Our new coop! Updated pics!

[AnnainMD]

So my husband started building the coop on Friday, as of Saturday it looked like this:

By Tuesday:

The bottom will be covered in hardware cloth to provide a shady area, in addition to a solid cover over part of the run. The wood is all untreated except for the pressure-treated base.
The window is a clearance item from HD.

It's essentially done with just a few more things to add, besides the run of course.
The door is finished and I stood in the coop with the door closed, all but one window open and the breeze at the top was awesome. Need it for the humid summers here.

The shed by the coop is being moved and replaced.

 

[AnnainMD]

And these are the chicks that will go in there:

The grey one is a Blue Copper Marans, sex unknown and then there are 3 Welsummer girls. The remainder 8 chicks arrive from MPC in mid-April!
I love them, they're a riot. Keep away is the best game, ever.

One of the Welsummers is a runt but holding her own, they've at least doubled in size since we got them March 12th. They grow like gangbusters.

 

[NattiFan]

Love the coop, and the chicks are adorable!!!!

 

[TipsyDog]

Your coop looks great! When your DH is done, can I borrow him? I can't get mine to build me another coop so I don't have any chicks this year

Good luck with yours!

 

[heritagebirds]

Oh, I NEEED one of those.

 

[David Stratton]

The coop looks dandy. Since I am in the early stages of planning I am wondering what the size is and how many chickens you plan to house in it. I don't get my chicks until the first week in May but I know that will be here before I know it. David

 

[redstars]

Nice job

 

[AnnainMD]

Thanks very much everyone! When I showed my co-workers, they all said "Your husband built that?"

It's 4'x8', elevated about a foot and a half. The door is actually a 4' door but since I'm 5' I can just duck my head. The height of the coop is 8' slanting to about 5' I think. I'll post more pics this weekend since the windows are framed and mounted now. Also, the pop doors are all framed and locked as well. I really like the locks on the door.
We have foxes, hawks, raccoons, loose dogs, weasels, the works...The goal is for it to be predator-proof. All of the windows have hardware cloth.

There will be a roost with a poop tray underneath (with edges, filled with Stall-Dri), that way I can just scoop the dehydrated poop every couple of days with a cat litter scoop and dump into the compost pile.
I have a deal with a coffee roaster to use his chaff for the bedding--we'll see how that goes. But I have pine shavings as a back-up if the coffee chaff doesn't work out.

It seriously is like a chicken palace. My mom and I joke that if she ever needs a place to stay, the shed would work. Now it can be the chicken coop!

David- we plan to keep 8 chickens in there. I also plan to have a portion of it set up to allow quarantine when necessary. The 2 pop doors will lead to 2 separate runs that we plan to alternate access to. Rest one area and grow greens, while the girls are in the other run. When it's time to switch, they'll have ample greens to keep them entertained for a while, and the other run will get the same treatment. We'll see how it works.

 

[medtec113]

First of all, your coop looks great. Just one suggestion; make sure you weatheerproof your nest box where your hinge is so water want come in.

 

[Kazzandra]

Gorgeous!

I'm in the planning stages of building a coop for my gals and I notice several nice things.

What was the reasoning behind the elevated design?