I figured I'd just do a blog post about this so that ya'll can see what our set up looks like. A lot of this stuff I explain in the video but just to give you a look at what our coop started out as.
This is the playhouse coop design, we purchased the plans directly from the website and built it ourselves. I liked how open it is. But being new at this we didn't consider winter. When it's really cold the girls have to come out of the roosting area and down into the open in order to eat. They won't do it. It's been 3 years since we built this coop and it's meant to be a single inclosure without a run hence all the floor space. But I just didn't think that was enough run around space for the girls, so we attached the the chicken run (I'll show that in the video, also in the previous post the picture of the Sussies is in the run). On weekends we give the girls free access to the side yard for grass and extra bugs. If they get too much time in the grass side they'll kill it and scratch it to death.
The above picture is the coop in it's original form. We've since added an addition of 2+ feet for extra roosting space and the extra nest box. Those nest boxes have been removed since none of our girls are laying yet and we needed to lower the roost so the Sussies could figure out how to roost. We're going to either put nestboxes on the side double stacked vertically or on the back side by side horizontally, not sure what yet. That's our project for this weekend since the Sussies are getting close to laying age.
Thanks for doing a post showing us how your coop looks like. And the video, is awesome! We were thinking of doing something similar to this where there is a door for us to go into the enclosure and clean and feed the chickens. So it's not great for winter huh? I didn't even think about that so thanks for sharing that insight with us. I love how you enclosed it with the plywood. I can't wait to show my husband.
That looks really nice. You guys have really figured out how to maximize space. I can't wait to design our coop when we move to our forever farm. Thanks for sharing, I like your videos!
Mr.H.- Thanks, the coop and the garden being so close makes for easy chicken herding to and from.
Meemsnyc- Sure, happy to help! Being able to go inside and clean the coop is awesome, especially on rainy days! The coop is fine for winter the way we have it now, with all the plywood sides. But with it open and just mesh wire the wind and snow drifts pile up and get in the food etc. makes for a messy job and cold girls.
We could have put the plywood on just the prevailing wind side, but being right next to our deck and house the wind tended to swirl and the snow would come in from both sides. So it had to be surrounded with plywood. Just something to think about. When placing your new coop too. I can't wait to see what you guys come up with! What breed of bantams are you thinking of?
Mike- Thank you! We sure are trying to maximize space where we can, it makes my life easier to have the bunz and chickens all in one place. You guys have a pretty nice barn set up even though it's not the forever farm.
On my husband's parent's family farm they raise Golden bantams. They have kindly offered to breed her in hopes that we can hatch a few chicks. Since we still need to build the coop, We may wait until next year to get the chicks.
Those are Not "Sussies" that breed is Light Brama (black and whites) and the Gold one is a buff orpington. I raise both breeds and the little light buld needs to be on a timer so they have more light in the morning in the winter time 4 hours before the sun comes up this way they will lay for you as well you need to have nesting boxes in there for them to lay in as well I would put fake eggs in the boxes to teach them where to lay good luck to you
Anonymous- They are a breed called Light Sussex, the Sussex breed comes in many colors and this one is patterned just like Light Brahma. Hence the "light" in both names, but Brahma's have furry feet/legs and mine don't. The gold one is a buff Orpington and she's the only one I have. I've been raising/butchering chickens now for about 5 years now, it's lots of fun.
What a fun tour, you have a very nice setup. I like how your garden and chicken coop are next to each other..very much like ours.:)
ReplyDeleteThanks for doing a post showing us how your coop looks like. And the video, is awesome! We were thinking of doing something similar to this where there is a door for us to go into the enclosure and clean and feed the chickens. So it's not great for winter huh? I didn't even think about that so thanks for sharing that insight with us. I love how you enclosed it with the plywood. I can't wait to show my husband.
ReplyDeleteThat looks really nice. You guys have really figured out how to maximize space. I can't wait to design our coop when we move to our forever farm. Thanks for sharing, I like your videos!
ReplyDeleteMr.H.- Thanks, the coop and the garden being so close makes for easy chicken herding to and from.
ReplyDeleteMeemsnyc- Sure, happy to help! Being able to go inside and clean the coop is awesome, especially on rainy days! The coop is fine for winter the way we have it now, with all the plywood sides. But with it open and just mesh wire the wind and snow drifts pile up and get in the food etc. makes for a messy job and cold girls.
We could have put the plywood on just the prevailing wind side, but being right next to our deck and house the wind tended to swirl and the snow would come in from both sides. So it had to be surrounded with plywood. Just something to think about. When placing your new coop too. I can't wait to see what you guys come up with! What breed of bantams are you thinking of?
Mike- Thank you! We sure are trying to maximize space where we can, it makes my life easier to have the bunz and chickens all in one place. You guys have a pretty nice barn set up even though it's not the forever farm.
On my husband's parent's family farm they raise Golden bantams. They have kindly offered to breed her in hopes that we can hatch a few chicks. Since we still need to build the coop, We may wait until next year to get the chicks.
ReplyDeleteThose are Not "Sussies" that breed is Light Brama (black and whites) and the Gold one is a buff orpington. I raise both breeds and the little light buld needs to be on a timer so they have more light in the morning in the winter time 4 hours before the sun comes up this way they will lay for you as well you need to have nesting boxes in there for them to lay in as well I would put fake eggs in the boxes to teach them where to lay good luck to you
ReplyDeleteAnonymous- They are a breed called Light Sussex, the Sussex breed comes in many colors and this one is patterned just like Light Brahma. Hence the "light" in both names, but Brahma's have furry feet/legs and mine don't. The gold one is a buff Orpington and she's the only one I have. I've been raising/butchering chickens now for about 5 years now, it's lots of fun.
ReplyDelete