Eggs are finally rolling out the spiffy rear roll-out nest boxes and chickens are sleeping on their new roosts. Flowers bloom in the planter box and (most of) the trim is on. In a couple more weeks maybe we’ll even have the tools all put away!
The “Tina Rowena Poopalot Memorial Chicken Coop”
(so named to honor the very special tiny chicken who was taken by a predator in the night through a rotted board in the old coop) features the following improvements:
- predator-safe, inside and out
- clean, unbroken eggs roll out of the nest
- no chicken poop in the screened “people side”
- automatic waterer
- rodent-proof (resistant?)
- “poop chute” opens into the compost bin
- solar light
- covered yard that’s “bunny-safe” too … bunnies coming soon!
Congratulations on your egg-cellent acheivement! It looks fabulous. Mike and I are very impressed. Have you posted the memorial sign yet? It will be the piece de resistance–here’s to Tina and the chickens who survive her!
Your beautiful sign is not up yet as I still want to put a protective finish on it. It will go above the window as soon as that is done. And yes, here’s to Tina! As well as to Mike and Westi for helping us jump-start this endless project, and to my Dad for doing the heroic patch job on the old coop so that the rest of the chickens were safe ’til the new coop was finished.
Wow! Great photos! I was looking for the sign also. Those chickens are in luxury especially after their run down shack. They must think they died and went to heaven although we hope that doesn’t happen in reality. Tina was such a pretty chicken – how many do you have now? Not sure they will like bunnies in their new digs. You all did lots of work! love
Actually, the chickens are a little bothered right now, as they’ve been locked in for two days, and won’t get to range free ’till the weekend. By then, the new coop should feel like home to them. The timing was good for locking them up … we’ve got a hawk nest above the corral and the fledglings are very present this week, flying around and screaming little baby hawk screams. We think they’re Cooper’s Hawks but haven’t seen the parents to be sure. At any rate, we figure mama hawk chose our place ’cause the pickings were good. 🙁 So a little extra protection is a good thing, whether the chickens think so, or not.
Oh, there are 12 big girls, 2 little girls (in the tractor, not in the new coop), and 1 rooster. Captain Jack (aka “Rooster Boy”) is new on the scene. Just a youngster but enormous. His crow rings a little fuller every day. Sure is good to wake up to a rooster crow again. Now if he will could just drown out the sounds of the neighbor’s peacocks …
Wow! I’m impressed and jealous! It is quite a step up, I’m sure!
My chickens are obviously from “the other side of the tracks” as their coop is a converted dog run (not a very good one at that…I think the former tenant must have been quite arthritic)…with a couple of “redesigned” dressers for nesting and hanging out. Our girls are also under house arrest at the moment due to Mark’s irrational demands to NOT have them eat the zinnias and a pair or White Shouldered Kites on the prowl for a quick meal.
Let me know if you need a source for bunnies. I see them on Craig’s List all t he time as well.
-Kim
Where did you get your plans? and the rear roll-out nesting boxes? (pls respond via e-mail)
Thanks…
Hi Rolf,
What fun that you found our chicken coop on the web. Sorry, no plans. There were sketches at first but the project evolved, as projects will. I had been designing, in my head, what I wanted in a chicken coop for years and this one is very custom. It’s perfect for 12-15 chickens, especially since I still let them free range during the day when I am home.
It’s basically an 8’x12′ floor built onto piers on a little hillside at the end of our sidewalk. The sidewalk is the absolutely only level thing on this property and I was looking for both easy access to collect eggs and care for chickens (especially as we get older) as well as easy access to the driveway for off-loading feed, etc. This location made it very visible so it had to look nice. The idea was to make it coordinate it with the house so we used the same kind of siding, and painted the trim (roughly) the color of our ceramic tile roof. We used a nice door and window that we’d been storing in the barn for years, acquired from a neighbor when she moved.
Inside it is divided into a three foot people section, which is just inside the door, and a 5 foot chicken section which opens onto a small (8’x8′) but very secure, and covered, outdoor space. We covered the floor with an inexpensive piece of vinyl flooring purchased at Home Depot before building the walls. This will give me the ability to hose it down in there when I clean it. And the floor shavings and manure can be swept right out a shoot under the roosts into a compost bin. The people section and the chicken section is separated by screen, to keep the flys out. One section is velcroed so that I can open the top half to fill the feeder, or one side to enter the chicken side. There is a work table built into one end with room for storage underneath, and storage for egg cartons and feed over the nest boxes at the other end.
The nest boxes are a commercial product that I ordered from a company in Michigan called Cutler Pheasant and Poultry Supply. http://www.cutlersupply.com/cgi-bin/store/agora.cgi?cart_id=2259045.26652*vp4B5&next=10&product=nests.
10 holes is excessive for this size coop but apparently a smaller version isn’t available in the rear-roll out design. Weirdly, it is available smaller in front roll-out. I pondered this one for a long time … try to make our own … or convert a front roll-out to rear … and ultimately decided to just get it. They’re pricey but I’m glad I did it. I looked for them used, and did lot’s of price shopping. Never found one used and Cutler’s had the best price I could find on a new one.
The outdoor yard has old wire buried underneath it to increase security (and to keep rabbits from digging out if I have them in their too at some point). The sides are hardware cloth small enough to keep rodents out, and strong enough to keep predators out. I am going through LOTS less feed now that I’m only feeding chickens. The forest rats had a good thing going with our old coop, but no more! The roof is clear corrugated PVC. Outside it is shaded by a Walnut tree in the summer, and the coop has shade cloth hung on the chicken side to keep it cooler for them. It does get hot in there in full sun but since I live in the redwoods, near the CA coast, that is a relatively short-lived situation. And the yard is shady and cool.
This may be the last chicken coop we ever build so we built just what I wanted. I love my chicken coop! Hope you build yourself a nice one too.
Laura