New coop for the happy couple

Ah chickeny romance!

Once upon a time, Psycho the feather-pecking pullet, was imprisoned in the newly constructed chicken run. There she lived in tragic isolation, waiting for her prince to arrive and sweep her off her feet.

Then one day, out of the blue, a brightly colored cockerel showed up at her gate. He danced his "Hey Baby" dance. He crowed his crackly Junior crow. He even graciously ran away from Mr. Big when he felt the fence might not be strong enough to hold him back.

As soon as Psycho's gate was opened, Junior made himself at home. He showed her where her food dish was. He scratched up bugs and held them up for her. He even verified the comfort and safety of her roost.

The one thing the happy couple lacked was a cozy chicken coop to call their own. Luckily the new farm hand, Fireman Guy Montag, knew how to drill and caulk.

Guy and I start construction on chickeny love shack

Doc just completed a horse fence project, so we had a lot of salvaged wood. I scrounged up hardware cloth, a 3x5 cement board, and some fence pales.

Guy caulked the gaps

I bought a pre-cut 2x2 treated plywood door from Lowes. Smart move! It is actually square!! This made installing hinges and hanging the door soooooo much easier.

Doc and Guy weatherproofed the coop after this pic

Alone at last!

We furnished the coop with a 2x6 roost, a dog bowl of layer crumbles, a water bottle, and a covered cat box for nesting. Junior liked the roost. Psycho liked the crumbles.

Oh the chickeny joy!

Cool white roof

Doc and I, with help from some likely youths, constructed a coop for the chicks. It has wire walls and shade cloth to keep the chicks cool. But with Texas temps going over 100, more thermal control was needed.

We tried a mister. It has worked well, but the soil, dry from 5 inches of rain in 7 months, has gone into stinky decomposition overdrive. And still the birds are slow roasting in the coop....

But my nephew arrived for a visit. Free labor, hooray!

We moved Jailbird Vo and the chicks into the adult pen. Buffy gave them a warm welcome.

Say hello to my little friend

Once the red chicks outnumbered the adults, things got calmer. The chicks liberated the mister and the adults withdrew to the coop to sulk about today's youth and their lack of respect.

Chicks in the mist

With the chicks squared away, we set to work on the roof. The nephew and I mounted ladders and braved the entangling poultry net of doom.

Only a fool would put a poultry net over of roof before painting it. Sadly, I am that fool.

There must be a better way

We used up a can of gummy white primer, sealing holes, covering metal, and sometimes painting the net. An hour on the ladders was all we could stand, so we declared victory and hastened to the house for iced tea.

Not as bad as I feared

We put the chicks back and fed them treats. Oh the chickeny joy!

The white roof cut the coop temperature by 5-10 degrees. Now the hot chicks are cool. Aaaaaaaay!

First Occupant in New Coop

The New Coop is done-ish.

I gave the coop a metal roof. I managed to put the last screw into it just as the rain started.

Roof installed in the nick of time

Doc and I worked feverishly the next day, enjoying the Texas sun and heatstroke. We completed the drip edge, hardware cloth, door latch, and run fencing. We decided to test the coop with one chicken. Jailbird Vo volunteered.

Vo enjoying her own private coop

We constructed a cheesy sliding pop door. The hardware cloth impedes the door and the pull string will have to be replaced with something better.

Dodgy Door

After some perfunctory exploration, Jailbird Vo pooped on the sand to make sure it was working. Then she settled in for the night on her mini-pallet roost.

Fancy roost

When we ventured out in the morning, Vo was still in the coop -- alive and well. This was at least partly due to the vermin trap being occupied by a nocturnal trespasser.

Pre-occupied vermin trap

We plan to put the poultry netting over the run ASAP so the chicks can have some elbow room.

New Coop Progress Report

I need a new coop. The fancy brooder cage is getting really crowded. Packing the chicks into the cage makes me feel like a conductor.

Doc and I considered my construction skills, the Texas summer, and the urgent need for a new coop. We immediately hired a couple of likely youths to build a coop. They said, "Sure, we can do that in four hours". I told them I needed it done in two days. "No problem".

