I wish that I could build that kind of chicken coop, but it’s too cold up here for too many months and too far from electric company hookups (for heat lamps). So it’ll be larger, insulated, and on a concrete slab with PEX running through it for the solar radiant heating system. ...expensive, eh? But maybe worth it in the near future.
familyup; My coop is double walled with 1 1/2” of styrofoam insulation in between. Even the nest boxes are insulated. We don’t have particularly cold winters here but it does get pretty chilly and wet, and the summers can be particularly hot. The insulation really helps to keep the temperatures more even.
Nam Vet; I drew my own plans based on a couple of different designs I saw online. I have a good sketchbook, and bought a large pad of graph paper to draw on, and just figured it out on paper as I went along.
I have about $1200 into that coop and run, and considering the cost of pre-fabricated coops whose design is a far cry from what I built from scratch, $1200 was a real value. It is predator proof, cannot be dug into, and includes electricity, a 150 watt flat panel heater and thermostat, and a rainwater recovery system that provides the girls with unlimited fresh water.
Kirkwood; When I built that bed, the first thing I put down was heavy landscape barrier cloth, and then started filling with good soil and amendments. There are no roots at all in that bed; everything is above the cherry tree roots and they have not intruded yet. They come up out in the grass occasionally but the mower deals with them.
CornBred: Thanks for the kind words. A big part of raising chickens the right way in my view, is to make sure they intrude on the neighbors as little as possible. The coop is over-built as far as the chickens are concerned; they love the excess and are quite happy. So are my neighbors who never have a complaint about noise, smells, or looks. They all get fresh eggs often, and for certain they will all be getting fresh potatoes this year too...
pandoraou812; I use straw in the chicken yard to keep it dry and control the copious amounts of mud. There is no grass and the straw works really well for me. Under the coop is a covered run that is filled with 8”+ of coarse sand. When I rake it clean periodically, I sprinkle some DE over all of the sand and rake it in. The girls love to take dustbaths in the sand, and the DE is excellent for lice control We simply do not have that problem.
Inside the coop I have 6” of pine shavings that I clean and rake daily. Under the roost inside is a slanted poop board that catches and holds the manure, so the bedding stays nice and clean. The random pile is easily removed and what isn’t gets dessicated by the shavings pretty quickly. I also dust the inside bedding and the nestboxes with DE to prevent roost mites and lice. The whole interior of the coop is caulked and painted to minimize the places where bugs can hide.
I have 2 books I use for reference on raising chickens.
“Storey’s Guide to Raising Chickens” by Gail Damerow
“City Chicks” by Patricia Foreman
Both of those books are available on Amazon, and between them they are excellent primers that cover every aspect of raising chickens in a suburban setting. We’re lucky here because we already have a generous “Urban Livestock” Ordinance that limits the number of hens and bans roosters. Checking the local law should be the first thing you do.
Cheers!