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Post by cowgirlup on Sept 11, 2013 5:07:52 GMT -7
The link works.. is the 'trench' the lay out for the yard? That will be quite a nice coop. I see what you meant when you wrote 'castle'..  Glad you're getting the chickens.. just in time for winter. What kind of heat will you use for them.. heat lamps? Well, it was supposed to be.  I laid out the coop and run to inside dimensions. The friend who is building it however, works by outside dimensions. DH had considered that there might be a discrepancy but was too busy to clarify it. So I lost some space in the run and coop. The run will be OK because they have the space under the coop to move around it. The space in the coop hurt a bit. I had everything laid out nearly to scale. One inch = one foot and had plans for all the space. Losing a half foot on the length and width was disappointing. I'm tweaking my plan a little to work with what I have. It is also coming out a nearly 2 feet taller than planned. I wanted 18 inches underneath but out yard slopes so 18 inches on one corner is more like 2 + feet in front. We also added a little more head room on the front inside. Right now we aren't planning on heating the coop. I'm choosing winter hardy breeds. There won't be any gaps between the boards and at a minimum will have an interior and exterior wall. Right now we are debating about insulating with foam board. Some sites say it's good. Others are big fans of airflow and ventilation for the chickens. The coop will have 3 windows, some vents at the top and the chicken door. Right now I figure if it gets bitterly close I can close it up. Then do what I do when I'm camping and put a pan with hot rocks in the coop. I can keep them on the wood stove so they will be ready. So far no plan to run electric to the coop. I'm looking into battery operated lights on timers to add some extra light during the short daylight hours so they will be motivated to keep laying. |
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Post by cajunlady87 on Sept 11, 2013 5:40:46 GMT -7
Some words of caution I learned the hard way. I had a large extension cord which plugged in to an outlet under my house which I connected a heating lamp too. Needless to say it still overheated and burnt the outlet. Better the outlet than my house but it did trip my breaker. As for the foam insulation if you use it make sure to cover it as the chickens will pluck away at it and tear it up.
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Post by cowgirlup on Sept 11, 2013 18:12:32 GMT -7
Some words of caution I learned the hard way. I had a large extension cord which plugged in to an outlet under my house which I connected a heating lamp too. Needless to say it still overheated and burnt the outlet. Better the outlet than my house but it did trip my breaker. As for the foam insulation if you use it make sure to cover it as the chickens will pluck away at it and tear it up. The foam will be covered. The guys are building this as if people would be living in in. Floor joists, wall studs all the bells and whistles. This thing will never sag. I was telling our friend I just wanted simple steps for me to get into it. He broke out a tape measure and said "Well industry standard is blah blah blah......." So I said. "Is there an industry standard for chicken coops?" He said " .....uh.....no.  |
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Post by angelhelp on Sept 11, 2013 18:16:08 GMT -7
Industry standard for steps... reminds me of a couple nightmarish stairways I've climbed.
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Post by cowgirlup on Sept 15, 2013 18:22:16 GMT -7
Oh My!!! The coop is nearly done. Just a few minor details to tweak. The chickens moved in tonight. What an ordeal!
We are having problems with Photobucket so I'm behind on loading pictures.
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Glad you're getting the chickens.. just in time for winter. What kind of heat will you use for them.. heat lamps?