Off to a good start

I gave them the dimensions, helped them collect the scrap wood, and supplied them with tools. They assured me they knew what they were doing because their other job was building kitchen cabinets from scratch. I watched them carefully and learned a few carpenter tricks, like measuring.

Fancy tile backer cement board floor

After I came back from lunch, I checked on the young carpenters. Uh-oh! According to the plan the cement board should have fit perfectly with a single cut to add an extra strip. They had to cut the cement board in multiple places and nothing seemed to fit right. Did they check to make sure everything was square as they were building the base? Nah, that is the installer's job....

Next day, the plan was to put up the walls, roof, and doors. After much sweating and colorful language, they presented me with their "completed" work.

Looks pretty much like a coop

I paid them and we all went away wiser. *sigh*

Doc and I dismantled the most egregious errors and reconstructed the coop in fits and starts. We fastened the hardware cloth using screws and plumber's hanger tape.

Hardware cloth fastened over treated wood

We eventually enclosed the exterior with hardware cloth. Searching the barn, I found some ancient plywood that could be wrangled into a roof-like structure. Doc carefully guided me up the ladder and onto the roof. With much trepidation, I screwed the plywood to the rafter, actually making it into the wood, thanks to Doc's good eye.

A roof-like structure

By the time we stopped for the night, I was sunburned enough to have a slightly smoky smell. Doc's theory is that the "smoke" was actually my personal aroma made visible.

Dealing with the Yucky Mucky

My six chickens have a fully enclosed 800 square foot patch of Texas to roam about and enjoy their chickeny pleasures. It sure pleases them to scratch the local soil, known as gumbo!

Everything was fine during the dry season. But then the rains came. What was once 800 square feet of pasture turf became a yucky mucky mire of chicken poo, uneaten things, and composting organic matter.

Oh the smell. It was like being "downwind of a compost heap on fire". (Thank P.D.Q. Bach for that image). The compost heap in the chicken pen might have had something to do with it....

Between Doctor Doolittle's super sniffer and my delicate sensibilities, it was getting difficult to justify fresh eggs. After a few moments reminiscing about the fragrant breezes of springtime, we sprang into action. Ever graceful, I narrowly escaped a particularly disgusting slip-and-fall.

After setting the chickens out to free range,  we raked out half of the rich old organic material. We used this to establish a new compost heap outside the chicken pen. We cleaned out the litter in the coop and placed it on the new compost heap. Then we finished the new heap with some more of the mucky old compost. Back in the coop, I shook out a bunch of diatomaceous earth on the floor and then covered it with fresh pine shavings. We raked dry leaves and pine needles onto the chicken's compost pile. Finally we put fresh hay in the pen, ready for the chickens to turn it into the next batch of stinky rich organic compost.

The chickens came back to a fresh pen and coop. Oh the chickeny joy! They scratched in the fresh compost. They climbed up on the hay bale. They carefully examined every corner of the coop. They topped off their tummies with Black Oil Sunflower Seed and got on the roost for a good night.

Of course, their gratitude was gone by morning.


BYC member patandchickens has a great page about fixing muddy runs at BackYardChickens.com.

Note to self: roof and sand, roof and sand.

Home at Last, New Plans

OK, my Odyssey is complete. I am home. In the process, I experienced long distance driving, family fun, and loss.

My trusted friend, Doctor Dolittle, found my dead hen on Christmas morning and hastily improved the chicken coop. Doc tells me the chickens are agitating for some more coop improvements.

• The pen gets really soggy when it rains. 
• The roosts need a drop ceiling.
• The door catches on the bird net. (might be a human requirement)
• The nest boxes need external access. (um, ditto?)

*sigh* Back to the drawing board.

Re-winterizing the coop

While I was away, we had a cold snap hard on the heels of horizontal rain. This tragically exposed another design flaw and my friend Dr. Dolittle found one of the hens dead on Christmas morning.

