cait8876
In the Brooder
- May 19, 2016
- 15
- 1
- 30
It's our first year in our new home and we (well I became obsessed with wanting chickens!!) decided to get 8 chickens at the end of April, its been a long summer of learning about chicken care!
Since I did all the research - the fiancé at times thought i was crazy when it came to their needs for safety and predator proofing. With crazy work schedules and overall hectic lives we got it done and couldn't be more proud of the outcome!
Here is the before pic, after we picked a spot and started cleaning up the area
since the area was sloped, we did a slab for the coop
side view of where slab is, the concrete guys put a rock support wall which I love.
Don't mind my Rottweiler rolling in the grass
rolling in the grass is his favorite thing to do...
Here is with the coop in place and the start of the run. We had to go with a small play house, we originally were getting a coop from a local guy on craigslist (my fiancé barely had time in his work schedule for making the run, let a lone the coop too.) the craigslist guy decided last minute he couldn't deliver on the day we set up but the run was being built and once the posts were up there was no getting a coop in. So we got a little play house that was converted into a coop that could be delivered same day. We had to alter some stuff in it. Due to the new coop, we had to raise the height of the run. This was a stressful memorial weekend!
But I love the end result with the playhouse, the craigslist coop was functional but less "cute" but its price tag was much friendlier.
More progress shots, little by little were getting there! We had finally got the run to the point where the chickens could be in it. They grow so fast and were getting sick of their temporary pen that was set up on the grass!
Here are some finished shots of the run area. The hardware cloth is folded at the base and comes out under the rocks about 18inches all around. The ground had too many roots to bury it so hopefully this works. We put blue stone around the perimeter of the barn, coop, and another area not really shown in the pictures. Our yard slops up towards the road so this helps with the mud and helped to bury the hardware cloth around the chicken run.
This side shot you can see what was the original chicken door that came on the coop. That spot didnt work for our set up. But we covered it with hardware cloth so its extra ventilation that can be closed in the winter.
Heres some pics inside the run and coop. They love the corner roosts and the horizontal supports inside the run. they're always up on them. Our little rooster even can be seen on the roof of the coop sometimes...
We just put the automatic chicken door in last week. Greatest thing ever!
When we bought the coop there were 5 nest boxes hung inside to the far left, with the roost bar coming off of it. I didnt want the nesting boxes so high off the ground ..nor did we need 5 of them! It was wasting precious roost space.
So we took the boxes out cut them down them to 3 and put the roost bar at the whole width of the play house with a droppings board, now the nest boxes sit below the board and can be accessed easily. This arrangement is working out much better!
I also painted the entire inside with 3 coats of glossy white so I can clean this baby out easily. I tried to talk my self out of doing this step but I'm so glad I did.
We also added another window on the back wall opposite the front window.
Im trying to convince the fiancé more ventilation is needed, there are little vents in either side in the tops, but i don't think thats enough for the winter months. During the summer the large door was left open all day and a small fan was put in the window if it got really hot. The coop and water bucket are almost always in shade so they all seemed to handle the summer great.
And I converted an old shower curtain to nest box curtains
because why not!
I forgot a pic of the PVC feeder, its inside the coop in the area between the human and chicken doors.
And here you can see the grit and oyster shell dispensers.I
here is Oreo my black australorp rooster by the water bucket. This is just a lowes bucket with the horizontal poultry nipples screwed in and hung a plant hook.
This shows their extra roost spaces in the run and a tire dust bath, I just found more tires so they will be getting another dust bath soon.
Here is almost the whole crew enjoying some time in yard this weekend.
The little guy to the right is our golden sebright rooster called "hawkeye" he is tiny but fierce and is becoming quite a celebrity with everyone. He was a random pick at tractor supply so we had no idea what breed he was or that he was a bantam rooster. He hasn't stopped yelling at everyone since he was 9 weeks old, he keeps up laughing.
Thanks for checking out my pictures! I couldn't wait for everything to get done so I could share them!
Since I did all the research - the fiancé at times thought i was crazy when it came to their needs for safety and predator proofing. With crazy work schedules and overall hectic lives we got it done and couldn't be more proud of the outcome!
Here is the before pic, after we picked a spot and started cleaning up the area
since the area was sloped, we did a slab for the coop
side view of where slab is, the concrete guys put a rock support wall which I love.
Don't mind my Rottweiler rolling in the grass
rolling in the grass is his favorite thing to do...
Here is with the coop in place and the start of the run. We had to go with a small play house, we originally were getting a coop from a local guy on craigslist (my fiancé barely had time in his work schedule for making the run, let a lone the coop too.) the craigslist guy decided last minute he couldn't deliver on the day we set up but the run was being built and once the posts were up there was no getting a coop in. So we got a little play house that was converted into a coop that could be delivered same day. We had to alter some stuff in it. Due to the new coop, we had to raise the height of the run. This was a stressful memorial weekend!
But I love the end result with the playhouse, the craigslist coop was functional but less "cute" but its price tag was much friendlier.
More progress shots, little by little were getting there! We had finally got the run to the point where the chickens could be in it. They grow so fast and were getting sick of their temporary pen that was set up on the grass!
Here are some finished shots of the run area. The hardware cloth is folded at the base and comes out under the rocks about 18inches all around. The ground had too many roots to bury it so hopefully this works. We put blue stone around the perimeter of the barn, coop, and another area not really shown in the pictures. Our yard slops up towards the road so this helps with the mud and helped to bury the hardware cloth around the chicken run.
This side shot you can see what was the original chicken door that came on the coop. That spot didnt work for our set up. But we covered it with hardware cloth so its extra ventilation that can be closed in the winter.
Heres some pics inside the run and coop. They love the corner roosts and the horizontal supports inside the run. they're always up on them. Our little rooster even can be seen on the roof of the coop sometimes...
We just put the automatic chicken door in last week. Greatest thing ever!
When we bought the coop there were 5 nest boxes hung inside to the far left, with the roost bar coming off of it. I didnt want the nesting boxes so high off the ground ..nor did we need 5 of them! It was wasting precious roost space.
So we took the boxes out cut them down them to 3 and put the roost bar at the whole width of the play house with a droppings board, now the nest boxes sit below the board and can be accessed easily. This arrangement is working out much better!
I also painted the entire inside with 3 coats of glossy white so I can clean this baby out easily. I tried to talk my self out of doing this step but I'm so glad I did.
We also added another window on the back wall opposite the front window.
Im trying to convince the fiancé more ventilation is needed, there are little vents in either side in the tops, but i don't think thats enough for the winter months. During the summer the large door was left open all day and a small fan was put in the window if it got really hot. The coop and water bucket are almost always in shade so they all seemed to handle the summer great.
And I converted an old shower curtain to nest box curtains
I forgot a pic of the PVC feeder, its inside the coop in the area between the human and chicken doors.
And here you can see the grit and oyster shell dispensers.I
here is Oreo my black australorp rooster by the water bucket. This is just a lowes bucket with the horizontal poultry nipples screwed in and hung a plant hook.
This shows their extra roost spaces in the run and a tire dust bath, I just found more tires so they will be getting another dust bath soon.
Here is almost the whole crew enjoying some time in yard this weekend.
The little guy to the right is our golden sebright rooster called "hawkeye" he is tiny but fierce and is becoming quite a celebrity with everyone. He was a random pick at tractor supply so we had no idea what breed he was or that he was a bantam rooster. He hasn't stopped yelling at everyone since he was 9 weeks old, he keeps up laughing.
Thanks for checking out my pictures! I couldn't wait for everything to get done so I could share them!
