coop

[raine]

Hopefully, here are my pictures - if you can imagine I took the picture from the door. Above the pop hole there is just over a foot of space. Any ideas? The house itself measures 22"x28" and has no nest box or perches.
thanks!

[BrideXIII]

ooohhh lovely!!!!

nice job.

[tricky]

job well done , looks great , never thought of painting inside ,it makes sense as it reflects more light

[MaureenHall]

Looks lovely Painting the inside makes it easier to see where the chooks have chucked the mucky bits

[NSB]

raine thats fine, we had one like that. I put a box ior one of those blue mushroom boxes in one of the corners and then fixed 2 brackets to the walls from side to side then put a 2" thick perch in so it can be removed, so the perch could held in place by the brackets. Put the perch a good few inches above the ground.

[Snadger]

Looks lovely Painting the inside makes it easier to see where the chooks have chucked the mucky bits

And it gets rid of that half empty tin of white gloss you've had lying around for ages! Lol

[Snadger]

Hopefully, here are my pictures - if you can imagine I took the picture from the door. Above the pop hole there is just over a foot of space. Any ideas? The house itself measures 22"x28" and has no nest box or perches.
thanks!

The nest box and perches are a doddle to sort out. How many chooks are you putting in it raine?

[raine]

It says 3-4 but we thought 3- i think i was getting in a muddle 'cos when i research it says things like perches should be so many inches off the ground and the nest box should be so high etc etc and there just isn't the space in there aaah! We have also just been told that our rescue date is probabably 7th feb so thats why I'm panicking i guess ( the coop was bought as a surprise pressie you see but i did do my research first- honest!)
Thank you all for your common sense approach!

[Snadger]

It says 3-4 but we thought 3- i think i was getting in a muddle 'cos when i research it says things like perches should be so many inches off the ground and the nest box should be so high etc etc and there just isn't the space in there aaah! We have also just been told that our rescue date is probabably 7th feb so thats why I'm panicking i guess ( the coop was bought as a surprise pressie you see but i did do my research first- honest!)
Thank you all for your common sense approach!

You might also find a few perches or even an old branch in the run will be of benefit also. The outdoor section of my run is muddy just now so the chooks love to sit on the perches ouside and keep their feet dry! Chooks hate wet feet!

[Glutton4...]

You might also find a few perches or even an old branch in the run will be of benefit also. The outdoor section of my run is muddy just now so the chooks love to sit on the perches ouside and keep their feet dry! Chooks hate wet feet!

Yours might Snadger - mine have plenty of room and loads of grass to eat, but there's a flooded area next to the coop, and guess where they spend their time?

It was chucking it down (or rather across almost horizonatally) this afternoon, and they were all outside splashing around in the boggy bit like a load of Ducks at a village pond!

Anyone got chicken wellies?

[lizzylemon]

Hi Riane, I brought the exact same "coop" off ebay without perches or nesting box so had the same problems.

For a nesting box, I made one al la traditonal box style but others use shoes boxes (so anything boxy will do) and now mine have started laying I've placed it in the far left corner of your middle picture with the nest entrance facing the door not pop hole (I was told to leave the box out until they started to lay by the farmer: can't remember why though).

My perches are made of wood and run side to side as you look at your middle picture. The first perch is this side of the pop hole and then the second is about 6 inches this way towards the frontdoor. They're made from wooden battens glued to form a T shape with the edges smoothed off the horizontal piece so they don't hurt their feet as per the books recomend.


The perch holders are like those squares of metal that you can by from DIY stores that have a U cut into one side so that you can slide metal tubes in for wardrodes or towel holders (only mine are made of wood as the OH likes doing this sort of stuff even though it would be have been far quicker and less painful to buy......)

So the horizontal part of the perch is only 3 inches off the floor as there's not enough head space for them to be any higher and as they held in by those U shaped
brackets they can be slid out to be washed as they get loads of crap on.

Now this is purely personal choice and am I only saying what I have because I'm happy with it but I have 4 hens in my coop. I'm happy with the space as they're outside all day and the books say that 1 nest box per 3 / 4 birds is fine.

Hope thats not too long winded or boring for you.

[Glutton4...]

Sounds about right to me. I've got a double nest box - four of them can squeeze in, but it's tight, and usually just three of the sixteen sleep in there. Most of them lay in there now too, since I put the rubber eggs in as a not-so-subtle hint! Occasionally one of the brown ones (ex-batts) will lay outside on the grass, or on the coop floor, but the white ones (ex-free-rangers) all lay in the nest box.

They take time to settle, but they do get there. Enjoy!

[RedThorn]

good luck for the 7th! looks good and all nice and cosy. All I can say is CAREFUL! this chicken keeping malarky is highly addictive!

[raine]

Thank you- this is really handy1 Lizzylemon, that is exactly the kind of detail and reassurance that I needed...and you mean to say that I COULD fit 4 in? Hmmm!!