Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Finished chicken coop pictures

Here are views of the finished chicken coop. I am very pleased that it looks great, and works perfectly, is easy to clean and the chickens love it and use it as planned. 

Usually the coop is left like this, with the big door closed, and the chicken door open so they can enter and leave to lay eggs when they want.


The final decorated nesting box doors. It is easy to just open them and check for eggs.

Here is a view of the finished nesting boxes. The roosting box and pole ended up conveniently fitting above the boxes under the window, and this is where all the chickens line up to sleep at night, in a nice row. They jump on the first roosting pole by the door and use that to fly up to the higher box where they feel safer. The higher box is easy to scoop out and clean and keeps most of the ground fairly clean.


You can see the first roosting pole by the door here, and the larger roosting area where they all sit. It is at an angle because I didn't intend to make it a roosting area until I realized that the chickens would be sitting and making a mess on top of the nesting boxes anyways, and it ended up being a nice solution.

More chicken coop details

Because of the droppings that would accumulate on the floor, we painted the whole thing with a coat of primer to prevent the wood from rotting.



Nesting box doors for chicken coop

Here are some details of the doors and hardware that allow access to the nesting boxes.






Big door for chicken coop

This door is built from scratch with thick plywood. Hanging it was difficult, but I ended up getting it perfectly level and it swung open and close perfectly. The only issue is that if it rains it swells and becomes hard to close, but it goes back to a fitting size upon drying.



Chicken door

The chicken door works really well and is really simple. The part that lies in the dirt is covered in an aluminum strip so it won't rot as fast. The door stays up with a magnet, and this solution has been fine since we haven't had trouble with intruders yet. I intended to add another door that would lock on the inside that could be automated or operated with a pulley, but it hasn't been necessary. 




Trim and details for chicken coop

I decided on a blue water resistant wood stain to use for most of the trim and final siding. I stained any exposed framing pieces an orange tone.










Friday, October 21, 2011

Nesting boxes, window for chicken coop

The nesting boxes going up, starting as a nice bench like structure. It is really sturdy like this. I didn't want the legs to touch the ground because it would interfere with sweeping out the coop with ease.



Here are the nesting box doors cut out of the siding.