taj ma chicken coop.

[herm0016]

The coop is 6 x 10 with a 3 x 6 interior room over the full 6x10 run.

The run is fully covered with 12 in overhang on all 4 sides. Interior is lined with 1/8 plastic sheet and sealed with tub and tile to protect the insulation and radiant barrier, also so that i can hose it out once in a while. The windows are plastic for the increased R value. all the exposed framing and trim is redwood with hardiboard siding inset between the posts. Roof is 1/2 in OSB, 15 lb felt, 3 tab composite shingles, all roof framing is tied with Simpson hurricane brackets.

We used the drive in steel post things from depot. These I would not recommend, as they move and twist without control as you are driving them in. I may try the Simpson branded ones next time as they have some adjustment for the placement of the post once the stake is in the ground.

I am looking for advise on finishing the redwood framing/trim and also what material to use for the run, or to leave it dirt/grass. I am going to run the hardware cloth down on the ground about a foot and cover with a brick paver border around the whole structure.

I will post some pics when chrome decides to let me into my google photos.

we will electrify for a bit of heat in the winter and an led light. The damn thing is more level and square than my house!

any other suggestions? I have never used redwood before or had chickens.

 

[waffleironhead]

How is your ventilation? Chickens can handle quite a bit of cold, I don't heat my coop and it gets very cold here(northern wisconsin by Lake Superior). What they can't handle is poor air quality.
How accessible is the area right under the roosts for cleaning?

 

[herm0016]

There is a 10x12 vent in the side, and the rafters are open on the top end for venting. the egg door and large door will provide good access to the inside. I may end up cutting another door into the back. What material do you use for your run? or just leave it grass/weeds? and what material do you use for bedding? What suggestions do you have for cold hardy breeds?

I went to school in houghton, and spent a lot of time as a kid in Calumet, MI.

 

[waffleironhead]

Sounds like you have the ventilation covered. Which is good.
I don't have a run setup anymore. I used to have an uncovered area next to the coop that was fenced in with 6' high chicken wire that I buried ~12" underground. This was bare ground, which eventually turned into all weeds that the chickens didn't eat. Eventually, I just took down the fence and let them free range. The area inside the coop where they can walk around is bedded with wood shavings. I used to have wood shavings in the layer boxes as well, but found they tended to stick to the shell more often than not, so switched to straw in the boxes.
I leave the coop door open year round and the girls come out and run around in the snow. Might not be an option for you depending on where you live.
The breeds I was reccomended and have had good luck with are orpingtons and Plymouth rocks. They are both dual purpose breeds. The orpingtons tend to be more broody than the rocks, which may or may not be good for you depending on if you plan to hatch your own. The rocks lay a bit less than the orpingtons and are more independent and range out farther. Both handle the cold just fine.
I tried australorps one year. Very independent birds, but they refused to use the laying boxes and their egg output was low.

 

[cabri]

Waffle - do you worry about varmints or the chickens taking off (as in the recent GEICO TV ad)

 

[waffleironhead]

Waffle - do you worry about varmints or the chickens taking off (as in the recent GEICO TV ad)

When I first got chickens, it was like a beacon went off and every raccoon in the area made a beeline towards my property. We only lost a few before I set out traps and eliminated the offenders. Thankfully at that time they were open for unlimited hunting. After the initial losses I didn't have any problems for a few years till a bobcat came thru and wiped out my entire flock. The girls were getting old and hardly laying anymore, so it almost did me a favor by eating them. Now I have a dog, which has kept away the predators so far. The only losses I have had recently were to a golden retriever that came down from the neighbors. I'm willing to deal with a few losses now and then for the benifit of the girls ranging about keeping the ticks down.

 

[DrPizza]

How cold does it get in Colorado? We dropped below -20F a few times this winter; the chickens were fine. No heat source inside. Of course, they have quite a bit of straw or hay inside for nesting in. But, the top section is open. Whatever is below them - say, grass, won't be for long - they'll eat it and it will be bare ground before you know it.
Here's the one I built a couple years ago. I had also intended to be able to wash it out - I had put down a linoleum floor inside. That proved to be a waste of time/money. Chickens destroyed it. (It wasn't glued down though; they got a loose piece and apparently kept pulling on it, tearing it. It was a cheaper, thinner linoleum.)

