August 21, 2009

• Yesterday, I was asked why the chicken coop is up on legs.  The question jolted my heat-fried brain into the realization that I never explained our design and engineering choices regarding the chicken coop!  So, guess what! Today, I will explain it all!

  To answer the question at hand, the chicken coop is up on legs for ease of access. 

  

  Since were weren't building a large outbuilding kind of a coop, we didn't need space to walk into the coop.  Chickens don't need much headroom, so we built it as a shorter building.  However, for accessing the food bucket, water bowl, cleaning, etc., it is just plain better on my old back to not have to bend and stoop so much.   So, we brought the floor level up to meet me!  The other advantage is that having space under the coop gives the chickens a guaranteed shady spot and refuge from hawks and rain. 

  The two front windows on the coop are for air circulation and so we can see in and the chickens can see out.  The coop also has a window on one end in the peak of the side.  This is to allow hot air to escape....which it truly does.  On hot days, if I hold my hand up in front of that little window....I can totally feel the hot air coming out. (It's the round window in the picture below.)

  

  Also, in the picture, I circled areas that are gaps between the eaves and the side framing.  As you can so, those are carefully covered with hardware cloth and also act as vents for the coop.  All the hardware cloth is well secured to keep predators from ripping it out and getting in.  The square windows are very tight (as they would be most likely to be breached) as not only are they well stapled on, but the hardware cloth is between the frame and the siding.  I made sure the screws attaching the siding go right through the hardware cloth too.  Those windows seem impenetrable!

  Under the round window, you will notice I put numbers 1 and 2.  These are parts of the coop not yet finished.  The number 1 spot will be where our nesting boxes are (we've got a couple of months before we worry about eggs).  The number two spot is going to be a little storage box accessible from the outside.  The storage will be added at the same time as the nesting box.  The siding boards are already cut to allow for these uses.

  The coop has two entry/access spots.  One, on the back, is for humans.

  

  And the other, on the side, is for chickens.

  

  The chicken door opens right up into their yard.  They do have a ramp for getting in and out. While chickens can actually fly, we discourage it as we want them to stay in their yard.  We also clip their wings so they won't be able to fly so well.  This involves clipping the flight feathers on one wing so the birds will be unbalanced. (Believe it or not, if you clip both wings, they still can get some flight!)  They can flutter and get some lift, but not any great distance.  For us, this is very important as we live near a park with a lot of dog patrons.  When we had chickens several years ago, we lost a couple to dog attacks from dogs at the park.   This means that we have to fence our chickens (we would truly love to have free-range lawn chickens) and try to ensure they can't fly out.

  That side door on the coop is currently a piece of plywood.  Because it is on the south end, we have plans to make it a plexiglass window-door so the chickens can get as much sun (solar warmth) as possible in the winter.  Dh was thwarted in the making of the door, so it hasn't been finished yet.

   

  The picture shows the door dry-fit. However, the frame pieces all split when dh tried to nail them together. And after a surprising display of frustration (Dh is not one prone to outbursts, but I'll pretty much say he threw a tantrum over this door!) we went with the plywood door for short-term with plans to finish up the window-door at a later date.

  Speaking of windows, we also have cut pieces of plexiglass that we will use as storm windows in the winter to keep out the elements.

  As you can see, we have a few little bits and bobs to finish up.  Besides the things I have listed here, I also want to trim the front of it in white and hang flower boxes on the windows.  

  I hope that is a pretty good explanation of our design.  If I missed something, or you are curious for more details, feel free to ask!

  And speaking of chickens...I guess I'd best go let them out!  I'm off to do my chicken chores!

  • 7:09 am
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