Issue one: space. Since these will be free-ranging, or rather, 20'x20' fenced area ranging birds, the coop can be small. This is necessary since we live in the upper Midwest and it gets mighty chilly in the winter. The smaller the coop, the better able the birds' body heat will be to keep it warm. So, I decided that 4'x4'x4' cube would be a good size. However, with discovery of a pallet that I could salvage, the dimensions have changed slightly to 54"x36"x48". It will be a cube shaped with the door and window on the south side. I'll put in another window, I think, on the east side for more light. The roosting box will go in the northeast corner, and I will create a drop-side door for access. The roof will slant, south to north from 4' to 3 1/2' so that rain and snow can run off. I will hinge the roof on the east to west axis about half way across so I can lift it to access feed, water, and to clean and add litter. The perch will go whereever the feeder is not. I'm thinking above the nest.
Issue two: I neither want to spend $300 on supplies nor do I have a lot of things sitting around to salvage and reuse. I am willing to spend what is necessary for a safe, warm coop for the girls and also to make it attractive so as not to incite complaints from hubby or neighbors, but some of the coops I looked at were pretty involved and expensive. Since I don't know if will like this chicken experiment, I don't want to out hundreds into it only to find that chickens are, as my mother has proclaimed, "filthy, mean and disgusting." I planned to buy 6 sheets of plywood and cut them into 4'x4' squares since I really didn't think I had much sitting around that I could use. Oh contraire! Lesson learned for the townies and the novices: you'll be surprised what you have sitting around once you start looking for it.
Case in point, we had furniture shipped here when we moved from the east coast a few years ago. Since that time, this pallet that the furniture came on has been resting aganist the backside of the garage. While it meant reconfiguring my design and dimensions, when I saw it and saw that it was in good shape, I decided it would make a perfect subfloor and base for the coop.
Bouyed by that $30 savings, I headed to Menard's (the midwest's Home Depot) and scouted out supplies. Concrete pre-mix was $2.18 for a 60# bag; I got 5, but only used 2 in the end. I rumagged through the scrap wood and found cedar 4x4s about 2 feet long. $1.29 each. Perfect. Basically, I screwed (with a jar full of screws I found in the garage. Thanks, previous owners!) the cedar 4x4s to the pallet where the 4x4 would be supported by the frame already. Does that make sense? I don't know terminology so I'm struggling here....
There is an old firepit (for burning trash, I suppose) behind the garage. I thought building over it would be a great idea. So I set the newly footed floor back there and started to mark where I'd need to dig. It wasn't until I was done marking and picked up a shovel that I realized that only 2 inches underneath the grass and creeping charlie is more concrete. Argh. So, I just backed up slowly, moving south, digging the spade into the ground until it hit the earth, and not concrete. I had to move back about 7'.
Not a problem. Crisis averted. I then stood the coop back up in the spot, spray painted the grass around each foot to mark where I needed to dig, moved to coop, dug about a foot down, and plopped the footings in. I got out ye olde level, and made adjustments adding and subtracting dirt and rock as needed. Then the fun part: concrete! I'd read in another blog that someone didn't mix the concrete together ahead of time, but instead poured some dry concrete mix in the hole, added some water, stirred, and repeated until the hole was filled and the consistancy was good. That sounded like a great plan to me. If I were pouring footings for a house or shed, I wouldn't advise this but for 3 chicks and their gear (total of 50 lbs, I would think), I think this is a fine method. So, I did that and I think it worked brilliantly. I checked this morning and the concrete hasn't shrunk or sunk dramatically so I would call it a success.
Total time so far: 2 hours, 10 minutes. Total cost, $11.60. Now all I need are four walls and a roof. And the chicks.
