Chickens

We have had our chickens since November, and they lived all winter and spring in a minimalist enclosure in our barn.  We spent a lot of time planning and sketching and buying supplies and -- of course -- constructing a spiffy coop for our girls.

We still don't have a proper roof.  I'm going to put on a green corrugated metal roof, but first I need to figure out how to cut a 12 foot long piece of corrugated metal in half through all of its ridges.

The coop is 4' x 8' with a 2 foot tall run underneath that will never get snowed on, so they can be outside as much as they want all year.  There is also a 3' x 4' attached tall run that allows us to access some of the run space at full height.

We built the coop in the barn on skids with the expectation that we would drag it out of the barn and down a  path to its final place.  We never tested this.  We were very happy when it worked as planned!

Its maiden voyage.  Nothing fell apart en route.

The kids are all helping push and steer.

We have nice ventilation windows, as well as doors and hatches for human access.   

Each end has french doors for wide open access.  The bucket turned on its side is a makeshift nesting box where they lay their eggs.
The upright bucket is full of water and has nipples screwed into the bottom.  I cut a hole in the bottom of the coop to seat the bucket so the hens can access the nipples from the run below.  This way they eat and drink in the run, but the water can be kept warmer (perhaps even wrapped in some kind of insulation) inside the coop to keep it from freezing in the winter.  

The nesting box is in the foreground with its hatch door open.  Patrick is showing us the other set of french doors and the roosting bars.  Under the roost gets the messiest, so we have a hatch door to scoop out the dirty litter  into a wheelbarrow.  There is no wall framing along the floor here...just a straight sweep/scoop out.  

Thomas is showing us some hatch doors.  The left two are for nesting box access (one is open), and the larger  right one is for under-roost cleaning.

Patrick is trying the chicken ladder that Steven built for the hens to get in and out of the coop through their pop door.

The chicken pop door latches open, and we close it for the night.  Note that this is not  flimsy chicken wire but hardware cloth.  It's really heavy and hard to work with, but with foxes and weasels and bears (yes, bears!) we need some sturdy protection.  

Note that the chicken pop door is part of the right side french door.  A door within a door-- fancy!

We have access to the feeder under the coop.  Just to the left is the nipple watering system, but you can't see it.