Hi everyone, I'll introduce myself by starting a thread on my coop construction.

[rickyarthur]

Hi everyone, I've benefited greatly from all the information here and decided to stop lurking and actually post. My wife came to me out of the Blue this month and said "I want chickens and a coop for my Birthday this year", so On her Birthday (april 24th) we went to the local IFA and brought home 19 chics

.


Stupid chicken math! LOL 6 of them are for a friend of mine and we will probably give a few more away to another friend who asked for some. but as I sit here typing it is amidst the cheeps and peeps of 19 chicks. Yes they are in the house lol.

we bought,
5 Barred Rocks
5 Buff Orpingtons
5 Production Reds
and 4 Black Australorps.

it was soon obvious that we weren't going to be able to keep them in a cardboard box so I grabbed some shelves and screen and odds and ends laying about and made a better temporary housing unit. It has a cap that raises the top 6 inches that covers it with screen.




After a couple days looking and reading here I realized there was far more to raising chickens than fencing off a corner of my yard. who knew, lol

So I have started construction on a coop.

Here is the base 8X4


I had about 5 boxes of laminate flooring I have had in storage for about 4 years so I used 2 boxes as the flooring.


Even though it is not very big, I wanted it tall enough I could walk in if I wanted.

Here is the end of day 1 of construction with the walls framed



The opening on the left is for cleanout, the laying boxes are in the back and will be on the outside for easy egg collection. On the bottom right is the framing for the pull door and windows were framed in front and back for ventilation and light. Also I have 1 length of clear roofing so that there will be a sky light in the roof. All ideas I picked up from seeing all many coops on this sight.

The run will be out of Chain link and also the rest of the yard is in the process of being fenced so they will have access to most of an acre of yard most of the year.

. The kids have been allowed to name 10 of them as the rest are going to other homes (soon I hope lol) This has been very fun and I have to admit I think I like them more than my wife, Especially since she brought out one of the Buffs to show a friend a few minutes ago and the poor chick was so excited it committed a minor indiscretion right on my wife's pants LOL.

I hope to keep learning from you all and If anyone has any suggestions or improvements(that don't require demolition or additional trips to the lumber yard LOL) I'd love to hear them.

Ricky

 

[rickyarthur]

Alrighty then, nevermind I guess.

 

[AnotherSusan]

Looks like a great start! Looking forward to updates.

Thanks for sharing

AnotherSusan

 

[ketchneddy]

wow, looks geat. we brought home 4 babies on my april 24th birthday too! i've been lurking here looking for ideas and plans for a coop. how did you decide on yours?
victoria

 

[GSDBESTK9]

Hello and welcome to BYC!! Your chicks are too cute! They grow so fast though. Anyway, looks like you will end up with a very nice coop!! Make sure to post pictures as you go.

 

[crchickens]

Welcome, and nice coop!! Can't wait to see the finished product! We are just putting the finishing touches on ours, and then I will post pics. I like the clean out hole idea, and wish we did that. We are doing deep bedding with wood pellets. We did not put ours on posts, but laid down 4x4 pressure treated wood as the base. Our coop is 6x8.

 

[SleepyOwl]

Your chickens have a better floor in their house than I do!

Your shelving brooder is clever!

 

[rickyarthur]

here is an update, I had about 2 1/2 hours after work till it got dark and I made the best use of it I could. I got the rafters, roof sheeting and side sheeting on. I have to be out of town for 2 days so this will have to wait until Thursday.


This pic its almost too dark, but you can see the front.

 

[rickyarthur]

Finally had about half a day for construction on the coop, My goal was to make it ready to house the chicks by tonight.

The nesting boxes and pull door are still closed until they are needed. Here are the chicks right after being introduced into their new home. Man they grow fast! I hung the heat lamp in the corner just to ease the shock of moving outside, but nitetime low only got down to 47 so It should not be needed too much longer.


Here are the front and back pics.





Still lots of work to be done, but from now on I will be working around the chicks as it was time to have them out of the house.

 

[6chicks4us]

I have some leftover laminate flooring, too. Just wondering, though. Won't it start warping if it gets and stays wet?