Coop de Ville, Mark 2

ken werner

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Central NY State
Some of you may remember this thread from a year ago, when I presented my new coop de ville: http://familywoodworking.org/forums/showthread.php?t=14778&highlight=coop+de+ville

Well, after giving us great fresh eggs for nearly a year, it's time to give our hens a nicer home. The coop de ville, Mark 2.

This is basically a 5 x 6 foot shed, which is new territory for me. The last image is about 200 board feet of pine I bought today from a local Amish sawyer. The siding will most likely be board & batten. Still a work in progress, with more pictures to follow, as the project progresses.
 

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Brent, having chickens is really a lot of fun. They do their thing, and are overall pleasant creatures. Each one lays an egg approximately every 25 hours. So for my little family, we have all the delicious fresh eggs we can eat. I feel bad about the ugly A frame I made last year, and am looking forward to having a coop we can actually go into to clean. Windows are ordered, and should arrive in a couple of days.
 
Wow this is now a luxury condo Ken. I remember the last post and coop. Seems to me you gonna have to get more chickens to have a bigger yield to pay the increased electric bill for the heating in winter by selling some eggs to your neighbors.

Soon yu will be changing you Avatar to Chicken man and fighting forces of evil:rofl: Aw shucks you have to click to get the sound going.
 
Went to visit my brother in law many years ago at Christmas time. He lives in Waerloo Cal. which is near Stockton. During the winter they get real heavy tooley fog and sometimes can go weeks without any sunlight. He was complaining that his chicken quit laying and couldn't figer out why. I told him that the chicken need to see the sunlight. and until the fog lifted they wouldn't lay any eggs. I went to the local tractor supply and picked up a spotlight and a timer, set it top give the chicken 12 hrs of "sunlight" and they started laying again.
 
Well Rob, our flock is only four, though the new coop will be able to accommodate more. We give eggs to our neighbors, and occasionally ask them to provide care when we're away. The heating costs are pretty minimal - a 100 watt bulb running several hours/day only when it's really cold [which it does get here.] Much of the year - when the days are long, there's no lights, and when we only need light without heat, then I use a 13 watt CF bulb. There's a reason that "chicken feed" refers to something cheap - it is, even when we buy the good stuff, which we do. This time of year, the hens are out and about all day long, finding their own food.

Given the choice, a chicken would rather work for a living than receive a free lunch.
 
Yes, they have the run of the property. They stay close mostly. You can see a couple of them in picture 2 above. Chickens will go back into their coop on their own, as it gets to be twilight.
 
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She seem to be saying well why arn't ya done yet...
 
Sure looks sturdy :thumb::thumb::thumb:

My wife has been thinking about getting some chickens. Our daughters brother in law has a few dozen. Nice to know that they aren't too much trouble. I could easily add a small section onto my garden shed. Hmmmm.... But we do have foxes, coyotes, and fisher cats in abundance around here maybe it's not such a good idea for us:dunno:
 
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Sure looks sturdy :thumb::thumb::thumb:

My wife has been thinking about getting some chickens. Our daughters brother in law has a few dozen. Nice to know that they aren't too much trouble. I could easily add a small section onto my garden shed. Hmmmm.... But we do have foxes, coyotes, and fisher cats in abundance around here maybe it's not such a good idea for us:dunno:

Hey Bret thinking about em and hes definatly in cayote country
 
Plenty of folks have chickens around here, but I'm not sure if they let the roam at large.

They definitely have to have secure enclosures to keep them safe at night....

I shot a rattler the other day that had a half digested baby quail stuck in it's mouth.

And a couple of days ago saw a gopher snake (I call him Goofy) on the the front porch that I think was after some baby swallows that are nesting there....

Sharon got a picture as he was crawling away, right through the little box I 'temporarily' mounted to hold my weather camera.

So I'm thinking I have more to worry about then Coyotes. Although I doubt a rattler would try and eat a chicken, I could see it being an attractive place for rats/mice, i.e. rattler bait....
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Looks like a fun project, Ken. Someone within earshot of our house has chickens, or at least a rooster. Not really something I'd expect to hear in Los Angeles, but as you've seen, we're on the edge of town and there are still some residential "horse lots" in the area.
 
Yes, they have the run of the property. They stay close mostly. You can see a couple of them in picture 2 above. Chickens will go back into their coop on their own, as it gets to be twilight.

We've talked - briefly - about getting some chickens... we live out in the country and wouldn't be a problem... but couldn't let them run loose.. the boys here use their vehicles as hunting weapons, so any that got on the road would get mashed.... and we have coyotes and skunks here that love to raid chicken coops, so I would need a varmint proof fence around them.
 
My son starts 4H this year and he's already told me he wants to do the chicken project. They get 20 hens and have to take 5 to the county 4H show/sale. I've got an 8x12 greenhouse frame I'm thinking about closing in for a coupe. I tried to get my daughter to do it, but she had no interest:(.
 
A bit more progress made today. Both side frames are complete. The doorway is about 2' x 5'. The jut out on the bottom will be the nest boxes, which will open from above to harvest the eggs.

The first image shows the setting. The next image shows our "run" which is 10' x 15', and has a roof and "walls" of welded wire fencing. It can't keep out chipmunks, squirrels or weasels, but will deter a raccoon, and slow down a coyote. Once the chickens are closed in their coop for the night, they are as safe as could be. Our two losses have come from hawks, and occurred during the day. Most 4 legged carnivores attack at night, around here anyway. The run does keep the hens safe when we're not around, but most of the time, they happily patrol our property. The last image shows "the ladies" as they supervised my labor. Windows are supposed to come via the brown truck tomorrow.

4H is a great program, both of my children participated in it. But not with chickens. Nice snake there, that really creeps me out.
 

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Looking good, Ken. :thumb: You have a beautiful yard to put it in, too.

The doorway is about 2' x 5'...

I'm glad to see you're building the doorway tall enough so you won't have to duck going through it. ;) But what about regular-sized folks like your wife and son? :p
 
That looks excellent. Did you do the design yourself? Cause if I do get some chickens, I think I'd like to steal it.... :thumb:

I just have to figure out where I'd like our chicken run to be. One option would be to just enclose our garden and let them run around in there, but I'd be afraid they peck the heck out of the plants...

We don't have too much shade around here, but I suppose I could rig up a portable chicken 'tractor' (I think that's what they call them) to keep them in and move it around to take advantage of the shade...
 
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