Follow the shenanigans of a woman's attempt at going green while trying to raise a little one on a small ranch in Arizona with chickens and horses.
The Chickies in their new home
Okay, so it’s not painted yet, but I really needed to get these guys into their chicken coop because as you will see in the pictures below, they have gotten BIG and were about to run out of room in the chicky bunker. We got the roof done really late, so I don’t have pictures of the completed roof with ondura shingles. I’ll take those when I get done painting.
So, the next steps- Fencing, Painting, Cutting a chicken size exit door once the fence is up.
Painting it is probably going to be my favorite part. It’s where I can get creative and make it look really cute. Pics will be coming soon!
weather sealing before egg-hutch lid goes on
Bedding for comfort, back area will be divided for roosting but right now is just area for food/water, easy access
Chickies in their new home, headed straight for food of course, see how big they've gotten?!
Lots more room for the chickies!
More Water Please….
As my chickies are getting bigger, they go through more feed and more water daily. They’re now going through almost twice the original amount. They drain their water and food bins and then promptly tip them over. HA!
The sizes I have now are 1 quart… I should have gotten the 3 quart ones. I ran over to the store today to get bigger feeders. It was inevitable, as will be really big huge feeders when we move them outdoors.
The chicken coop is up on all 4′s, 3 walls are erected. We’re making a modification to the current plan to allow the side of it to completely hinge open. It will make cleaning it a lot easier. Apply face mask, Insert rake, PULL….. Voila!
We got the wood for the roof trusses last night, just gotta cut ‘em and mount ‘em. Then a little plywood, some ondura roofing left over from when Ray built his observatory, and then we’re on to the fencing.
Fencing: We’ve decided to go with wood posts and chicken wire. This will let us build a nice big enclosure that is sturdy and build a gate into it. It will also make enclosing the top of it a heck of a lot easier, which is a pinal county requirement anyway.
Building the Chicky Bunker- Pics & Supplies
Okay, major props out to my husband (aka the Dear Astronomer guy)!
We went to Home Depot last night for the supplies and Ray ended up putting the chicky bunker together by himself because it was late and I needed to go to bed before my overnight shift. I went to bed at 8pm, woke up 2 hours later and he was finishing it. WOW! No ladies, you can’t have him, he’s mine!
Pics are below along with laundry list of supplies we used. Unfortunately, the cull wood bin was pretty much bone empty so we ended up having to get new lumber. If I had waited a couple days I could have gotten the pieces, but I kinda had to light a fire under our heiny’s because the chicks are already paid for and waiting.
So, here’s what we used:
- A 4x4x10 untreated wood board, cut down into five 2-ft sections. (for the posts that connect bottom to top)
- Two 2x6x10 untreated wood boards, cut down into a 2 ft sections (for sides) and a couple 3 ft sections. (for the long front/back pieces)
- 3 rolls of 24x5ft chicken wire- The kind that are SMALL squares so the chicks can’t get their heads stuck in it since they’re so small right now.
- Recycled rubber mat (for the bottom).
- Spare thick particle boards for the sides (for strength)
- Misc wood from our lumber stack (lid, etc.)
- Wood screws ( 2 inch)
This was all picked up at Home Depot. Rubber mat was Ray’s genius idea and he found it in the garden section. I was worried about using particle board as the base and it getting saturated and smelly and he came up with the rubber mat plan. Woot, go honey!
Sorry about the orange pics, I guess he doesn’t have a flash on his phone camera!
Setting up the sides
Ray added spare particle board we had laying around for strength on the sides.
This is the recycled mat base, making Chicky Poo an easy cleanup! woot!
Bunker ready to go. In about 5 hours, it will be full of wood shavings and baby chicks.
My Chicken Coop Plan
I decided to build my chicken coop using my brain rather than a pre-made plan or pre-made coop. The reason for this is that I have to design it as I go since I’m using as much recycled/upcycled resources as I can while still having a sturdy coop with road side appeal.
The idea for this stemmed from a recycled “Pallet” coop which by all means was cute and adorable but would not fit what my plans were for size. Of course, I’ve seen the much bigger “Pallet Coops” and ugh!
So I needed to branch out on this one.
What you need:
- Wood: NON-pressure treated wood, due to toxicities… If it rots, which eventually it will, just build a bigger and better one. That’s my rule of thumb.)- Raid the scrap yard, or even Home Depot’s scrap bin for great pieces!
- Circular Saw or band saw and Jig Saw (required for having to add pieces on the fly, cutting out doors, etc.)
- Nails/Hammer or Screws/Powerdrill
- Roofing shingles (We are using Ondura roofing, left over from building my husbands observatory)
- Hinges/Door Security fasteners- I’m on the lookout for old gates with old hinges I can reclaim and paint.
- Some type of air vent- I’m not ready for these but should be easy enough to locate.
- A long wooden bar for perching-
- A little imagination
Currently, the base is built using 4×4 solid posts, 2×4 framing, plywood flooring, and the 2 of the four walls are built using outdoor wood paneling. All of the wood for the base has been purchased from scrap bins rather than buying new and wasting it. The exterior wall paneling was new however because it was more cost effective than tongue and groove boards.
I have the ideas for the roosting boxes and access to it. I need to design and implement the air ventilation before the roof goes on, so on so forth. As much of a pain as that sounds, it’s my heart and brainpower going into it, and less pre-fab wood and junk headed for the landfill.
Right now all the pieces are separated but within the month I will start to load up pictures as it’s built.
