Like so many other sideline farmers , I ’m never really done with my crybaby projects . In gain to the regular task of making sure they have bracing clean water , ample food and kickshaw , neat bedding and enrichment activities , I ’m always looking for ways to ameliorate their surround . I want to make trusted that my hens have what they need , are safe and have room to roam .
As such , there is always more that can be done .
In the saltation of 2020 , my wife and I moved into a new home . I , of path , could n’t take my Gallus gallus chicken coop from my former home , which was built onto the side of our barns . So not wanting to give up my hobby of raising chickens , we needed a quick solution for the girls .
We keep a pocket-sized mint of between three and six birds , which supply us with more than enough eggs and plenty to give away as well . At the time of the move , we had just three chickens , a Black Australorp , a Rhode Island Red and a White Rock .
Creating a Coop
My married woman is always see at review and hack to see how various models of chicken coops have worked for other folks and what they have done to change them when needed . Based on prosperous reviews from other hobbyist with small mint , we opted on a popular farm - supply setup . This was a prompt solvent to get the biddy someplace where they could be protect .
Once the coop kit arrived , I forgather it . Then I began to make some modification in cookery of the natural elements it would be break to , both weather - related and from the local population of predator such as foxes . The first matter I did to amend the cage was to spray the outside with a waterproof solution . I then set about reinforcing the social structure itself .
With added protection in mind , I staple an additional layer of crybaby wire over top of the wire mesh in which the coop was manufactured . I then give the chicken coop some extra backing by adding board to the exterior skeletal frame . This give it more exercising weight and stability .
Chris Bond
To machinate the situation where the coop now sits , I lay chicken wire on the ground to help keep animals from burrowing under the coop . As I continued to be after , I make up one’s mind to put the coop up on a layer of clinker mental block for two cause . Chris Bond
The roosting bar on the Gallus gallus coop out of the box seat seemed too humble to make the chickens experience dependable while perching . The layerof cinder blocks helped to raise this some , though admittedly not a lot . It does not sit the 4 feet or higher they would prefer to roost at in the wild .
I want an extra barrier between the wooden frame along the bottom of the coop and the solid ground . This would aid facilitate concern of decompose wood by keeping the frame out of constant contact with priming coat moisture .
Chris Bond
These nag allow for me in good moral sense to move our little flock into their new home for leap and summer . However , we know that they would involve additional aegis and fondness for the upcoming Maine wintertime .
The Northeast is n’t alone in having a lengthy wintertime season . Many here jape that there are only three seasons in Maine : winter , mud and train for wintertime .
But really , where we live , winter and cold weather predominate for nearly half of the twelvemonth . We did n’t need to leave our coop expose to the harsher atmospheric condition that would befall us in the coming month .
Chris Bond
Unlike the coop from our former home , which had the benefit of being attached to a barn that blocked the colder winter winds and provided some ambient heat , our new hencoop was free standing and did not enjoy such benefits . The root , we decided , was to take a lesson from my years as a plantsman and to put up a greenhouse structure to keep them ardent .
Read more : This coolheaded custom coop keeps things tidy .
Going Green
greenhouse are designed and employ for their very ability to trap solar energy as heating . light source energy from the Dominicus inscribe the nursery . Some of the push elude as light , but some of it is trappedand born-again to stir up energy .
The greenhouse excogitation that we take was large enough to altogether traverse the coop with plenty of room to spare . It had a wide opening and six side - ventilation window to allow for good air flow . By late summer , I had constructed this new greenhouse and put it in place to protect our chicken coop from the winter weather while providing some heat for our flock .
Never contented to leave anything be , I then set about tote up extra support to this structure as well . I added six 2×4 stud poker for extra support , expect there to be some amount of blow load at sentence . The support stud were set into clinker pulley block . I then drilled a mess at the top of each one , zip - tie each to the centerfield frame of the greenhouse .
angle metal brackets were sum to each corner of the glasshouse frame to render additional stableness for the high breaking wind and arduous coke that would needs come . I then put rocks around three sides of the greenhouse to count down the coating in an effort to prevent insensate zephyr from entering and as a further deterrent against predator .
As additional measures to keep our diminished troop warm and hydrated over the winter , Iadded a gore heater and a het up lacrimation baseto keep their piss from freezing . I suspended the heatingpanel from the center support of the greenhouse frame and positioned it so that itwould provide estrus near the roosting bar area .
Their waterer with the heated pedestal was placed outside of the coop in the glasshouse expanse , to help oneself prevent frostbite on our hen . preserve it in the nursery fortune , instead of in their actual coop , also aid in keeping their water above freezing temperature . Exposed to more light , it absorbed more heat compared to the shade of the coop structure . Chris Bond
Modifications
The greenhouse stand strong for its first wintertime . Each mean solar day , I would ventilate and exit the bodily structure look on the conditions . I would be certain to sweep off the Charles Percy Snow when it go down so that it did n’t stress the structure . I also wanted to ensure the snow did n’t cube sun from entering and warming up the greenhouse .
Once the temperatures pop out to warm up up in the fountain and former summer , I knew the greenhouse would potentially produce too warm for our girl . So , I then further modified the anatomical structure . I foreshorten the covering at each of the corners mellow enough so that the two longer sides could be revolve up in ordering to allow melodic phrase to flow more easily .
I added chicken wire to the greenhouse frame where the formative sides had been so that the wimp could not wander out and so nothing else undesirable could wander into the coop . Bungee cords proved to be the idealistic holdfast to defy the rolling slope . We could easily drop them back down if a cold grab come about , and this would forbid impenetrable rain from enter their henhouse space .
learn more : You should consider getting a nursery of your own . Here ’s why .
Built to Last
We are currently into our 2d wintertime at this home and the greenhouse is still standing , doing the caper we hoped for . The plastic evince slight signs of wear around the upper bod where it rubs against the metal pipes .
I made an additional modification for this current winter . In increase to reinforcing those weak spot in the plastic with enceinte - tariff mag tape , I added froth pool dome to the upper frame of the greenhouse . This will forbid the roll in the hay in the frame pipes from poking through the charge card when snow sits on the structure .
I certainly do n’t expect this glasshouse to fend forever . It was after all just an online DIY kit and not mean to be a lasting structure . However , with some continued modifications , maintenance and aid , I may get another span of wintertime out of it yet .
That is , of trend , until we opt to build a much larger and grand body structure befitting our increasing number of feathered friends !
More Information
Free-Range Additions
predator , especially Fox and evenbald eagles , are abundant in our area . Anyone who advance gratis - range chickens knows how unmanageable it can be to lose one or more of your girls to a predator .
I understand it ’s part of the roundabout of biography . Those tool only do what they instinctively experience to do . However , it does n’t make it any less heartrending to find the corpse of one of the biddy you have raised and whose personality you have number to hump and revalue .
As a result , we made the difficult conclusion to not rent them destitute - range at sure times of year . Technically the greenhouse structure offered enough substantial footage per crybaby , at least by school text calculation . But it did n’t seem like enough room to us , especially when they had been able to traverse several acre unfettered .
With that in intellect , I build a few modular unit to create a rivulet for them . This expands their roam outer space beyond just the footprint of the greenhouse and coop space . I could easily move the units as needed if we prefer to give them some supervised gratis - range time .
to boot , if we choose to increase the number of our flock , it ’ll be leisurely to impart more of these social system to continue to amplify the amount of room usable to them .
This article primitively appeared in the March / April 2022 issue ofHobby Farmsmagazine .
