Homesteading Chicken Coop Build, Chickens, Pond, Garden & Projects

My German shepherd 14 and arthritic Hates foxes!!
Kills them and leaves them in yard.
3 last year alone

 

I've got two not laying for almost a year now. Off/On health issues (Wry neck, sour crop) but have recovered for many months now. I think fresh chicken is going to be on the menu soon, as we need some eggs. My family would faint..........LOL!!

 

Hope you have a crockpot and aren't especially hungry. Egg layers are mostly feathers and bones. haha

 

Some updates on my coop build. I was planning on blocking up the sides and leaving the middle open to help with ventilation. I was going to do this on the opposite wall as well. Working inside of it today I thought it was warm. Which is surprising because it's under trees and was in the 70s.
I dont think if I left the entire portion open during summer it would be too much. Not sure rest of year. (Didnt add trim yet) Also will have the eaves open blocked by hardware cloth.


My sister and BIL are rehabbing a 1 room school house they have on their property. Im repurposing 3 of the old windows.


This is what was there.. Disclaimer, I had nothing to do with this "shed.'

Planned on rehabbing as much as I could, but ended up only using some of the posts. Everything else got tossed on the burn pile.
Every 2x4 had about 1000 nails in it and wasnt worth the time trying to save them. I did keep what roof material I could salvage and tossed it on some of my stacks and kept the 4x4 posts I cut off.

There was a dead BL used as a corner post. It was hard as rock. I cut it too the length I needed and kept it.

 

Outstanding, looks great! The openings with the hardware cloth are excellent for ventilation and I think will be just fine for winter as well, I think wind is the biggest enemy to chickens in the colder months. Nice Job!

I built my pole barn/coop with same type of pitched room and just blocked off my eaves my hardware cloth as well to keep the coons out.

Will you be adding an enclosed run area or just let them free range? While expensive those automatic doors are worth it IMO, set it and forget. And if you get enough sun (which I don't) you can use some with solar & never have to change a battery.

 

Thanks for the compliment. Though this thing is far from perfect.

Going to add an enclosed run eventually. I have to get this done to at least move them from basement by june 20. Going away.
Ill add auto door to. I agree it's worth the $$.

 

Moved the girls in saturday afternoon. Outside of coop not finished yet nor the storage side, but they needed more room ASAP. The bunk bed ladder was at the house when we moved in. I guess this is why I kept it, lol. Got to the point where I was using any materials I had left or from other projects.


They seem happy.


One of the "DumDums" checking things out.

 

Outstanding, looks great. I kick myself for not making mine bigger. I have two hens not laying and put a dent in our egg production. If I had a couple of more girls I'd be in good shape.

 

It was a few weeks ago but we (me and a few neighbors) processed our meat birds. We ordered 125 and they shipped 132. 111 made it to slaughter time. 690 pounds of chicken which gave an average size of 6.2 pounds. Cost of feed has gone up so much recently which made our end cost $2.70 a pound which is by far the most it's ever come out to be but at least I know what I'm eating plus, it's so much better than what's in the stores.

 

My wife tells me how many eggs I could of bought with the $$ I spent on building the coop. I tell her I know what the chickens are eating, living conditions, and it's not about just getting eggs. Plus I needed a new shed anyway.

 

While I was on vacation, my wife painted the coop for me and put up a wreath. Won't hear me complain.

 

Thanks! Just dont look to see how square it is.