Chicken Housing

[ithildin]

Ariel view of the chickens part of the yard.



This was an old chest of drawers. Brother cut the drawers and turned them into nesting boxes and ramps. The open side will have double hinged doors for easy access to the eggs and cleaning.


The hole at the back will butt up to this, the coop, which Glenn converted from a very large dog house. They even have a screen door for the very hot summer. In the winter, he'll replace it with a solid door.





Pretty snazzy!

Comments

[silvercobwebs.livejournal.com]

Very nice indeed!

(Incidentally, they're also about the same size as the average British house, FYI. :D )

[ithildyn.livejournal.com]

ROTFL!!!!!!

[black-raven135.livejournal.com]

I am impressed.
It is reminiscent of my friends who had two hens in their backyard and they were housed in a similar way.
I still remember as soon as anybody walked out the patio door
they would rush over to the fence...........
So funny

[lilliew.livejournal.com]

Awesome! Just be sure to keep a close eye on them when it gets hot. They may need a fan or so to help keep cool. chicken overheat very easily.

[ithildyn.livejournal.com]

We mentioned that to people we know around here who have chickens, and they looked at us like we were crazy. I think we just make them think we're crazy Californians LOL But yeah, obviously we're aware of the heat issue. We put the coop where we did because it's significantly cooler down there, surrounded by rock walls on three sides, plus, there's ample shade. Glenn's also going to set up one of those portable misters you hook up to a hose for them as well.

[lilliew.livejournal.com]

If they have enough free range to find cool spots for themselves, they should be find. It's when you coop them up too much that bad things happen. So don't let them hole themselves in the coop too much if it gets warm in there.

Yeah, the locals might have a better idea however :)

I just know when we had ours confined in a coop with an outside pen area, they ended up smothering themselves trying to get to the "coolest" spot in the coop, even when they had a door to the outside pen area. Killed a few that way. And it wasn't that hot in Ohio. We ended up forcing them outside during the day to a place with more shade and air circulation and they did better.

[ithildyn.livejournal.com]

That makes sense. We're going to put thermometers outside and inside the coop, and keep an eye on it. Outside, they'll be fine, and will pass on to my brother we should keep them out of the coop during the heat of the day. I'm actually more concerned about the temperature inside at night. That will bear watching.

Thanks for the tips! Mum had a chicken farm when she was growing up in northern BC, but she's the cold expert LOL

[lizbet0.livejournal.com]

Very cool! I hope this goes very well for you all!