My chicken coop plans!

Ooh, bookmarking as I want to keep chickens one day!

This is so exciting @clothmama. Your plans are amazing.

[clothmama]

Chicken wire has arrived and I've just unpacked our bargain bin 10 euro Ikea futon frame and there is more than enough wood just with one of them to build our A frame chicken ark / tractor - so pleased! We have had a bit of a fiddle to work out what we are doing but decided not to start work on it as it is actually quite late already! Actually I may try to get some of it painted this evening if I have some outside paint.

[clothmama]

A little update. We let all our work go last year as we just needed to get on with so much in the house and decided that needed to be priority (sadly ) however now I have my mojo back to get chickens sooner rather than later!

It looks like finally the chicken dream is getting closer, J bought a roll of fencing yesterday for the day run (don't want them in my veggie garden and our yard isn't all fenced and there are dogs around so want to have them safely fenced in). I have decided to go with the 8 cm square, 1.2 m high (which is higher than my other stuff) fencing that we already have - I'd not even thought of using this but my friend said they'll be fine with that so it means I have 2 sides already done at our existing fence line which will save a fortune / time etc My friend said that they can't / wont get through that and in terms of predators everyone has free range chooks on our road and that fencing on their gardens so I'm hoping it will be OK! I'm going to run it with the concrete base outside as a temporary measure so I can build them their proper coop without them being in there with me trying to eat screws etc. We have an A frame tractor maybe 1/2 built so will get that finished and some fencing up hopefully this week.

Will update!

[clothmama]

Update to my plans as well, I'm not going to bother trying to use the pallets as a base, I'm going to have it running the whole length of the concrete base so the raised coop bit will be 1.2 x 2 m then the fully enclosed, predator proof bit downstairs will be the whole 2x 2.2m so big enough to leave them in for a weekend if need be and it will all be roofed as well. This increase means I think I can probably comfortably get 6 or even 8 with a mix of some bantams I already have a big list of varieties I want

[clothmama]

Finally really big things happening! We have put in the wooden posts and run the wires along the north side of the run after putting it off for so long we were surprised at how quick and easy it was. We didn't have enough tensioners so J picked up some more this evening so tomorrow just needs the middle wire then we can attach the fencing then do the temporary south side fence. We'll fence so that the concrete coop base is out so we can work on the proper coop when we have time without being in with the chooks!
The plumb line in ready for the posts (actually it isn't tight in the pictures - we dropped it and tightened it before using!):


Top and bottom wire and posts in, even did some covers (bottom of milk bottles ) on the top of the poles to keep them from getting water damaged too quickly!

[clothmama]

OK so I'm actually really pleased that I haven't built the real coop yet - I have had a bit of a revelation and have found a way to build a bigger coop that is probably easier and quicker as less fiddly but actually building the coop to the side of the concrete area so I am not limited by that size. So I can have something that is more human height so easier to get into to clean etc (thinking of my bad back trying to clean out the one I'd originally planned) - kind of like a big cute garden shed I'm thinking. I think realistically I will want more than 6 - 8 chickens, I've already decided I want to hatch my own from some broody silkies etc and everything I've read said that you need to build for more than you think you need and I think this way would enable me to build something that could take quite a few more chickens.What do you think girls who have chickens? @Allie @autumnalgirl @confusinglady (actually can't remember do you have them Nicola?) @mamavan2 ?

Original style I wanted:

New style I'm thinking with our existing concrete base where the chicken is as the outdoor safe area (with sand on the floor to make it clean and keep it dry):

We have one of these:https://www.solwayrecycling.co.uk/shop/pig-poultry/hen-houses/maxi-hen-loft
Really practical; the only downside would possible be the cleaning out, but they are brilliant from the perspective of keeping red mite at bay. Maybe something to think of when you're building yours?

[clothmama]

brilliant from the perspective of keeping red mite at bay. Maybe something to think of when you're building yours?

My red mite action plan at the moment is to white wash the interior of the coop each spring - apparently they can't deal with the lime in the white wash (unharmful to the chickens) and so they don't move in!

Your coop is very cute - you could just get in there with a pressure washer a couple of times a year @autumnalgirl