Thankfully, Doc rounded up an assistant and the two of them blocked more of the vents with plastic. They inspected each chicken for dry feathers and feet. They even provided big towels to help the chickens think about sunny beaches.

It was a lifesaving improvement. The temps dropped close to 20F. In the morning Doc had to chip out all the water bowls and make arrangements to replace split pipes and hoses.

All the chickens made it. And fresh eggs too!

If this weather keeps up I may have to order a water heater:

The Weather Outside Is Frightful

Here in Texas we are having what is locally known as cold weather at 27F degrees. (I'm not from around here).

I had to take special precautions for my chickens. They already let me know they do not approve of exposed roosts during cool weather. I corrected that once I realized the entire flock had spent the night crammed into one nest box.

The coop is a masterpiece of opportunistic construction from salvaged materials. It is half plywood and half farm fence. This is great for the Texas summer, but it is as useless as something colorful on a bull when it is cold enough to freeze something colorful off a brass monkey.

To protect the birds from drafts I put 6 mil plastic sheets up with roofing nails. That, and a bit of clear duct tape, sealed things up on two sides. The narrow end with the pop door has no coverage. The long side with the people door has a three foot stretch of uncovered wire as well. All told, the coop has 35 square feet of ventilation. The rest is covered. Especially around the roost.

There is no insulation. The litter is not very deep. There is no water heater. There is no heat source.

The chickens are heated internally! They have a warm blooded metabolism. They have feathers. They have a roost that lets them keep their feet flat and settle their fluffy feathery bodies on them. And they get a double ration of insanely delicious Black Oil Sunflower Seeds at night.

Now there may be an issue with ice in the waterer by morning, but they really do not drink much water while they sleep. The big risk is that the moisture they emit while sleeping (and pooing) will build up in the coop and in their little chicken lungs.

So there is the strategy. Keep the chickens out of the wind. Keep them dry. Give them a little extra food.

Meanwhile, I am wearing a down jacket.


Update1:
I lost a chicken to the cold because I failed to follow my plan. I failed to cover part of the coop where a horizontal rain could soak the birds and bedding, foiling my "keep them dry" concept. I have since put more effort into making sure the coop is dry and non-drafty. The chickens have been fine through multiple colder rainier weather events with no problems.

Update2:
BackYardChickens.com member patandchickens has an excellent winter coop discussion posted there.

Wrong Roost!

I am really mad at myself right now.

I have been working on my coop, making useful improvements. Until today, that is.

I changed the roost. CHICKEN DISASTER!

The chickens were OK until it was time to sleep. They could not see the old roost, no matter how hard they looked. Eventually they got on the new roost and I left them. When I checked on them a few minutes ago there were no chickens on the roost!

I could not see the chickens no matter how hard I looked. Then it dawned on me, the familiar old elevated nest box is about a half inch higher that the new alien horrible fattening immoral roosting planks.

Every single chicken was piled into the nest box. *sigh*


Update: They were all on the roost this morning once it warmed up. Gave them better weather protection today and tonight they are roosting in style.

Lytle "Screw Ups": Coop Design

My chicken coop is a "masterpiece". As in master piece of scrap. It was cobbled together from recycled building materials before I had any experience with keeping chickens in a coop.

My daily chicken chores have given me an education via frustration. One thing I did right was to build it with screws instead of nails. (I love my DEWALT battery tools). My hammer drill and screwdriver bits got a workout.

First error: Not enough floor space. I took apart the storage "room" with the hammer drill and a crowbar. After the first day of hesitation the chickens were scratching around the "new" section like it had always been there, yay!

Second error: Not enough nest boxes. I added another nest box below the original elevated nest box. I screwed up (heh) walls around it, including a removable entry wall with a little chicken step. Knowing how much they love change, I walled off the original nest box so they would learn to use the new one. They gave me the stink eye and left five eggs in the new box, yay!

