The floor of our coop is hardware wire with straw on top of that. I have an old door from the farm house as a walk-in door for me. I cut a chicken door at the bottom of the human door and have a ramp hinged at the bottom of that door. I just lift the draw bridge, so to speak, and the chickens are secure within their castle. Also I have roosts made of 2x4s built jutting out of the high wall of the coop. They all crowd together on these two roosts where they are quite safe.

I need to take some pictures of the coop and post them here. I'll try to do that today.

OK. Here are some pictures of our Chicken Condominium. The building is 12ft by 8ft; 8ft tall in the front and 4ft in the back. It sits up off the ground about 6 inches.

This is the entrance. Garbage cans hold feed:


Here's a shot with the ramp being used by some residents:


This is the floor just inside the door. Hardware cloth with boards for me to step on:


This is the same area like with straw added:


This is one of the laying towers. There are two levels with three nests per level. The hens can walk behind the nest area. The front is hinged so I can pull it open to retrieve eggs.


This is the same area with the access door open. Here are two of the girls at work:

Note that the nest is a plastic box. This makes it easy to lift out the box for cleaning.

This is a shot down the length of the coop. The door is to my left. Note the water and feeder with a protective poo roof. The roosts are directly above this area:


The roosts. The lower of the two is 4 feet above the floor:

You can just see the light at the top of the picture. This is a heat lamp that is on a timer. It comes on at 5am till 8am and again at 5pm until 8pm. It extends their hours of light which helps them maintain their laying schedule.

And a shot with the coop in use and the dreaded chicken catcher:


A few outdoor shots follow:
Chicken with ancient apple tree and Chicken herding:

Update on the chicken coop construction...

I've finally mounted the coop on it's stumps! This project has been on the end of a long list of more important things, like finishing my house reno. So I've finally position the coop at it's final resting place. It's mounted about 1 meter off the ground on stumps, which I'll wrap with a timber each. The whole thing will have weatherboards over it and a corrugated iron roof. Then I'll build a little ladder for them to climb up the the coops. The red gum posts that you can see here are about 2.5 meters above the ground, so the entire coop is enclosed in chicken wire.

For an idea of scale, it's possible for me to walk under the ceiling of this. The two timber cross beams will be cut off shortly, so access to the roost enclosures is as simple as just walking in.

Before Raising



After Raising



Enjoy

More progress on the chicken coop today. Mixed cement and fixed red gum posts in concrete with stabilizers to hold them together while they dry...

My cat caught multiple mice today. Tortured and then eat their heads off, while they were still kicking! Tried to motivate him to eat the rest, but he wasn't interested. Poor little things. Such a waster! At least he catches mice and rabbits, rather than birds.

My coop is an embarrassment Pops!

It all really started as a exercise in learning carpentry. I figured a good project to begin would be something simple, like a chicken coop. Alas, my own experience to that point has been renovating my house - or rather assisting renovating my house with experienced builders).

And so - my chicken house now resembles are real house! I took the methods I'd recently observed, and applied them - one at a time. Now, there is more wood in this chicken coop then the cyprus pine that towers over it!

A learning experience. I feel ashamed when I think of your make do thread

Anyway, here are the latest photos.
At least the weatherboards are reclaimed timber. They are 50 years old and were recovered from the old house.

In my family there is a difference between a "chicken coop" and a "chicken house." It is ok to build a "chicken house" they tend to last longer and it should, hopefully, be the last one that you ever need. When you get something that lasts, it is ok to invest some time, money and lumber into it.

<- owner of a chicken house... though not as smartly built as the one currently being discussed.

Thanks Wisconsin This will certainly last - short of the pine tree falling on it, and even then, it might withstand the impact!

The mistake I made, was that I built it from the inside out, rather than the outside in. By starting with the roosts first, it was inevitably going to end up more complex then it needed to be.

A friend of mine jokes about when I'll install the central heating

You're certainly right. It's good to build things that last. That's more and more becoming my personal philosophy.

