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Chicken Coop The chickens have their own custom built coop. It is 8X8. I used all ACQ pressure treated southern pine (except for the sheathing). 2X6 with joist hangers (elevated on concrete block) with 3/4 pressure treated plywood sheeting for the floor 2X4 on 16" centers for the walls 2X4 rafters and collar ties with 1/2 pressure treated plywood for the roof 5/8" T-111 plywood for wall sheathing 25 year asphalt shingles I used all galvanized screws (no nails) for all construction (except for the shingles were I used 1.5" galvanized roofing nails) I installed 4 small windows (15X22) that fit between the studs with screens for ventilation as well as two aluminum gable vents Originally, I would let them run around outside during the day. Until a fox ate 9 of them. At that point I built a 10' x 50' fenced area for them out of 6' welded wire fence. As a "tunneling barrier" I lined the bottom with 3' chicken wire (folded in an "L" shape) and anchored this down with a couple hundred concrete pavers that Ron Gibson left for me. I would guesstimate the total cost of all of the material was about 1,200 bucks (since the pavers were free). It took me about 100 hours to build the whole thing (including painting). Luckily my father helped with alot of it. Update: Due to the fact the chickens have learned to fly over the fence, but not how to get back in.... I had to build a "roof". I made it by sinking 10' lengths of ACQ 2X4s into the ground 2 feet as "posts" and then put a single 12' 2 X4 across the top. I then covered the whole thing with deer fencing and wire-tied it together. In retrospect, I probably should have used 4 X4's as it is a little wobbly. However, I sistered another 2 X4 to each post to shore it up a bit. So far this seems to be keeping everybody contained. |
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