The Scoop on the Coop - Part Two - Building your own chicken coop

So If you've been following the Chicken Chronicles and you read yesterdays post The scoop on the coop - part one, then you know today I promised a better how-to of how we built our own chicken coop. Let's back up here in case you are just joining us...Backyard chickens also know as Urban chickens. The new trend of raising a small flock of chickens...in your own backyard. NOT on a farm...in our suburban sub-division! So as mentioned before we have 3 chickens...read more here about how we decided this and when we got them. So I did some research to see just how much space three chickens would need....a drew some REALLY basic sketches and went to work...
Here is how we did it - step by step

1. we built the frame from reclaimed 2"x2" basic lumber, You can use basic (cheap) 2x2's.

2. Create an indoor space (with an opening to the outside) We used a piece of plywood to create a floor (36"x36" notching out the corners for the 2x2's). Then we began adding boards to enclose it. The drawer I have shown was actually a modification we made after it was built...but what you can do is build it with a second piece of plywood and add 2x2's to create the "drawer" - then face it with a board you would have used for the back enclosure (I'll show more pic's further down the post)

3. On three sides of the enclosed area add doorways - one will be for accessing eggs, one for accessing the birds and food, and the last will be so the birds can get to the open area

opening to nesting box

opening to main (chickens/food)

opening to "run"

4. continue adding boards or paneling to complete the "sheltered" area - since we used all reclaimed materials ours vary from paneling, 1x4's, and 1x6's

Down below you want to enclose two sides - for shade- make one side (doesn't matter which) have an opening for cleaning.

5. wrap any and every open areas with 1/2" hardware cloth - including the top which is left open for ventilation

6. add your roof

basically make a frame the same size of your coop then use supports (we used 2x2's) and raise one side about 5 inches. Add you covering....we used metal (it was free! leftover from another project) you could also use plywood and add shingles.

Hopefully you have something like this now!

now.....

More on adding a "poop drawer"

I cleaned out the coop without it...and knew we needed to make some sort of change. 

I also added peel and stick vinyl tiles for easy cleaning

opening for the drawer

Drawer closed!

So that's what we did.

If you like it...do it too!

Linking here

The Scoop on the Coop - Part One

It's Done!!!
Well I still have a little painting to do...wouldn't be our kind of project if it wasn't unfinished! This coop minus the roof has been in our garage since January! And for the last couple weeks...it had the chickens in it! Read more on baby chick care and our chicken chronicles here. So if you remember from before...we built our coop ourselves almost by ourselves with the help of Matt's dad. Since we only have 3 chicks we didn't need a huge coop..our city only lets us have 4 anyway...so I came up with a design based off hours on Internet research. The best part about this coop was the fact it was mostly free...that's right a free chicken coop! Matt's dad had a barn full of reclaimed wood! Even the roof material was a leftover from a previous family project.

I plan on posting "part two" with plans and a simple tutorial if you want to make your own chicken coop!
The overall construction is pretty simple! My favorite part was a last minute modification of a drawer....poop drawer. After cleaning this baby out and trying to sweep chicken poop from tight corners...I made a quick sketch and sent hubs to the hardware store ... no reclaimed wood for that part :(  Now I can just pull it out and dump it...no heavy cleaning required!

 

 

 

 

 

 

"ahhhh..... we're outside!"

 

 

 

 

 

poop drawer!

Stay tuned! I hope to have the construction and tutorial posted tomorrow!

<a href="http://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/" class="pin-it-button" count-layout="horizontal"><img border="0" src="//assets.pinterest.com/images/PinExt.png" title="Pin It" /></a>

MelissaThecre8tiveoutlet.blogspot.comthecre8tiveoutlet@hotmail.com

The Chicken Chronicles and some questions answered...

Well the chicks have made it a full week in our house of craziness! It's amazing how "less" fragile they seem after only seven days. The first couple days seem more "critical" or maybe it was just me!

To sum up our first week I am going to try to answer some of the most common questions asked....

Why do you want chickens?
Free eggs of course! It's actually more than that. I began research a lot on expanding our vegetable garden and many of the books and sources were about self sufficient living covering topics from gardens to livestock, etc. I had kind of been following the trend of these "urban" self sufficient - creating self sufficient lifestyles while still living in city's and suburban areas, so I'd say were just trying something new!
Another reason - and probably the biggest, is trying to teach our boys that there is more to life than video games and supercenters. We want them to learn some fundamentals in real life - not just computer simulated and reality tv. We even designed the Chicken Coop with a door to the nest box that the kids can access themselves.

