Scott has been a very busy guy. Here are updated pictures of the progress he has made on the chicken coop.
The first picture is of the interior of the coop. On the right are the six nesting boxes.
This is the back of the coop with the nesting boxes closed. He made them with two doors; one that opens to collect eggs, and, the other one opens to clean out the soiled nesting materials.
The pictures below were taken the day Scott put the roof on. We opted for a metal roof and slanted it to keep the rain from running down into the run. There is an overhang to provide the chickens with some shade. The second picture is of the roost. Since we've never built a coop, I'm not sure if this is high enough. I only read that you need 10 to 12 inches per bird. We only plan on having 4-5 hens and maybe a rooster. Since the board is 8 feet long, it should be just fine.
This is the last set of pictures Scott sent. He took these yesterday to let me see how the sides of the coop look. We decided to only have one set of doors to open for cleaning. Originally, we thought about double doors on both ends but he thought a solid piece of wood would offer more stability to the coop.
Now we just have to figure out how much of an incline to put on the ramp that goes into the doors. This is Scott's level at a 6 ft. length. He sent me pics of 5 and 4 feet lengths. This one looks the most reasonable. I read through a few discussion boards and this seems to be a concern for all new chicken owners. I guess we will go with the 6 foot length because Leslie was worried that a steep incline would be hard on their little chicken knees.
I'm hoping to be able to get this painted during spring break. All that is left construction wise is for Scott to build the run. Then I'll have to start chicken shopping. I'm so excited!!
