The Portable Coop!
I wanted to make a portable Coop that we could move around the property so that the chickens would have fresh ground to live on every few days. I started construction in our small one stall garage out in the shop. We only plan for it to house a maximum of 5-6 standard chickens. It is approximately 5x3.
With 100+ temps during the day, I worked on the coop mostly at night or early morning. Most of the structure was made with newly treated 2x2x42" which were only $1.09 each from Lowes/Home Depot, I used about $25 dollars worth of these and have a few left over. The other 1x4s were left over from some work I had been doing last year, but I'm thinking they were probably $20 total. Then in some images you can see the 1x2 furring strips that came off some window casings we replace this springs. These strips were also used on the doors. The outer skin is 1/4" lauan plywood. I wanted something lightweight. I coated the outside with a good latex primer and two coats of exterior grade paint labeled as Serengeti Green.
Being my first attempt I am please with the results but I think if I had it to do over again I would have added another foot in length to more easily place a feeder and water on the Roost side door or between the Roost and the nest. I would probably also want to use wire for the flooring instead of hardware cloth as I wore out my fingers stretching it tight so that it wouldn't sag alot when walked on by the chickens. I'm thinking about converting one of the 2 nest boxes to the feed area, but am not sure how it will work out in regards to disturbing the other nest.
I placed two roosts on one side running parallel to the front and back. You can also see the door way in the lower left corner.
I slanted the roof so that when the roof panels are added the rain water would drain away.
Here is a view from the Nest box side prior to installing the doors. And you can see the PVC 1/2" hardware cloth that I used for the flooring in good detail.
And here you have a similar view after the doors have been installed.
A birds eye-view from the nest box. I also wasn't sure if they would need help getting up onto the roost with there not being too much open space inside so I made a removable little ladder.
A birds eye-view from the roost.
The rear of the Coop after it has been moved into the backyard. You can see the PVC wheel that I made on the ground to the left. It has a dowel and a smaller piece of PVC within this 2" piece. You can see the handles on the right where you lift and then pull or push. This also shows the view of the roof panels, which were some poly/pvc type material and were so easy to install. The DW is in the background with Hayden.
Here the door on the roost side is opened. The door on the nest side works the same way. I used window sash type hardware (4 pieces) to lock/unlock the run to the coop. Those are the 2 silver looking pieces on top of the run and on the side near the bottom.
And finally the coop with the run attached.
You can also see the original pen that Hayden was delivered with in the background. I'm still planning on adding some roof panels to the run for some outdoor shade.
Here is an image of the inside with the hanging red heat lamp, and the little ones are 3 weeks old.
