# Build thread



## phishfood

I am in the process of converting an old horse stall into a chicken coop for my Mom. She has finally retired, and has been wanting chickens for a couple of years. It will give her something to do, keep her active, and keep her and I connected, so I volunteered to make it happen for her. 

Luckily, I work in construction, so I have a lot of tools, and experience using them.

The structure is two ~ 10' x 10' stalls, one of which will be a coop, and the other a feed room. 

I will put further details with the pictures. Please be understanding if the details are posted at different times than the pictures, as the pictures are on my phone and are a royal pain to transfer to my desktop, and my phone is a royal pain to type text on.


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## phishfood

Well, I can say with certainty that electronics are the most horrid invention in the history of man. I can't get the pictures into a post from my phone. I hate hate hate the information age.


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## Energyvet

Sounds like you need better electronics tools.


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## phishfood

Or some skill with the ones I have, maybe?

Trying again.


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## Energyvet

Phish, is that why you have no ID photo? Seriously, consider a phone upgrade. What are you using? A razor?


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## phishfood

Casio Commando.

And the reason I have no avatar photo is that I am too lazy to add one.


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## phishfood

OK, emailed the pictures to my desktop, downloaded them, and now I am trying to post them. 

First picture is of the laying boxes. I built them as a unit, then put them in the coop.


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## phishfood

Success!!

OK, this is a picture of the people doors into the coop. The bottom door was there, I did a little work to it, moved the latch, added a thresh hold so that I could attach wire to the thresh hold to stop the ***** from digging under. And then I built a door for the top.Also in this picture you can see the chicken door on the far side of the coop.


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## phishfood

And now a picture of the roosts and more of the inside.


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## phishfood

A closeup of the chicken ramp to get out.


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## phishfood

And one of the laying boxes in place. I am kind of worried that the chickens will take to roosting on the walkboard in front of the boxes and poop in the boxes. Any thoughts on that?


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## phishfood

Now one of the outside where the run is about to be constructed. The run is an old dog kennel, 21' by 8', just under 6' tall. I am going to put wire over the top of it to keep our resident hawk from getting to any little chicks we might get in the future. See, I told you it was ugly.


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## Energyvet

Okay. Now we're cooking! Well, I like the building and its a great size. You'll be happy you have so much space. And you're fixing it up so it's getting better and better to look at. I think the nesting boxes are fine. What size birds are you thinking you want because that will determine if the perch will work or not. Jersey Giants will likely just hop right over to the box and smaller birds like bantams will not be big enough to poop in the box I would think. I like the little door going out too. It reminds me of a coop we had in our yard when I was a kid. I loved to sit in it. it had big windows that opened out on the bottom about 12 inches, a full sized human door, and a smaller chicken door off to the lower right. Much like yours does. My dad used to paint it to match the house. 

I think you're moving along very nicely. I'm sure everyone else will agree now that they can see photos. Horray!


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## phishfood

My mother has talked with someone who has laying hens, I don't know what breed, that she is planning to buy 6 of to get started. That way she gets egg rewards almost immediately, and wants to raise some chicks up to increase the flock at some point in the future. Should be plenty of room for that. Edit: Leghorns and Rhode Island Reds. She is thinking of getting 3 of each. 

I think she wants to get a dual purpose breed when she buys the chicks, so that we get some good meat once they quit laying.


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## Energyvet

Okay then. You've got a good solid plan.


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## cogburn

Very nice Phishfood !! You are well on your way to an awesome transformation and build ! Keep pics coming!!


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## phishfood

The posts set and spreaders in place, with rope around the top to hold everything together.


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## Energyvet

Moving right along! Nicely done.


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## phishfood

The chain link fencing around the run, just needs to be pulled taught at the last corner. I actually got that done tonight, but didn't get a picture.


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## Energyvet

I like that even better. (Jealousy here in NJ.). I want one too! >:-( mad face


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## cogburn

Awesome!!!


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## phishfood

We have 5 chickens now, who produced 5 eggs today. Mom is a happy lady!

Unfortunately, we started out with 6 chickens, looong story short, my 7 year old helped me plant one of them in the ground the same day they arrived. I will offer up the gruesome details when I have a little more time.


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## jjwilson72000

Looks Great!


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## rob

great job that mate. it amazes me how much better home made coops are. much better than shop bought ones.


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## phishfood

Just an update, we are up to 10 chickens, getting sometimes 9 eggs a day. 

The coop and run are working out awesome! The only thing that could be called even close to a problem is that one or two of the girls always decide to try to roost on the top of the chicken door, and we have to take them down before closing it at night. 

We have 4 Rhode Island Reds, 3 White Leghorns, 2 what I believe are Barred Rocks (bossy ladies, those), and one darker colored one that I don't really have a clue what breed she is. 

We all get such a kick out of the bunch, their attitudes and personalities, how they come running hoping for a treat every time someone walks over. Definitely a good move to get these chickens.


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## aecarlton

Homemade coops are the best, and being able to re-purpose an old building is wonderful for the wallet. My coop is ugly as sin, but I didn't spend a penny on it and my ladies love it. You did a great job! And I must mention that it was such a sweet thing to do for your mother


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## phishfood

Mom, at last count, has done 1, 305, 674.879 sweet things for me, so I am still way in debt to her. 

Plus, I really enjoy the chickens. If I actually get back in the area before dark, my favorite thing is to take my Princess over to collect the eggs and put the ladies to bed. Sharing these experiences and passing on these values to the next generation is priceless.


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## fuzziebutt

My new coop idea...


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## phishfood

Love it!!..


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## robopetz

Haha.. Nice!


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## Chickadee

Love it!!!


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