The Coop's Beginning...

 

by Rebecca Nickols

Since I'm 10 weeks into my chicken experience at the start of my blog, I'm going to begin my chicken story by explaining how this all started... We lived in the city for 12 years in an old house with a small yard. I think I had something planted in every inch of our plot. When we moved to our current property on 7 acres, I've been in heaven with the endless possibilities for gardens and such! It's been fun to add a new bed each year or try growing something unusual. All gardeners know that part of the fun is planning for the perfect garden next year, and that next year will be the best yet!

Chickens seemed to be the next step in our country existence...I started reading about the benefits of having our own flock, but couldn't convince the husband, Jeff, of their worth. Then when I talked to others about the idea, I became a little discouraged. It seems that everyone who has had any experience with chickens has a story to tell. About the flock that was destroyed by a predator, how much they cost, they're too much trouble, they'll freeze in the winter and on and on.... One friend told me she had been given a baby chick for Easter only to watch it plucked from the ground by a Chicken Hawk--A story still difficult for her to tell years later.... After hearing all this, I asked my father, a retired veterinarian, how difficult raising 4 chickens could really be? His mother managed 300 laying hens in the 1940s, so I was interested in his answer. He simply said that 4 chickens would be, "No trouble at all." And the coop begins...

When we were first married 25 years ago, my husband had very little skills in carpentry. Every repair he did seemed to take forever and cost twice as much as it should. After the job was complete, he would say--I now have more tools and I've learned something new. When he started the coop, he didn't have any plans or blueprints. He looked at photos of coops online and made the plan up as he was building. I remember when he was well into the coop reading about a roosting bar. I told him that maybe he should add one--ha! We really were learning as we went along!

The first phase of the coop project was the frame. I could already tell I liked the layout, the size and the nesting boxes positioned on the outside of the coop for easy egg retrieval! Then we moved the frame next to the dog pen. This would provide the chickens with some protection from the ever present, ever herding Border Collies, Buddy and Sugar. The dogs have never used the pen because of some in-bred fear that Border Collies have of being contained...

Siding, windows, shutters, doors and a tunnel from the coop to the run followed....

Next, Jeff decided to add a living roof to the coop. He makes bird houses and feeders with living roofs and he said that a chicken coop is really just a large bird house!... The frame of the roof was covered in a water proofing cloth and made to allow for about 4 inches in depth for the planting materials. He put horizontal slats in the frame so that the slope didn't cause all of the soil/moss to move down the pitch of the roof. I put a soil/compost mixture in first then added a lot (3 bales) of sphagnum moss and secured it with chicken wire. The roof is planted with winter hardy--drought tolerate sedums and succulents. It requires no watering other than the rain.--It should look great next spring!

A coat of red paint and a rooster weather vane completed the coop...

Finally we predator proofed the run by attaching 1/2 inch mesh hardware cloth--3 foot high around the perimeter and over the top. A 2 foot wide skirt of chicken wire went around, and attached, to the bottom/outside of the pen. I pity the animal who tries to go under, over or through this run!

Now to get the chicks!.....