If I did it again, I'd make it so that it could easily be moved.

 

[herm0016]

pups approve!

mine is not mobile either... though, i dont have many places to move it anyway.

 

[DrPizza]

Wow, very nice!

 

[cabri]

Are you in Boulder proper or just the general area.

Did you need to get any type of permit to have the birds?

 

[herm0016]

We are in the city. No permit, but you can only have so many per Sq ft in your coop, no roosters, etc.

 

[waffleironhead]

Nice looking coop!

 

[DrPizza]

We are in the city. No permit, but you can only have so many per Sq ft in your coop, no roosters, etc.

And, unless you eat a LOT of eggs, it doesn't take too many chickens to have enough eggs. 5 hens is an egg shy of 3 dozen eggs a week, if you get good, productive egg layers. I'd question trying to raise chickens for meat on such a scale - a lot of people at least try it once. Then, when you calculate how much you spent on feed, the mess, smell, and time of cleaning just one or two birds, you go back to the grocery store for chicken and continue raising them for fresh eggs. 🙂

 

[herm0016]

We will be eating them and selling to our friends. We go through 1.5 dozen a week on avg.

 

[cabri]

I think the old rule (40-50 years ago) was 5 hens equals 4 eggs a day.
That is what we used to get as a kid

I do not know if genetics has upped that percentage.


And the shit was tilled in each fall into the garden for fertilizer after sitting a year in piles in the back fourty.

 

[waffleironhead]

I think the old rule (40-50 years ago) was 5 hens equals 4 eggs a day.
That is what we used to get as a kid

I do not know if genetics has upped that percentage.


And the shit was tilled in each fall into the garden for fertilizer after sitting a year in piles in the back fourty.

It does depend on breed. The white eggs in the store come from leghorns which usually lay upwards of 280 eggs a year according to my books. The dual purpose breeds I have lay around 220 a year.

 

[DrPizza]

The red sexlinks lay 300 or more per year. Once they reach laying age, it's generally an egg every day. OP, if you want free chickens, put an add in a local for-sale page, saying that you'll rehome chickens that people foolishly purchased as Easter gifts for their kids. "In about 3 weeks, once you've gotten sick of the stinky things, I'll offer my services to rehome your chickens for you in my Taj Ma Coop."

 

[herm0016]

Lol, good thinking pizza.

 

[MongGrel]

Nice, I've always considered doing one, my step sister set one up recently and I've never bothered.

Might be more of a hassle than anything where I am though.

 

[herm0016]

we got temp and humidity sensors from wirelesstags.net. One for outside and one for inside the coop. They work great and pair with wemo nearly effortlessly. I am going to build a weatherproof box with 2 wemo light switches, one hooked up to heat and one to a light for the winter. The heat will be controlled using the temp sensor, and the light will be based on sunset/sunrise times in a google calender.

We will not heat unless it gets to 10 degrees or something. This is a great first project to dip into more home automation. wireless tags and wemo have door/window and leak sensors. I think a full home security system is in our future, along with cams at the coop and in the main room. still need to post pics of the chicks!

 

[DrPizza]

we got temp and humidity sensors from wirelesstags.net. One for outside and one for inside the coop. They work great and pair with wemo nearly effortlessly. I am going to build a weatherproof box with 2 wemo light switches, one hooked up to heat and one to a light for the winter. The heat will be controlled using the temp sensor, and the light will be based on sunset/sunrise times in a google calender.

We will not heat unless it gets to 10 degrees or something. This is a great first project to dip into more home automation. wireless tags and wemo have door/window and leak sensors. I think a full home security system is in our future, along with cams at the coop and in the main room. still need to post pics of the chicks!

Wow, that sounds like an awesome project.