Monday, April 6, 2009

The Coop is Finished!

Today's post is a simple one. Oodles of pictures and not much commentary from me. So here we go!

As you can tell from the title and pictures, we did indeed finish and position the chicken coop this weekend. I love, love, love it and I have to tell you now, it physically pained me to let the wee pooping beasties loose in this pristine coop!




The roosts are made using branches we cut off the monstrously huge Magnolia Grandiflora you can see through the coop window. The nesting boxes in the back we left open only to take pictures of. They have to be covered up for the next couple of months until the girls begin to lay eggs. (You don't want chickens to get accustomed to sleeping in their nesting boxes. That's what the roosts are for!)

The floor doesn't look like that now either. Right before we added the girls, I put a 2" thick layer of pine shavings down on the tiles.

The whole face of the coop is hinged for easy clean up. Also, the bottom opposite side under the nest box (underneath the coop) will swing open so we can get in that way too.


Gracie is fascinated by the chickens and will sit and watch them endlessly.


Tilly, Elinor, Gracie and Phillip, our neighbor's son, watch the chickens settling in to their new digs.


Seriously. She'll sit there until we make her leave.


Isn't it wonderful? Dean let me have my way with picking the colors for the coop and the roof. Smart man. Fortunately, we both prefer earth-tones and our color likes and dislikes usually dovetail seamlessly.

The empty wall space next to the sliding door won't be empty for long. I want one of those reproduction advertising tin signs to hang there. I just haven't decided which one yet. I'll find a picture of each of the candidates and post them in another update later.


More magnolia branches for the steps. Dean's idea, I thought they looked perfect!


He's already gone back and added a third hinge between the two shown here.


I meant to take a picture of the nesting box open - oops!

The cord for the coop pulley is a replacement lawn mower cord Dean bought at Lowes. He's a clever, clever man!


All the windows are hinged with hardware cloth screens behind for maximum air flow-through during our sweltering southern summers.


So??? Whatcha think? I'm looking forward to reading your comments!

6 comments:

ginny said...

Jena! That coop is nothing like the chicken coops that I saw as a child. That dang coop is a designer coop! LOL. Not only does it look beautiful, it is also made to function extremely well. Kudos to both you and Dean! I bet "the girls" love it.
Ginny
PS How long will it be before I am invited over for an omelet?

Kristen said...

I wasnt sure what to expect, but as I looked at all of the pictures I am so impressed! That's really cool! The color scheme is lovely, good thing you two agree... my hubby and I are quite opposite in that respect! I know they must love their new home! It's definitely top notch! :)

Jena said...

Awww - thank you, thank you! I thought Dean did a fantastic job designing and building The Girls' new home. I'll pass your compliments on to him!!

RockerJewlz said...

Wow, it is so neat and tidy...the exterior and the colors are perfect, especially with the addition of the lighter green accent.

Can I get a larger version in MY yard for my very own crafting studio??? NIce job!

Kate said...

Now that's the Ritz Carlton of chicken coops!! Awesome job! The colors are so you! Dean should really sell that plan, it is really well done! Do they have Architectural Digest for Farms??? :)

Unknown said...

It's the nicest chicken coop I've ever seen!!!