Authors coop and run

Full disclosure, I am handy. I have power tools, and I'm not afraid to use them. In my first blog post I wrote about having broken my leg shortly after I got my baby chicks. This left me with lots of time to contemplate and research the best coop for my location and needs. I had a dog run left over by the previous owners of my house, which I refused to get rid of knowing full well that it would make a great chicken enclosure. My husband tried for eight years to give it away, and I somehow convinced him each time that we needed to hang on to it. Never was the word "chicken" mentioned. If you read my previous post you will understand... Ok, chicken coops, you can spend a lot of money or like me, very little. I have a friend that bought a custom built coop and run for $1,700. It is very nice and maybe you have to go that route because building things is not your "thing". That's ok.

 

The most important thing is the safety and relative comfort of the occupants. It's a dangerous world if you are a chicken. Since I was using a 6 x12 dog run as my enclosure I had heavy pipe and chain link that I knew no predator could bend to gain access. However, any determined raccoon, fox, dog or cat could dig under the pipe, so I lined the floor of the run with hardware cloth and since chain link is large enough for a paw to slip through I also lined the inside perimeter with chicken wire. Chicken wire is quite flimsy and I would never use it alone since a determined predator could tear it apart. Hardware cloth, which is really wire, is much stronger. I also buried a 12" strip of chicken wire on the outside of the run as a deterrent. All the wire is connected to the bottom pipe. My chickens are as safe as kittens as long as they are inside their run. I designed their coop using three sheets of plywood and some 2x4s. I had some leftover metal roofing material that I used as well. The dimensions of the coop itself are 3x6, it is basically a box on stilts, with a bunch of hinged doors for access. Inside there is a 2x4 perch that spans the six foot length. This is where the chickens sleep. Chicken feet are not designed to grip, so using the 4" side of a 2x4 for them to perch on is more comfortable for their feet. Instead of putting a solid floor in my coop I wired the bottom with hardware cloth and then cut two pieces of plywood to fit on top to catch the poo. Fact: Chickens poop a lot at night. I made a hinged trap door that is the full length of the coop that I use to clean out the poop. I just partially pull out the plywood pieces and scrape the poop onto a bin. Easy. Above the trap door is the nesting box also with a trap door to gather eggs. I can do all this without ever entering the run. Above the nesting box is a window for ventilation. Inside the run on the other side of the coop is the small door and ramp for the chickens to enter. I recommend painting the interior so you can hose it down once and a while. The raw wood will absorb the poop and odors. Make no mistake, keeping chickens is messy enough, think about ease of cleaning before you commit to a design. 

You may have noticed, there's a lot of talk about poop. That's the bad and the ugly truth! I'm a neat, dare I say, freak. Keeping the chicken run and coop clean is a chore. I read somewhere that keeping chickens was as easy as keeping a cat. I believed it, until I had chickens. So before you design your coop or shop for one, keep the above in mind. When doing my research I used Pinterest and Google, as well as backyardchickens.com. There are endless examples of chicken coop designs and ready made coops available at every price point. I encourage you to do as much research as possible before you step into the chicken keeping world. Most of the information out there has a rosy tint, very little bad or ugly. But you should know the all of it. As always, I welcome any questions you might have.