Slippy's Chicken Coop & Chicken Run Build!

[Slippy]

We finally decided to take the plunge and build The Chicken Coop and Chicken Run. Did plenty of research and made sure that it was predator proof as we could make it. Suggestions, Advice, Criticism invited from you knuckleheads!

[Denton]

You go, girl!!

[Slippy]

Finished the roofing, trim and some paint touch up. Also made sure to patch up any area with Hardware Cloth that might pose a risk for a predator entering.

Tomorrow I will work on the Chicken Run foundation. Fun dang project.

Mrs Slippy comes from a long line of chicken folks, I do the build, she figures out the chickens! (We'll see how that works out...)

[Slippy]

You go, girl!!

Oh Hell Yeah!

One day last week Mrs Slippy came home from watching her Mom. I had been outside all day working on the Coop...in my underwear, boots and a fishing shirt working on the Coop. Glorious day if you ask me! The beauty of living out in the woods!

PS; The underwear was a pair of stretchy looking shorts that I buy cheapo from Academy Sports, not tighty wighties or boxers...Once I walked into the Dollar Store with them on. I thought it was funny.

[Redneck]

You gonna have a run surrounding that coop? More than anything in this world, my gals love to get out & eat grass & bugs. Mine eat very little layer food.

For their roost bars, I cut down some saplings about 1 1/2 - 2" in diameter. Their feet are designed to go around a curved branch.

Looks real good!

[rice paddy daddy]

You did remember to build nesting boxes inside, right?
To line with hay?

Don't forget waterers and feeders.

Feed 18% protein layer pellets when they are grown, when they are still chicks, that would be 18% layer crumbles, or as we say Down South "layer mash".

The local feed store, and Jeffers mail order will become very familiar to you. www.jefferspet.com We have been customers of theirs for decades. A good company to deal with.

[Slippy]

You did remember to build nesting boxes inside, right?
To line with hay?

Don't forget waterers and feeders.

Feed 18% protein layer pellets when they are grown, when they are still chicks, that would be 18% layer crumbles, or as we say Down South "layer mash".

The local feed store, and Jeffers mail order will become very familiar to you. www.jefferspet.com We have been customers of theirs for decades. A good company to deal with.

Yes Sir,

But still figuring out the inside of the Coop and the Nesting Boxes and Roosting Ledges

[Slippy]

You gonna have a run surrounding that coop? More than anything in this world, my gals love to get out & eat grass & bugs. Mine eat very little layer food.

For their roost bars, I cut down some saplings about 1 1/2 - 2" in diameter. Their feet are designed to go around a curved branch.

Looks real good!

Yes Sir,

The Run will extend out from the left of the door. We also are discussing a nice little sitting area to watch the birds. Hence the bottle opener that I added to the right hand side of the coop!

Been a fun build!

[dwight55]

May I make a couple of suggestions, . . . cut a panel out on one side or the other or the back, . . . full width, . . . about 20 inches high.

Hinge the bottom of it, . . . latch it at the top, . . . build your laying nests inside that panel, . . . then you walk up outside, . . . open it up, . . . gather the eggs, . . . never have to go inside.

Only thing worse than chicken poop on the bottom of your shoes, . . . is chicken poop on the top of your shoes.

I also cut a hole in the side of my coop, . . . the size of a 4 inch piece of PVC, . . . long enough for all to crowd around on both sides, . . . would pull it out, . . . pour in the feed, . . . slide it back into the coop, . . . again, didn't have to go in.

Last thing was a side panel right beside the roost, . . . open it up, . . . scrape out the "stuff", . . . coop cleaned from the outside.

Yeah, . . . I hated going in the coop as a kid, . . . fixed it so I never had to do that again.

May God bless,
Dwight

[Elvis]

We usually let our birds run but there is a 10'x10' attached run for those times when we're dealing with a predictor getting the birds, happens once or twice a year and we keep the ladies locked up for a week or so until I can dispatch the predator.
Birds less than a year old are the most likely to be eaten by a hawk ect. With time the birds get better at avoiding the predators.

I used to hang the feed bucket under the coop but blowing rain would spoil the food so I finally built a low 3 sided box on the side of the run to hang the food pail in.
Two 16"x16" laying boxes with a flip up lid makes egg collection much easier.
Most of one side of the coop is on hinges which makes cleaning much easier.

Our coop is about 5'x5' so good for about 6-7 birds, Like yours it's about 18" off the ground. We spend a lot of time just watching the ladies.