Wow HL! That is one deeeelux chicken coop. I thought I was a bit overboard with mine. We have to remember that by building for longevity the costs are amortized over decades of use. All the same I will not be showing pictures of your coop to my chickens; there could be a strike for better quarters.

I call it Neuschwanstein Castle after the famous castle in Barvaria that was built as a homage to the composer Richard Wagner. I should really play The Flight of the valkyries while I'm building this. That would be fitting to its growing eccentricity. That castle, incidentally, was also featured in the film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang for those that remember it I might even put that on the plaque that I'm going to mount above the door.



I'm considering that SpringCreakFarm. At this point, I wouldn't rule out a HD tv, and a set of leather sofas It is reasonably roomy inside. I can walk in to problems. There are eight roosts inside. I will have to build in some perches though. Outside, they have about 25 square meters inside what will be a fully enclosed chicken wire cage, 2.5 meters tall. I'll through a compost pile in there too, so they can go through the vege scraps



That will be my excuse... from now on DomusAlbion

New update - At my partner's request, I've installed a aperture for a window in the rear of the house.

HL,

Besides the window is there a way for the chicken coop to vent moisture? Just thinking in the winter it might be nice to have a vent up high. Chickens perspire through their breath and there can be an unhealthy build up of moisture (unhealthy for the birds) unless their is a way for it to escape.

I'll probably have insect mesh for the window Wisconsin. The position of the aperture is right up at the ceiling, so it should ventilate heat and moisture.

I haven't decided on a door yet. My partner thinks i should make it solid, whereas I originally thought i'd just make it out of chicken mesh. I figure it will be left open a lot of the time...

She'd like a red painted door

Any suggestions? Solid or mesh.... her rational was that it would be good for the house to be rat proof if we do decide to lock them in at night... I'm undecided.

If you need/want it to be rat proof then it should either be completely off of the ground (about a foot ought to do it) or put metal flashing or metal mesh all around the bottom. If I could do mine over I would have made it rat proof. As it is I have a rat killing dog.

I'm thinking about laying a concrete slab on a slight gradient on the floor. That way the lowest weatherboards will start below the floor. Rats are pretty sneak though. Also, I'll do the deep litter method, and recover the composted material from the floor.

I'm fortunate to have a fairly intense wood chipper, which can make excellent wood chips and mulch, so it shouldn't be hard to keep to fresh with new material. I do agree though. Ventilation is key.

What you described with the snakes sounds Grisly indeed Shannymara! We don't tend to get snakes that would attack a chicken, though we do have two of the most deadly snakes in the world in our area. The Eastern Brown Snake and the Red-bellied Black Snake. Nasty critters

I think i might go with your suggestion re: hardware cloth. Though I'll construct it from timber with panels for ventilation.

I love this forum! Thanks for the tips

Another update to ye old' chicken 'house'

I've added the hinge side doors as per SpringCreekFarm & Shannymara suggestion. A little fiddly to begin with, but I worked it out.

It was a good addition really. Now, in different weather conditions, I can hinge the outer doors for additional ventilation. I'm sure the chickens will enjoy that on a hot day.

Enjoy

Oh, btw, peak oil was ALL OVER the radio while i was working on this today. Three consecutive segments of talk back radio discussing what we're going to do, and how we're going to get by. I was feeling 'prepared' ha ha ha.

Congratulations DomusAlbion. I suppose that makes you a grandparent of sorts. I look forward to having a batch of chickens when I get to there... They are amazing birds aren't they! So useful, and cooperative

Regarding mine, I wouldn't pinion them. In the photos below, in the background, you can make out some red gum post. These will have a pergola style structure supporting a caged roof. Necessary as we have magpies that steal eggs. So the enclosure has to be protected from above and below.

I've put the roof on today. And I've been tossing up names for the house. I'm going to put a plaque on the front. Currently, I'm thinking....

"The Last Homely House"
"The Cuckoo's Nest" < Leaning towards this one...
"The Puzzle Factory"
"Home Sweet Chicken Home"

Open to suggestions