept in the coop and run instead of roaming around the yard too. Some might say more chickens could live there but I tend to think more room is better/healthier for all involved.
 

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