Started my chicken coop/run

[Elwar]

Ok, I've decided to get started on making my hen house. My wife's out of town and I want to surprise her with some chicks for her birthday when she gets home.

I'll probably only have 2-3 chickens...my coop will be open on three sides with hardware cloth and my run will be a "chicken tractor" which means I'll be able to move it around my yard for the chickens to trim the grass and leave fertilizer.

I bought the material for the run last night. I'll post pics as I get it built.

 

[Meatwasp]

Ok, I've decided to get started on making my hen house. My wife's out of town and I want to surprise her with some chicks for her birthday when she gets home.

I'll probably only have 2-3 chickens...my coop will be open on three sides with hardware cloth and my run will be a "chicken tractor" which means I'll be able to move it around my yard for the chickens to trim the grass and leave fertilizer.

I bought the material for the run last night. I'll post pics as I get it built.

I have been trying to get one of those made for ages. I have such a big grass lawn I could roll the cage in. I read all kinds of plans to make them but my sons are always too busy.
Good luck and post a picture when you are done.

 

[ItsTime]

Awesome. If you could would you send me the specs to building the coup?

Cant wait for the pictures

 

[Anti Federalist]

Ok, I've decided to get started on making my hen house. My wife's out of town and I want to surprise her with some chicks for her birthday when she gets home.

I'll probably only have 2-3 chickens...my coop will be open on three sides with hardware cloth and my run will be a "chicken tractor" which means I'll be able to move it around my yard for the chickens to trim the grass and leave fertilizer.

I bought the material for the run last night. I'll post pics as I get it built.

2-3?

C'mon, jump in, get 50.

That's how I got started, told Mrs. AF about four years ago, "Ok let's get half a dozen", I came home from work and found 50.

Good luck, I've acquired a ton of chicken information, let me know if you run into any problems, maybe I can help out.

 

[Agent CSL]

I suggest 6 to 12 starting out, unless you are talking about a very suburban neighborhood. Chickens don't need that much space, they are very nice to look at and their manure is the best fertilizer.

When you purchase chickens you have to figure the death rate which is particularly high for day-old chicks (over 10%). If you purchase older chicks starting to get their feathers the death rate drops to about 3%. If you plan on buying juvie or adult chickens, you can count on them surviving at least 5 years (barring coyotes, dogs, nuclear war, and raccoons, etc).

Chickens are not fussy, they always come home, they are fun to play with or look at, and you can eat them or their eggs. Go for it!

 

[Dr.3D]

Just watch that they don't get in the road.
I lost a great number of them to a neighbor who decided they would be fun to run over.

 

[Kotin]

sweet!

I cant wait to start on livestock... soon I will.

we are getting chickens, cattle, and goats.

 

[youngbuck]

I'm about to build one myself for four chickens. Still thinking about how much effort, time, and money I want to put into it.

 

[UnReconstructed]

Will it have a floor? if not, and the chickens will be on the ground, you may consider an electric fence to keep dogs away. I lost a lot of chickens to dogs.

 

[LibertyEagle]

2-3?

C'mon, jump in, get 50.

That's how I got started, told Mrs. AF about four years ago, "Ok let's get half a dozen", I came home from work and found 50.

Good luck, I've acquired a ton of chicken information, let me know if you run into any problems, maybe I can help out.

heh. Good for Mrs. AF.

 

[Elwar]

Ok, I started my chicken run/tractor. It's 4'X8'X3H. I didn't really have any plans, I just wrote up a rough design and got started. The chicken run is where the chickens will hang out during the day, it will have wheels so that I can move the run around the yard to different areas to fertilize and graze. When I get the coop set up, I'll run a connector to the chicken run through the fence.

I got a lot of good advice from http://www.backyardchickens.com

This is where the run will end up.

The dogs watched but weren't much help.

Got it standing and added some supports for stability.

Door frame for connector to the raised coop.

Painted before the hardware cloth goes on.

added a hinged opening

hardware cloth on, roof and ramp added

Was about to add the wheels but the bolts were too short.

 

[Dieseler]

Nice looking work Elwar.

 

[Dr.3D]

Are you going to enclose the hen house part of the coop?
Hens also like to have a nesting area where they lay eggs.

Don't forget to put some kind of cover over part of the coop where the chickens can get out of the weather.

