Alright, so I figured I would share our work in progress coop and run! We have lots more to do and finish but Momma Hen (myself) am 6 months pregnant. SO! Leaves the old rooster having to do a lot of the heavy lifting! HAHAHA



My favorite thing to walk up to in the morning....are my girls looking for me out the front door!




The inside is a work in progress. We have roost done, and the bottom to the nesting boxes are in. (My chickens are 14wks old, my Silkie and Roo are at least 6 months+ and she is my only layer as of now and currently using a kitty box but they will hopefully be done this weekend!) PVC waterer and feeders. Came out this morning to feed everywhere. I have one that is using her beak and shoveling it OUT of the feeder!! So, think we may have to modify more. If you notice NO bedding is currently being used...I'll explain after you can see the photos below...













So, without bedding, the floors in the coop are looking rough but it has helped me solve a roosting issue! I have looked online and used every suggestion to encouraging your birds to roost. Even going in late at night and setting them on it. (Imagine me tired, chasing chickens around a coop to roost them. *facepalm*) I ended up having a lady on another forum tell me that my chickens were "too young" and that I needed to give them time. Sorry but...that answer just didn't suffice. LOL Anyways, this weekend I told my husband I need to take the pine shavings out and spray the coop out. So, I get it all done and it was time to put the shavings back in and it DAWNED on me. How else do we refer to pine shavings, straw, ect? We call it BEDDING! So, I told my husband I was NOT putting it in for a couple nights. Just curious if it would help break up their little "love haven" they all had created in the corner of the coop. Well. I started with 7 roosting. I came out that night to close up the coop...and had 12 now roosting!!!!!!! Last night I had 14!!!!! I have a few of my really skiddish hens still on the floor but it has already helped encourage them up!! I was SOOO excited I was dancing back to the house to tell my husband!! So! If you find your having a roosting problem and have tried all other measures I wholeheartedly suggest giving this a weekend go!! It may mean having to spray your coop out when your done getting them used to the roost but my goodness will it be nice in the long run!

Photo of my ladies the first night without bedding...





**Things we hope to finish....

Nesting Boxes
Window on back wall above the nesting boxes.
Paint the inside of the coop
Ceiling Vents
Trim out the Front Door on coop

My poor ole rooster, he has a lot of work ahead of him. hehehe

Oh my gosh I just love it!! So much cool stuff to cover so I will just touch on a few things for now because I have to go for a walk:)

I love your coop and run:) Is the run predator proofed? You should read an article we have in the article section on predator proofing your coops and runs. The member that wrote it is really knowledgeable and a nice guy! Just go up to the search box above and type out predator proofing and you should find the article.

My chickens used to wait for us at the sliding glass door in the morning but unfortunately they were on mommas patio pooping everywhere so I made a run for them where their coop sits as well. Now they wait at the runs door! Ha ha ha!!

How many chickens do you have? I ask because that is a lot of water nipples in a very small amount of space. You could've gotten by with three in that amount of space:) I only bring that up because I would be concerned with them leaking. The feeder is awesome as well and I can see rats and mice having a hard time getting in there. Good Job!

I've seen really clever ways of collecting poop from under the chickens roost for the garden! I've seen people put boards and rain gutters and just scrap the poop into a bucket. I've even come up with an idea to use worms to compost manure as it falls through a screen under there roost. The worms I'm talking about are black soldier flies:) When I have time later I will get more into that!

Mission accomplished!! You got them sleeping on the roost and that is awesome my friend!

Look into roll-out nest boxes! I think you will love the idea of them...

Going for a walk so I will see you in a bit!

Thank you!!! It was an old shed we had here that I truly didn't want to use for gardening or for storage cause I felt it would be wasteful to use as storage since it had electric ran to it and gardening its just too far from where I would want my garden anyways! Then when we began talking coop, I was like it would be PERFECT! Save some time and money! lol

We currently have 21 total (20 hens, and 1 Rooster). The run isn't completely finished, that is something we are going to do this weekend actually. The chicken wire is fully wrapped, and it aprons out at the bottom. We are going to run 16ft 2x4's around the middle of each side to attach the chicken wire there as well, because frankly I feel it would be safer than just wiring the wire together. As of now though, my chickens don't really use the run. *facepalm* Sounds SO crazy right?? I'm the only chicken keeper that has chickens that never want to leave their coop. It's really pathetic. HAHAHAHA But I think it has to do with shade and such with them. Which I have been discussing with the hubs what to do there. Planting some plants around it to help get shade and until then hanging some tarp or something to help encourage them. I will read more on other suggestions to predator proof though! See what else we could incorporate!

The suggested amount of nipples per chicken I believe is what my husband used here but I actually have noticed just what you were saying. About it getting wet. SO! We may have to take some out. I actually have one polish hen that goes under the nipples and wets ALL her head feathers on purpose. I call it her chicken shower! hahaha

I have a black tray I was thinking about placing under the roost to collect the poop and then spray it off into compost. This was one of my BIG reasons for getting everyone to ROOST! I mean chickens poop everywhere, but the majority is during sleep and I'm not into having two spaces to scrape poop off. I want to hear more about black soldier flies! Is it stinky???

And roll out nesting boxes! That sounds great too!!! I will have to read up!! Thanks for all the kinds words, and great input!!! I can't wait to share them all with my Roo!!

Thought I should add we do close our birds in at night as well! This is the door. It opens out and becomes their ramp in and out.

No problem at all:)

Is a good idea to do the work from the beginning so you are not posting here later that all your girls are killed:( MKK-FARMS is a member here and he write this article on "Keeping your chickens safe from predators.". Go out of your way earl on to protect them my friend!

I would say the amount of nipples is right for that amount of chickens but maybe make on more waterer with less nipples. They will drip a bit but the more you have the more they will drip:) Endless fight! At least with your polish the dripping water is not going to waste;)

Black Soldier Fly larvae will make things smell less and they will make other flies not want to come around:) Big benefit! I am still working on this idea but check it out:)

Chickens roost and poop, poop falls through chicken wire that keeps the chickens out of poop. From there the poop falls on top of the compost that has Black Soldier Fly Larvae (BSF). The BSF's will eat the chicken poop and grow tell they turn black. Once they turn black they will leave the compost and that is when you give them one way out and that is a tube leading to a food bowl for your chickens:)





I did write a short article on using them! - (( ARTICLE HERE! ))

Here is a cute little video on roll-out nest boxes:)

Sorry for my lame BSF composter photo:) Ha ha ha!!

YAY for info! I'm happy that we have pretty much already used all the suggestions in that prey prevention article! WOOT! If it's not "done" it will be this weekend! SO that makes me feel 100% better! LOL

I love the BSF photo and break down! Simple enough to follow! Very awesome! I will have to really think that through and see if its something that we could really work with and do!

I really like the roll out nesting boxes too! Thank you so much! Gonna make the hubs read and watch all this and make a plan! Thank you!

Right on on all levels:) If he has questions let him know I will help in any way I can! Be sure to update us my friend!