Tuesday, April 29, 2008

FOR BECKY!

Ok Becky..I'm going on memory here, but here are the dimensions of the chicken coop as I remember..and plenty of pictures. Copy and keep the pictures if you'd like to have them for reference.
Ok..details first. The wood comes in 4x8 sheets..so many of the measurements are just that to keep us from having to 'cut' too much and produce too much waste. So the flooring ..the base of the coop is 4x8 (plenty for 10 chickens).
The back of the house, is about 4 1/2-5 ft tall. We placed one sheet of wood sideways to cover the entire distance and leave a gap at the top for 'screening' and venting all the way across.

Which you can see in this pic. The front height measures about 5 1/2 ft at the top. I don't remember exact measurements on those, But I know I can stand up in the coop near the front..and I'm 5'1"..:)
...If I remember correctly the door is 3ft wide, with a vent left at the top for screening. The two sides are cut to fit the '8ft' remainder.. divided between the two (2 1/2ft Each). You can get a good look at what I'm talking about on this picture below. Remember, the section above the door was not covered, left open for vent space. The door opening itself is somewhere between 3 and 4 ft tall..I do not remember exact but it only needs to be big enough for someone to step through anyway.
The Section along the side (on the right) was framed in for an outer egg hatch. This way you don't have to enter the run to collect eggs.
The nests on the inside are 12x12..and sit 12 inches above the floor. You can make them set up to 18 inches above the floor if you need to.


















After that it was really a point of measuring and adding the sides. We added full sides, even on the right, where the hatch was going, we put the wood up (temporarily) to get a good fit, marked where the nest boxes were, then removed the wood to cut out for the hatch. We replaced the side at the top and the bottom. The door was made for the hatch. (and of course framed to keep it sturdy) and reattached using hinges.

....we gave it a paint job..fenced in a small run for the chickens and around the outside of the house. Left under the house available to the chickens for dirt baths and getting out of the sun. Ohh ..the house sits about 1 1/2 ft off the ground..I think we used 3ft posts, put them in the ground 1 1/2 ft..not postive about that measurement..but' it's pretty close. Anway..the paint that's on it is just primer at this point. We've not gotten around to a final coat and painting the trim yet, which we will soon enough. We did put trim up as it looks better, makes it more sturdy too. The door on the front has two openings. One small slider opening for the chickens, then the whole door opens to gain access to cleaning. We've used lots of little hook latches so that we can open the hatch or the doors and keep them open for ventilation when we clean. Or even daily now that the chickens come out of the run every day. ( we let them out about 3pm and they roam the yard till about 8..free range..means free food!) We did totaly fence top and bottom the run due to hawks and nightime predators that will climb in. We also made sure the fencing is under the ground at the bottom (about a foot) due to diggers and even the chickens will dig a bit. We didn't want to loose the flock to any one other then ourselves! (stingy aint we? LOL)
Here's the last pic. I sure do hope this has helped you in designing the smaller coop. Hubby and I designed this one trying to save on wood, and create something that wasnt' massive in size and still looked good in the yard. I think we did just that! We'll finish getting it painted soon!

GOOD LUCK!

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Sage, you are the best! So detailed! I am sure Leslie and Travis will study this well. Travis can build anything and I am sure this will be no problem for him. This is Leslies Mother's Day wish! The pics are perfect. Will make sure they take plenty of pics too.

Sage said...

COOL! can't wait to see the coop pics! Glad I could help..no problem! What kind of chickens are they planning on getting??

Unknown said...

I'm not sure yet, probably white leghorns cuz of the small amount of feed for the amount of big white eggs. They are truely an egg machine. My white eggs are so big that an xtra large carton will hardly close. I am going to give her a few of my heavy breeds so she will not have to wait until hers start laying. I hate that wait, buying eggs when you are feeding chickens the whole time.