The only way Jess could have talked me in to getting chickens was to emphasize that I would get to build a coop. Well, it worked. After several design drafts and lots of research, I came up with a design that got approved and today we began construction.
As excited as any of us, Abigail helped me build the base. The floor of the coop will be raised about 20 inches both to deter predators and to give the chickens a shady place during warm weather. I am trying to keep the coop as light (it will be mobile) and cost effective as possible. However since Jess and Abby will from time to time be cleaning out the coop, I wanted a fairly strong floor.
After installing the 5/8 plywood flooring we moved it outside to it’s initial position. I will be building the remainder of the coop from here. This is as far as I meant to get today but it is time for Abby’s nap and I think I will take advantage of the nice weather to get as much done as I can.
I framed the front wall with my nail gun and reinforced it later with some exterior wood screws. It might be a little hard to envision here but this wall has the chicken’s door (center bottom) which will have a ramp down into the run eventually. Near the top are two square windows. Ventilation is a huge issue with chicken coops for cooling the temperature down, drying it out to prevent molding, even extra light which is important for egg production.
Since things were going to quickly, I put the right wall together and got it installed. This wall has the larger door for Jess and Abby to enter if they need to clean the coop, as well as a larger window.
Check back soon as I will be updating as the project progresses. The next phase will be the last two walls including the nests, tricky but really cool.
by Trevor
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