How do you build a brooder?
Simple! Ours is just a cardboard box. We hooked up a heat lamp with a 250watt bulb, lined the box with newspapers, bought a waterer and feeder and that was about it! The whole setup was under $10.

How do you raise baby chicks? What do they eat?

Pretty easy...they need to be kept warm for the first few weeks! That is what the heat lamp is for. Start at 95 degree the first week and step it down every week by 5 degrees. Once they are 4-5 weeks old they can be moved outside to the coop with no heat source.

The chicks eat a "starter feed" we got ours at our local feed store, we bought 10lbs for less than $5 - we easily still have 9.9lbs left!

How to you build/buy a coop?

We built ours...more like Matt's dad built most of it! We took a trip to Matt's hometown where his dad has a barn loaded with reclaimed wood. I drew up plans based on a very popular design "The Garden Ark Tractor".  The most important thing to is to make sure you have enough square footage per chicken. We only have 3 and can only have 4 in our city, so we choose a smaller one. We also wanted one with a built in run, so if we couldn't let them out to free range one day they still could themselves!

I'll post pictures of our coop once we get it outside (it's in the garage right now).

garden ark- source: thegardencoop.com

What do your neighbors think?

We live in a suburban area in a large subdivision. Our yard is maybe .25 of an acre. Our yard is fenced and we plan to locate the coop where it is not visible to the neighbors yards. However they seem on board with our idea!

Do chickens smell?

So far ours don't. I clean out the brooder once a day. I just line it with newspaper and pull it up each day. They only smell I have noticed is the smell of their food...kind of grainy/wheaty smelling? So I'd say no.

So to Raisin, Catwoman, and Chicky! you've made it through you first week in our crazy household! You even show great patience when Brody pets/pokes you and Kohen stalks you every five minutes!

Look how far you've come!.....Don't worry I'm speaking at about a 50% level of sarcasm...but I do like the guys...I mean girls.

The Chicken Chronicles DAY 5

The pictures on the left side are from day one - the right side day 5

The chicks have doubled in size it's really amazing how fast they grow...of course I am also chasing them around with a camera everyday so I probably notice it the most. They are losing some fuzz and replacing it with feathers. I think if you watched long enough you may actually see them grow. They didn't have a single feather on them day one! I'll probably have to start covering the top of their brooder with net/window screen Raisin has been "taking flight".

If you're reading this and wondering just how crazy I really am...start at the beginning....the chicken chronicles.

The Chicken Chronicles DAY TWO

If you're just tuning in you might want to check out this intro to the chicken chronicles...you know so you don't think I'm totally crazy...

DAY TWO

Raisin

Well...let's actually rewind back to last night (day one) at about 8pm. So I put the kids to bed and the house was finally quiet...for about 30 seconds. The loudest chirping EVER soon began. I went over to the brooder (which is on the landing between the steps leading to the basement and the garage) - yes I know...their IN my house I am planning to move them to the garage but I was afraid for the first night...anyway so I walk over to look at the chicks to see what the problem is and it stops. I start to go back to the living room and it starts again....yeah it went like this for a while. I realize it is "Raisin", the temp is fine (95 degrees) she seems like she is fine physically so I sit down and google "chirping chick".

Well apparently Raisin is looking for her mom....cute? A little... but I already have 3 somewhat needy kids. So a little more research concludes I need to put some sort of stuffed animal in the box so she "thinks" it is her mom. Well I have 3 boys...We don't really "do" stuffed animals....except those few sentimental ones. I rummage for a while in the basement and find a mickey mouse. I put it in the box, they still chirp...but end up sleeping through the night. Beats holding her all night which some online info suggested....NOT GONNA HAPPEN HERE!!!!!

So other than that Chicky had "paste butt" which is all too similar to changing a diaper...I guess you could say no big deal I do enough of that around here but it's still gross. Oh well. But leaving could actually lead to a serious problem so it had to be done.



Kohen and Brody checking their baby chicks


So I'd say day two was also a success!