Third error: Litter falls out the doors. I cut corners off of short boards to make guide channels. Then I screwed up the guide channels to the door frames and placed baffle boards in the slots to keep litter in the coop and still allow human and chicken traffic. This was a real trial because I had to limbo under the roosts. The whole flock came in to help and it was chaotic for a while. I got mooned by a hen and collected the glare of death from the rooster, but we got everything sorted before it got too dark for me to find my way out of the coop. Now the chicken ladder and people step are both clean, yay!

Fourth error: Poor roost placement. This one was a huuuuuge mistake. The birds like it just fine, but I never want to be trapped behind the roost ever again. Ever! For now, I have removed the old roosts and put 2x4 roosts in the "new" section. This caused a great deal of consternation. They looked everywhere for the old roosts -- in the nest box, on the waterer, outside the window, and under the ladder. It was obviously hiding from them, so they eventually gave up and used the new roost. Well for a little while. When I checked on them again they were all piled into the upper nest box. Brilliant.

Fifth error: Food and water on the coop floor. This was another huuuuuge mistake. I bought a hanging feeder and installed it. Big improvement! The double walled waterer is still on the coop floor and they often poo in it. I plan to hang it up, or else buy a nipple waterer. Argh! Hanging it was a baaaaaad idea.

Sixth error: Poor access to fresh eggs in nest boxes. OK, I am about as good at carpentry as I am at cooking. It is one thing to play with the big boy toys and drill, cut, hammer, and screw things into more or less the right place. It is quite another to make a sturdy, level, square, hinged, safe, weatherproof nest box hanging out the side of the coop. Note to self: learn this soon. Future project.

I am only half way through my list and I have already run out the battery! Oh well, I need to recharge too.




Update: Added bird net to pen. It keeps the formerly-free-ranging chickens confined!

Pandora's Free Range Box

My flock has decided that they are free range chickens. This is not at all what I had planned!

My coop and run were designed to keep the chickens safe and happy. Unfortunately, my (relatively) smart chicken has had a taste of freedom.

Every day now she slips out the gate or flies over the fence. Then she roams the yard eating yummy bugs, seeds, lizards, and unidentifiable delicious things. Within a few minutes the rooster, a strong flier, joins her and together they promenade about near the house.

This enrages the rest of the flock! The little red hen is not such a good flier. She usually makes it up to an altitude of few inches below the chicken wire, which she smacks at full chicken velocity. The others race back and forth along the fence line and squawk as if I were eating ice cream in front of them.

To preserve my sanity, I let them out until early afternoon. Oh the chickeny joy! They strut and cluck and scratch and poo and run and have a great time.

Once they stretch their legs (and/or wings) a little, they chill out enough to come back to the run for a drink. About an hour before sunset I can tempt them into the coop and lock them up safely.

I was warned. But noooooo, I had to open Pandora's Box. *sigh*

Now I have free range chickens.

De, Vo, and Buffy

Coop "Expansion"

My ugly frugal chicken coop was improvised from a salvaged piece of porch deck and random construction leftovers. At 4 feet wide and 14 feet long, it is the chicken equivalent of a shotgun shack. With roosts on one end, an elevated nest box in the middle, and a storage room on the other end, it gives fresh appreciation for the word "cozy". All told, 7 chickens share 48 square feet of coop space.

As you can imagine, my daily chicken chores have been exercises in regret:

• Not enough floor space
• Storage door interferes with human inside coop
• Clumsy to put feed in storage
• Clumsy to get feed from can in storage
• Really clumsy to access pine shavings

I give my birds an evening treat to lure them into the coop. I often end up with birds underfoot who are very interested in supervising every detail of my access to the storage can of delicious black oil sunflower seed. Between the birds and the storage door I have nearly fallen face-first in the coop several times. I think I would have to take a Lysol bath if that ever happened! *shudder*

Last night I got mobbed by spoiled greedy chickens and it was the last straw. That storage room had to go!

Today I sent the birds out to their run and demolished the storage room. Now they had an extra roost and 8 more square feet to scratch around for nightly treats. If they subdivide, then each chicken will own a princely 8 square foot piece of real estate.

Donald Trump better watch his back.

Master Piece Coop