The Taj Ma Hall of chicken coops

[JohnTRourke]

So, been working on a chicken coop for some time, cuz the wife thinks I need a hobby (I got a hobby, surfing arfcom [:P] )
But between working, and jobs and just being too hot, it's been about a month.

So, the TajMaCoop in pictures. (cuz you know, this was going to be cheap, NOT)

Built all the walls and frames on the ground, decided to put it on this old concrete pad we have (I guess there used to be a shed there). Figure no way can anything burrow thru concrete. So, built the 4 walls, and then in a fit of genius, decided to build the roof on the ground, roof it all and then just pop it up when we were done. Easy huh?

Some fat guy (me) building the roof. Air tools rock. They continue to pay for themselves. Notice the finished 4 walls back behind me leaning up against the fence around our lovely garden. Look at how huge those tomatoes are. They are currently over 6' tall. This picture was a month ago, they are only about 5' tall here.



So, we plopped up the 4 walls, no big deal. Except this was a design-build project (we don't need no stinking plans) and umm, i made a boo-boo, it was supposed to be 8'x8', it turns out to be 7'9" by 8'3". Opps. Notice the wall hanging on the far left of the picture up against the fence, with the forks under it. It turns out the roof weighs like 400/500 lbs. We couldn't lift it. We barely got it up, then I held it in place while the wife went and jumped on the tractor so we could move it out of the way. Had to get like 3 more guys to help us get it on the structure. Great plan, not so good in practice.



We did get the roof up, and then put panelling all around it outside, put insulation in inside (ohhh, dirty job, I hate insulation), wired the windows, built the windows, put the door on, etc. We then put the cheapest stuff we could find on the inside, 5/8" particle board, but it works fine and it shouldn't get wet. We even caulked the joints.

The wife built the nest boxes, I think they came out very slick. That top panel is tilted (so the chickens won't sit on it) and it is hinged so you just flip it up to clean the nests out and get eggs. Notice also her perch's that she built. They sit in a U-shape so you can just pick them up to clean. She also ran the 2x4's thru the shaper so they have no sharp edges. Also she put the wire boxes down below the perchs so they can't pick in their poop. But you just pick them up to take them outside. Very slick



The building has been done for a while, but I've been annoyed, err I mean busy so we haven't finished the pen itself. Well, the guy who has chickens says they are ready, so we have to pick them up tomorrow. So, yesterday the wife worked on it, today we both worked all day. The pen is way bigger than I had imagined, it's about 20x10. Notice we sloped it off the roof so you can still open adn close the windows. notice all the windows are hinged, so when cold weather comes, we can just close them up. This is facing west (so the east side of the coop.) it gets a lot of sun on this side. I think the wife wanted them to have more shade during the day. Luckily a neighbor had 2 huge rolls of tight chicken wire that he's never going to use again, so he gave it to us. We only used one. The logs in front are sitting on more wire that's on the ground. Figure that should help keep things from burrowing into my coop. When the grass grows up, they should stay on their own. Tried using edging pins, but the ground was too rocky, they wouldn't go in all the way.



Here's the west side and the main side. Notice the doors, and the little chicken door, which we can lock up at night. The doors are also on a spring so they fail in the shut position if you screw up and don't lock it. Every window and door has either a hasp or a barrel bolt to keep them shut. The pen and coop are both 8' tall at it's highest, the coop falls to about 6' and the pen falls to about 4'. The wife also built perches in each of the corner of the pens. (mostly for strength of the pen, but it will be nice for them too).



They better lay a lot of eggs. [>:/]
And if anything is thinking of getting in, I'm a good shot with the shotgun, they are history.

[Delphi]

wow thats pretty cool i could immagine how it would be with fresh eggs and if they dont pump those out fresh chicken

Pretty cool one day when i have my own large plot of land i'll have to do somthin like that.

[pickenup]

If the chickens don't work out, you could rent that place out. lol

[2ndChildhood]

Nice!

Now don't anyone tell my wife about this - she's been talking about farm animals lately.

[shrapmetal]

heck with the wife don't show my chickens. insulation? whats that?

nice job!

[JohnTRourke]

got em yesterday
7 weeks old

[pickenup]

Do you have a light in there, with a timer, so they will lay eggs during the winter?

[shrapmetal]

if you do the light make it so they have 12 hours of light and you want to add it in the morning. it will be a while before they start laying. how many hens and roosters did you get?

[Pistol Packing Preacher]

That is fowl indeed!

[Roger]

that place is built better then my house