There is no shortage of chicken coop How To books out there, but a quick perusal makes it painfully clear that most are designed for far milder climates than we get here. So I have been harvesting ideas as well as supplies found at the ends of driveways and the ultimate bonanza of building materials, Emily's mother's barn--which is used ONLY for storing scraps and pieces she has collected from various construction projects over the past many decades. There I found: old windows, corrugated tin roofing, plywood, 2x4s in all lengths and wood types, doors--both wood with windows and screened, wire fencing along with a lot of furniture bits. It's more fun to build with bits and bobs, but more difficult, since they don't fall together easily. To begin, I am starting with the base. Here it is, upside down, with the insulation being packed into it. This brought back memories of Simon and I crawling around under our house in Arkansas, stuffing the cracks under the floor boards with insulation. I think I was pregnant with Thomas at the time, but I am not sure. I do know squeezing into the access port to get under the house was always a bit alarming. We worked like dogs and I tell myself it made a difference.
Here it is, flipped upright, with the floor done. Next, I will be framing the walls. I'd like to just jump in,
but this requires deciding where the windows will end up and how I will design a roof (most chicken coop designs have a flat roof--maybe that works in Nevada or New Mexico, but it would be stupid here) and other such vital decisions. Unlike ducks, who only go into their house at night and burst free in the morning, never to think twice about where they lay their feathered heads at night, chickens need a multi-purpose house: a space for nesting (which needs to be quiet, dark and snug with separate, but not isolated nesting boxes); they like roosting bars (they don't sleep on the floor like ducks, but suspended like trapeze artist and this area needs to be elevated with many levels, so that "top chicken" gets the best bar, and the lessers get lower ones; but they can't be stacked because they do their main crapping while hanging on these bars). Obviously, another thing to think about is the fact that the floor need to be water proof and easily accessed for regular cleaning.)
Also, unlike with the ducks, the food and water needs to be suspended (otherwise they crap in it, sigh) so that will hang under their house which will keep it out of the weather, too.
Here it is, flipped upright, with the floor done. Next, I will be framing the walls. I'd like to just jump in,
but this requires deciding where the windows will end up and how I will design a roof (most chicken coop designs have a flat roof--maybe that works in Nevada or New Mexico, but it would be stupid here) and other such vital decisions. Unlike ducks, who only go into their house at night and burst free in the morning, never to think twice about where they lay their feathered heads at night, chickens need a multi-purpose house: a space for nesting (which needs to be quiet, dark and snug with separate, but not isolated nesting boxes); they like roosting bars (they don't sleep on the floor like ducks, but suspended like trapeze artist and this area needs to be elevated with many levels, so that "top chicken" gets the best bar, and the lessers get lower ones; but they can't be stacked because they do their main crapping while hanging on these bars). Obviously, another thing to think about is the fact that the floor need to be water proof and easily accessed for regular cleaning.) 
Also, unlike with the ducks, the food and water needs to be suspended (otherwise they crap in it, sigh) so that will hang under their house which will keep it out of the weather, too.
No comments:
Post a Comment