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My Coop- What I love, what I would change

3/23/2017

15 Comments

 
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Chick Days are here and I have been getting bombarded with request for the plans for my coop.  I'm sorry to say that I do not have a set of plans.  Our coop was based off of a coop I found online called Chez Poulet.  We purchased those plans and then made changes as we built.  My coop is twice as wide, a little longer and taller.  With all of these request I have been thinking about what I would have changed if I had the opportunity to build my coop again and what I love about my coop.   

Construction 

Overall all it took us a week to pour the 18 inch deep foundation, frame and roof the coop.  We then spent the next two weekends making all of the doors and painting the coop.  We have a large fox population in our area so I felt the foundation was a must.  A friend laughed at us while we were pouring the foundation and made a comment that his coop did not have a foundation and he had never had a fox get into his coop and that very evening a fox tunneled into his coop.
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Our first and biggest mistake during construction was hanging the plywood to the sides of the coop before cutting out the doors.  A notorious corner cuter that was helping us out that week talked my husband into hanging the plywood and cutting out the doors later.  This made cutting square doors near impossible and extra plywood needed.  Thanks Dad!
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Painting this coop was not easy project and I am dreading the day when I have to repaint it.  One change I made early on was removing the shelf from one side of the back storage area.  This allows me to have a spot to store larger items.  I should have installed rain gutters at this point as well.  Its been 3 years since construction and I have yet to go back and install them and I think about it every time it rains.
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I personally think an electric door is a must for any chicken coop.  This door is on a timer and opens at dawn to let the hens into the bottom of the coop and closes just after dusk.  This door gives me the piece of mind if I'm out late that the hens are safely locked inside the top of the coop at night. We installed an outlet at the bottom and top of the coop.  The one on the bottom is for a water heater during the winter months.  The one on the top runs the door and when we first moved the hens into the coop we had to turn a night light on for them in the evening to get them to go into the coop to roost.  After a week of having a night light they learned where they were supposed to roost and we were able to remove the light.  We don't supplement lighting during the winter months to increase egg production and we do not heat the coop. Hardware cloth is used instead of chicken wire on the coop.  My childhood coop had chicken wire and it provides no protection from hungry hawks, foxes nor my brothers Dalmatian.
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I love the rear laying boxes on this coop with the storage underneath the laying boxes.  If I could do over again I would extend the roof further over the laying boxes.  During extremely heavy rains water does get into the laying boxes through the top of the door.  We have tried installing weather stripping but it hasn't been a workable fix to the problem.  I bed my laying boxes first with a Nesting Pad, then I top with Flock Fresh which is a blend of chopped straw, zeolite and alfalfa.  I then top with a sprinkle of Spruce The Coop.  Our hens always had three favorite laying boxes they used and three boxes they never used.  When I received my first bag of Spruce the coop I sprinkled it into the three boxes they never used and that day the hens switched to laying in the boxes with Spruce The Coop.  The three favorite boxes that now had no Spruce The Coop now were being left empty.  So my hens do prefer boxes with Spruce The Coop.
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​The large side doors for the top of the coop make cleaning out the coop easy and I can climb in and out of the coop when needed.  The bottom doors give me access underneath the coop and this is where I hang the feeders.
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The interior of the coop is where I would make the majority of my changes.  First what I like. We have removable boards installed at each of the doors to keep the shavings from falling out every time we open the coop up.  I like that I can easily add roosts to the coop and remove them so as our flock grew we could added roosting space.  My hens love the curtains, when I first installed them and posted a photo on Facebook I had a friend joke that Hens do not need curtains.  Well when one fell down and I didn't replace it the hens refused to lay in those boxes.  When I made a new set of curtains and hung them back up the hens went right back to laying in those boxes.  They might not need them put mine sure do seem to prefer them.  Now for the changes.  The doors have been corrected so they fit tight now and don't have a gaping hole.  I would change the position of the roosts so they are not over the laying boxes if I could do over again or I should say if I ever got around to correcting this.  Having them directly over the laying boxes I ended up with piles of droppings in front of the back laying boxes the hens have to walk through.  
I had wished I would have installed a droppings board in the coop.  I did eventually install one but after a few months removed it.  I did find the droppings board kept the bedding cleaner and the bedding lasted longer.  The daily cleaning became difficult while I was on business trips.  Some of flock started roosting on the board instead of the roost leading them to get covered in droppings from the hens they were roosting behind.  Finally standing outside in the pouring down rain with the wind blowing the doors shut on me was the final straw and the board was removed.  I have seen other coops that are set up differently than mine that the dropping boards seem to function very well.    
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We have two small chicken doors on each side of the run.  We like have two, this allows us to open one door that allows the hens to free range the whole farm and a second door that leads to a large fenced pasture.  We use two 100 foot sections of Premier 1 Poultry Fencing.  We like this style of fencing because it allows us to easily move the fencing to new pasture.   I'm sure your wondering why we like having a fenced in pasture in addition to allowing the hens to free range the farm.  On days that we are away from the farm this allows us the peace of mind that the hens are protected by a fence from predators and our hens also tend to get under foot so days we need the hens safely out of the way they can still be on pasture and having fun chasing bugs.  We use the solar charger to charge the fence when we are concerned about predators.
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Next we installed a brick sidewalk that goes all the way around the coop.  The sidewalk was a great addition, its easy to spray off and keeps you from standing in mud when the hens have decided to scratch up all the grass in a particular area.  The down side is the amount of weeds that seem to pop up in between the bricks.  We also installed a gate on one side of the fence to attach the poultry fencing to.  My short legs couldn't handle jumping over the fence every time I needed to open the chicken door to let them into the pasture.  
15 Comments
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4/4/2017 10:10:57 am

You've made some very interesting and good changes. I'm personally glad that you decided to come up with these changes. I firmly believe that this will only help increase the protection of your coop. Poultry fencing is no easy task and I think that you've done a fairly good job in making them sturdy and hard. This has been a very well constructed guide and I'm sure that I'll make use of this information in the future.

