I suppose the title is a bit misleading.
Finishing the Chicken Mansion - FOR NOW. There, that's better.
This past weekend I tackled the last part of the project to finally complete the chicken coop and run to how I wanted it from the beginning. You can watch how I did it here.
Previously, I'd replaced all the bird netting over the top of the run, and built new nest boxes for the birds.
But I couldn't call the job complete until I'd installed new roost spots and torn apart the old coop. I knew that if I left the old coop in the run, that the chickens would continue to use it for laying their eggs and perching on at night.
With their tendency to roost on top of the coop, instead of inside it, and the dramatic (and damp) change of the seasons, I knew this wouldn't be healthy for them.
The only course of action I could see was to completely remove the old coop to force the birds to take shelter elsewhere and effectively 'train' them to use the new options I'd provided.
What I used for this build
- Two 1 by 4 pieces of lumber, cut to different lengths (specificity doesn't matter), with the ends trimmed at a 45 degree angle
- Eight 3 & 1/2 inch wood screws
- A drill gun
- My muscles
Thankfully, this week I got some help to finish the project, so it didn't take nearly as long as I'd been expecting it to.
We started with ripping apart and moving all the pieces of the old coop. I figured this would take the longest, and we wanted to maximize the sunshine we got.
I also decided to hold onto the scrap wood. Most of it was in wonderful shape still, despite its age, and I'm sure can be easily cleaned and reused elsewhere on the homestead.
So, for now at least, the wood is sitting in an unused corner in my garden. This space will eventually become where I build my greenhouse, and perhaps these pieces will find a use in there.
Now that the coop was ripped apart it became necessary to install new roost spots. The only other viable spot for the birds to roost until these went up are the nest boxes I'd installed, and I didn't want all 10 birds trying to huddle together on that frame and put unnecessary stress on the screws holding it to the wall.
I picked some scrap wood from our pile, I used two 1 by 4 inch pieces, to fit to that corner.
The length didn't matter to me, as long as they were different lengths. I wanted to tier the perches, and by cutting them to different lengths, it lessens the chance that the birds roosting on the lower beam will get pooped on by the ones on the top.
The only modifications I had to make to the wood after that was to cut the ends to a 45 degree angle so they would sit flush against the walls. This creates a triangle with the walls and the post, and sets the birds back in the most weather-protected corner of the coop.
Once the new perches were installed, it was finally done!
And now I've gotten to the point that I'm happy in the chicken run and coop; the old falling down coop is gone, there are new roosts and lay boxes, and there's bird netting across the entire top of the run. And, as a bonus, I have wood that can be cleaned and reused elsewhere.
Even with all that said, it doesn't necessarily mean that the chicken run or coop is fully DONE.
I'm sure in the future there will need to be projects that happen in with the birds. I might discover that the wide doorway into the coop lets in too much snow during the winter. Or that there should be a system to hang the waterer and feeder so the birds can't poop in them. Who knows.
For now it's functional, and I'm pleased with the results.
Thanks, as always, for reading. I hope you all have a freaking awesome rest of your week, and I'll see you all again next week!
-Alyx
