Building the Cluckmahal

Seems like I'm always building something on the "farm" here.  After we picked up the new chickens, I realized that the coop we had was fine for 3 girls, but a little too small for 5.  So I decided to build a new coop. There are tons of coop designs and plans online, but I decided to do my own to fit my needs.  And the one need was something that one or two people could easily move around the yard.  Right now the coop we are using weighs over 200 pounds and I would guess that it's actually closer to 300 pounds.

So for mobility I decided to put the coop on wheels and I ordered two large casters off of Amazon.com.  Next my dilemma was how to mount the 10" casters to the coop.  In the end I just put a 2x10 on the bottom of the base so I would have a sturdy platform for the wheels.

Here they are all bolted on with the front legs attached as well.

Here it is sitting in the yard with the girls and curly checking it out.

I also decided to build the coop like a was building a small house so I have the decking on the base and the first wall up.  This wall was going to have the handle to wheel the coop around the yard.  The 2x4 is where the railing brackets will go.

Here we have the second wall with the chicken door.  I like putting those angle pieces on the walls especially since I decided to make the walls out of 2x2's.  They add a lot of structure stability to the frame.

Here's the third wall. This wall will have the nesting boxes attached to it.  Something the old coop lacked.

And here's the front door.  2 1/2 feet wide to access the coop for cleaning and what not.

Starting to add the sheathing.

Starting to put the outside sheathing on.

Adding some insulation, and yes I hand cut each piece to fit.

Adding the interior walls.

Roof ridge pole.

Added the lifting handle to the back.

Here we have the roof coming together.

The roof over hangs by about 6 inches on the ends.

You can see we got a little late snow during the build.

Starting to work on the nesting box.

Nesting box attached.

The nesting box is insulated as well.

Here we have the front door and one of the girls checking out the new digs

Took me a few tries to get the nesting box roof just right and hinged.

Nice latch on the door.

And here we have the nesting box lid raised to show how to get all those delicious eggs out and the insulation too.

Added the nesting box dividers.

I decided on metal roofing. I really don't know why, but shingles would have cost me just as much.

And the finished product. I still need to paint and winterize, but I think it's ready to be used.  Now I just need to get rid of the old coop, finish insulating my houses foundation, and move the coop to it's new location.  I don't think I made this coop any lighter, but she's 100% more movable.  I can lift and wheel the house all by myself, although it's hard to see where I'm going, so two people moving the coop probably would be best.

All in all she probably cost me about $150 to build.  Almost all that cost is in the wheels and roof. I did have to buy some screws and a few 2x4s.  My neighbor gave me a table saw so I was able to rip my own 2x2's which was really nice.  But most of the building materials were recycled.

I'll post some photos of her all painted up and being used a little later this summer.

The coop!

Earlier this summer we became chicken sitters.  We wanted to get chickens and had hemmed and hawed for quite a while. Finally some friends that live in the neighborhood who were about to embark on a year of travel asked if we'd like to watch their chickens for them.  And of course we jumped at the chance.  We ended up with a ready made coop, run, three friendly (mostly) layers and all the other accutromond that comes with raising chickens.  I already posted about the storage shed I built in preparation for said chickens and here we have the coop that came along with them.

This is the winter placement for the coop.  This is right where I had my potato boxes the last couple years and I'm not sure if the coop will stay here next year or we'll find a new place for it.  It was originally over behind the shed, but part of it was in the electrical easement and we decided to move it after the utility was snooping around.  They never told me I had to move it, but I'd rather them not have too.  We had moved it to a nook behind the house and our small addition, but moved it because it was right under the eaves  and I'd rather not have to worry  about a huge chunk of snow coming down on top of it.

The run is 4x8 and has a nice door on it.  The top is clear corrugated roofing.  I was going to improve it by raising it up so that water would drain off of it, but it was well secured on top so I just left it.  You can see the food tray and heated water fount.  The best thing about getting a whole set up like this is I realize if Steve and Abby come back to get their chickens and coop what I would build and improve upon.  Over all though the girls have a nice large space to scratch and bath and come spring the run detaches pretty easily and we'll clean it out really good.

Here we have a side view.  The coop is an old repurposed dog house.  The girls have a little ramp from the bottom into the coop.

The inside space is about 4x3x3.5 with a nice little loft.  More than enough room for just three chickens, now sadly only two right now.  You can see Apocalypse in the background out exploring.  When we're home we let the girls have the whole back yard since they don't try to escape.  I'm doing my monthly coop cleaning.  All that good compost.

Here we have a good look on the inside with fresh bedding.  The girls really like to lay up in the loft so I make sure to have lots of bedding up there so they can make a nice little nest.

I had made a nice nesting box for them but they didn't like it and never used it so I just took it out.

 I have since added a Thermocube plug to the heat lamp and a timer to the full spectrum light.  We had a very long cold snap where temperature we dipping into the negative teens so the heat lamp was on pretty much all the time and the girls didn't mind, however it's warmed up into the 20's and now the coop is way to hot for them, it's very well insulated..  As a matter of fact the last few nights Apocalypse has chosen to roost outside and sleep.

Here you can see the Thermocube and the light with timer.  I still think at our current temperatures the coops too hot with just the laying light. I've toyed with putting in a full spectrum fluorescent bulb in the light and let the Thermocube and heat lamp do their thing.

And of course this is what makes it all worth it.