My Chicken Farmhouse

 

by Mindy Rivera

I live in Mansfield, Texas, just outside of Fort Worth. I am a full-time realtor and part-time hobby farmer. Two years ago, I found my dream home on 5 acres. When I designed my coop, I knew I wanted it to tie in with my home ... So, it had to be functional, and it had to look good!

With the help of my friend Sergio Marin, we succeeded in getting both. Because I live on open land with not much to block the wind, we knew we had to place most of our vertical 4x4's in concrete. All of the wood used in the run is made of treated lumber; the rafters and the center beam are constructed of 2x6's, and the exterior of the coop is fiber cement siding.

The wire mesh surrounding the run, screen door and windows is strong enough to withstand most predators that might try to tear through it. An electrical GFCI outlet was installed just outside the enclosed coop in the run, so that a powerful electric fence energizer could be plugged in and an electric wire could run along the bottom outer edge of the entire run.

The unit is livestock-strength, discouraging any predator from ever returning if they get zapped even once. The outlet is also used for an electric heated water feeder during the winter. A small coop was placed in the run for those extremely hot summer Texas nights when the hens prefer to sleep outside and enjoy the night breeze.

The ground in the run consists of a mixture of play sand and very small gravel. This makes for very easy cleanup by just raking and sifting through the poop, much like a cat litter box. The sand keeps the run from turning into a muddy mess when it rains, and I am able to wet it down so that the hens are able to cool off in the hot summer.

A nice house door with glass and two windows were strategically installed to allow the morning sun and the evening sun to shine through for longer daylight hours to encourage egg laying. These windows also help keep the coop warm during the cold winter months, but a solar screen is installed on the east side window to help reduce the heat and can be opened to help with ventilation.

The roof is a 30-year composition roof in a green tri-color that ties in with the back barn roof when viewed from the road. A convenient exterior hatch was installed to enable egg collection without having to enter the coop. In the interior of the coop there is a 2-level roosting bar where the hens sleep at night. Several electrical plugs were installed throughout the coop for many uses.

One of the most important uses of the plugs is for a timer that slides open and closes a plexiglass panel on the chicken door, which is set to open 30 minutes before sun up and closes 45 minutes after the sun goes down. A battery backup is essential for those power outages during spring storms.

A full-size fan remains on through most of the summer months. A corner shelf was installed to set and secure an air heater during the coldest days and nights of the winter. The flooring is a thick, solid piece of plywood covered with linoleum and a thick layer of pine bedding material for easy clean up, mainly under the roosting bars.

To make the coop feel more like a real home, pictures of different breeds of chickens and roosters are hung on the walls and an actual house light fixture hangs from the ceiling. There's also a porch light outside the door, a chicken door knocker and chicken wind chimes that blow in the wind. Seasonal flowers are always blooming in the pots outside the coop.

Next, I would like to have insulation installed, covered by solid sheets of plywood and gutters with downspouts leading into rain barrels (to be used for watering the garden boxes nearby).

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Wow, Mindy, that is an impressive coop! We know there are other dedicated coop-extraordinaires out there, and we'd love to hear from them.

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