The Chicken Coop

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The chicken coop was built in March in the rain and snow when Rachel and I first came up. We needed to get it built in a hurry because her mother was giving us her 9 laying hens and a mated pair of mature guineas. I picked the gazebo site because there was already an existing pad, and the large white oaks would offer the birds plenty of shade and keep the coop cool during the hot summer months. It's 8'x8', with a scrap metal roof pieced together from scraps I already had under the cabin:

The birds are following me up to the coop for a treat. A guinea's in the distance, and Goldie's on the far left. She's an aracona and lays blue eggs pretty dependably. She became very ill after the move up and we thought we might lose her. But she recovered and is doing well. She has the typical aracona skittishness and is difficult to catch. Rosy's in the foreground with a guinea - our friendliest chicken, and dependable layer. She often squats when we come nearby because she's desperate for a rooster - sometimes makes pretend clucks to chicks while she's eating. She'll also wander into the cabin to peck the floor if we leave the door open [sometimes pecks the door to be let in]:

This is the new run - cheap t-stakes from Tractor Supply, 3' chicken wire, and the gazebo wraparound screen now used for shade. The original run was just a strip in the back. We added on to it as the flock increased and we needed to take occasional trips to Atlanta and the birds needed more runaround space while we were gone:

A closer look at the coop and more guineas. The windows are covered with metal lath. The trim around the windows will be used to staple 4 mil plastic to when winter hits. The coop is south-facing:

A look inside. Claudia, our largest bird, a barred rock, is nesting in the biggest most popular nest box. Little Bit is in the plastic tub I put in for a nest box for the ducks when they're ready to lay. Little Bit's a banty and lays maybe 1 egg a week that is pure yolk. The tray is used to collect spilled feed, the homemade feed's in the trough, the little plastic containers attached to the wall have dried ground eggshell and grit:

The loft ladder and double roost. I added the lower roost after the second batch of guineas raised by Buffy started to grow. The guineas still however argue every evening about whether to sleep in the coop or in the white oak over the coop. Usually 2 or 3 will sleep in the tree. Especially if it's nice weather. They can fly very well and sometimes land even on the cabin roof:

The run door. Works very well and the latch is racoon-proof:

The back of the coop. A rain barrel to collect rain off the roof for their water. OSB shade to keep it cool. The metal can contains the raw ingredients of their feed, the plastic the mixed ready-to-use feed:

Another view of the back. I piled up random pieces of wire and lath to keep the bobcat or anything else from messing or digging on that vulnerable side of the run. If you look hard to the left you can see the rocks and concrete block that were used to hold and stabilize the trap we used to catch the bobcat:

The view down over the property from the coop:

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