 

[Deborah K]

Ok, I've decided to get started on making my hen house. My wife's out of town and I want to surprise her with some chicks for her birthday when she gets home.

I'll probably only have 2-3 chickens...my coop will be open on three sides with hardware cloth and my run will be a "chicken tractor" which means I'll be able to move it around my yard for the chickens to trim the grass and leave fertilizer.

I bought the material for the run last night. I'll post pics as I get it built.

I've been keeping egg layers for several years. My coop has an earthen bottom, and I let them out after they all lay each day. One thing you have to keep in mind is that they dig holes, deep ones. They like to take dirt baths in the holes.

 

[Dr.3D]

I've been keeping egg layers for several years. My coop has an earthen bottom, and I let them out after they all lay each day. One thing you have to keep in mind is that they dig holes, deep ones. They like to take dirt baths in the holes.

LOL, ever have them get into your vegetable garden?

 

[Deborah K]

LOL, ever have them get into your vegetable garden?

LOL, yep. Only once. I left the gate open by accident, and when I went out to feed the horses that afternoon, I noticed the hens were in the garden. I have what I call a shoo stick that I use to get them in the coop and when I went to shoo them, some of them ran head first right into the fencing. LOL! It was hilarious. The dummies couldn't figure out how to get out of the garden through the gate.

 

[Elwar]

Are you going to enclose the hen house part of the coop?
Hens also like to have a nesting area where they lay eggs.

Don't forget to put some kind of cover over part of the coop where the chickens can get out of the weather.

I've only built the chicken run...where they'll hang out during the day. The top area will be for their food and I'll close the ramp off when I'm moving the run around the yard so that they can ride in luxury in their suite. I'll be building the actual coop that will attach to the run. In that I'll have the nesting boxes, shavings, roosts, etc.

I did cover the top with acrylic screen (the kind used to cover florescent lights in an office). I'll probably also cover that with a dark screen to provide more shade and a top layer of more chicken wire to keep out the raccoons.

 

[Anti Federalist]

heh. Good for Mrs. AF.

The conversation as she told me about it on the ride home was quite funny.

One of the few times her "guinea" backed down enough to actually be contrite.



I was all, like, "50 chickens....WTF? I said a half dozen or so....WTF??!!".

It all turned out good though.

 

[Anti Federalist]

That's a nice chicken tractor there.

Nice work.

When or if you build a henhouse, build the nesting rack off to the side with a lift top.

Mine's 12 x 12 with an attached run and I built a chick brooder on the side and nest boxes off the other side with a lift top, so that way you don't have to go in the muck everyday to collect eggs.

Ok, I started my chicken run/tractor. It's 4'X8'X3H. I didn't really have any plans, I just wrote up a rough design and got started. The chicken run is where the chickens will hang out during the day, it will have wheels so that I can move the run around the yard to different areas to fertilize and graze. When I get the coop set up, I'll run a connector to the chicken run through the fence.

I got a lot of good advice from http://www.backyardchickens.com

This is where the run will end up.

The dogs watched but weren't much help.

Got it standing and added some supports for stability.

Door frame for connector to the raised coop.

Painted before the hardware cloth goes on.

added a hinged opening

hardware cloth on, roof and ramp added

Was about to add the wheels but the bolts were too short.

 

[Anti Federalist]

Our experience isn't typical but it is positive.

Our first batch of 50 from Murray - MacMurray we lost not a single one.

Two years later we started hatching replacement birds and haven't lost a chick yet.

Now, we've lost full grown birds from various ailments but none of the chicks.

In any event, it's bound to happen.

Can't have live stock and not expect dead stock from time to time.

I suggest 6 to 12 starting out, unless you are talking about a very suburban neighborhood. Chickens don't need that much space, they are very nice to look at and their manure is the best fertilizer.

When you purchase chickens you have to figure the death rate which is particularly high for day-old chicks (over 10%). If you purchase older chicks starting to get their feathers the death rate drops to about 3%. If you plan on buying juvie or adult chickens, you can count on them surviving at least 5 years (barring coyotes, dogs, nuclear war, and raccoons, etc).

Chickens are not fussy, they always come home, they are fun to play with or look at, and you can eat them or their eggs. Go for it!