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La Bella Farm link
4/10/2017 06:48:06 am

Thanks UK Best Essays! We enjoyed building the coop and are always happy to share information!

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Mrs Shoes link
4/9/2017 09:09:49 am

You could do a ladder style roost propped against the wall opposite the nest boxes; otherwise, what a lovely coop! I too would like rain gutters on my little hen house.
I came to visit from Chicken Chick's bloghop; I hope you'll have time one day to visit the 4Shoes & let me know that you've been by.

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La Bella Farm link
4/10/2017 06:49:58 am

Thanks Mrs Shoes! I will be sure to stop by your blog. We have been considering changing the roost to a ladder style against the opposite wall.

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Cedar17
4/9/2017 07:41:25 pm

Gorgeous coop, and it looks huge! What a beautiful job you did! Do you recall the dimensions? How many chickens will it house comfortably?

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Laura Marie Kramer link
4/10/2017 06:45:15 am

Thanks Cedar17! Overall the coop is 12' 3" by 8' 2". We have 15 hens in the coop currently and we are happy with that number. They do have extra roost space. Our hens free ranging the farm and only spend time in the coop to sleep and lay eggs. If they were housed 100% of time in the coop I would suggest decreasing the number of hens.

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Cedar17
4/10/2017 02:57:05 pm

Thank you - good to know.

June
4/9/2017 07:52:06 pm

I enjoyed reading about your coop. I am having one built but it will be much smaller, only needs to house three hens. One suggestion for your brick walk. Pour boiling water on the brick seams when you notice weeds popping up. Will kill the weeds and no harm to your hens. Another idea to catch poop under your roosting bars is an oil cloth hammock. Even a sturdy piece of waterproof tarp works too. Attach sticks to each end of your strip of oil cloth and put hooks on those sticks to attach to loops on the walls of the coop just under the roost. Of course it should be oil cloth side up and no so far down below the roosting bars that the hens have room to comb in. When you need to clean, just take it out, lay it flat on the ground and hose it off. I made two so one can be installed while the other is drying.

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Dana Tryde
4/10/2017 06:32:13 am

I also use tarps under the roost at night. An added benefit, looking at the poop gives the owner an idea of the chicken health.

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La Bella Farm link
4/10/2017 06:52:09 am

Hello June, I'm going to give the boiling water trick a try! Great ideal about the oil cloth. Thanks for the feedback.

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Maralind K
4/10/2017 06:47:54 am

Love your coop !! It's like a "big brother" to mine which I bought online. We're in an upscale neighborhood which only allows 2 or 3 chickens so we didn't need a huge one and we did have to have something that looked really nice and blend with our home and outdoor shed. Our house and shed is painted in a grey/muted green and cream white Our shed is the same and the barn doors on the shed have the traditional X on the double doors. On the coop I've painted the body of the coop with the grey/green with the trim in the white cream. So if you look at your coop and visualize this it does look very attractive and blends well with our home. Since my coop is only 68"x36"X40+/- high I raised it up by 18" with 4X4"'s. This gives them a taller area to run and roost when our Houston temps are in the mid to high 90's for several months and keeps the area by the nest boxes clean. I have also extended the floor where the hen door opening is in the nesting area so they have a larger area on the 1st floor to wander around. Because of this change I had to extend the pen about 8' which made the floor plan into an "L" shape. I would have extended it anyway to accommodate the "Chicken Swing" and "grow grass" patch for them. To address the the problem of Critterrs digging under the fence, I buried flat on the ground 2"X4"X24" PVC covered fencing around the circumference of the pen attaching it to the 4"x4" boards that lay on the ground. The 4"x4" are raised with bricks for circulation. To address the problem of the weeds growing through the bricks you could use a white vinegar, water and Dawn Dish Det. and spray between the cracks. It's works just as well as Roundup, is better for the environment and is much cheaper. Wish I could have a larger coop the size of yours...maybe someday if we move to the Country :) Love you Website !!!

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La Bella Farm link
4/10/2017 06:59:30 am

Maralind K your coop sounds lovely and I bet the color is stunning! We have a white farmhouse so we went white on the coop to match. Thanks for sharing all the information about your coop and the tip for the weeds. Weeds are an ongoing fight on the farm we grow our produce using natural methods so I do love getting tips to fight weeds without using chemicals.

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Wanda Jones
4/11/2017 09:07:42 pm

I came to visit from Chicken Chick's bloghop, I do not have a website to post. I wanted you to know I really enjoyed your blog on what you would do different. You have several tips I will be using. Thank you

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La Bella Farm link
4/12/2017 05:16:48 am

HI Wanda Thanks for stopping by! I'm glad you enjoyed the blog and good luck with your hens!

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Cheap British Columbia link
4/2/2021 04:49:09 am

This is a great ppost thanks

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    Laura Marie is the owner of La Bella Farm.

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