Holy Cow! ~uh~ I mean HOLY CHICKEN COOP! ~

Well, whoaa ~ lol ~ sorry for the severe lack of communication ~ as it happens, my dorky computer had a little run-in with static electricity, and as a result, I am now on an older one, without all of the modern conveniences of my other one ~ eerrgghhh ~ all of my pictures, my word docs, EVERY THING~ AAAaarrgghhh ~ ok ~ frustration overflow there ~ at least they say that the hard drive can be saved, which is good, because all of our business docs are on there, not to mention the bazillion & one pics ( yes, I know I mentioned this already, I just had to re-hash it for ol' times sake ~ ).....I will not obsess ~ I will NOT obsess, I WILL not obsess, I will not OBSESS.....All right... deep breath.. now ~ to answer some of the awesome commentary left on here.... naah, you know what? I will just put this in a new post ~ ~Red

This was supposed to be my answer to the comments, but then I had the brilliant flash of intuition ~ why not make it a whole new POST? waahaa ~

so, here are the comments pertaining to the chicken coop project ~ And the answers will be listed after each comment. (Hain't I cleever?? :-D)



Lawanda said...
Well isn't that a dandy chicken coop! I never heard of a chicken tractor before! Did you do it like that because you'll need to move it?I loved the butt shot! LOLAnd definitely the barn red. Very cool!!
5:28 PM
Mrs. Organic said...
I'll have to send this link to my uncle, he's getting his chickens soon and wants a tractor too.
6:59 PM
redhead83402 said...
hi lawanda!! :-D Yes, we will need to move it, just so that the chickens can get all the grubs in the grass for us, also so that they can poo fertilize patches of lawn, & eat the weeds. Also, I am intending to leave them in about 2 spots during the winter, so that they can tillup the ground for my garden for next year. I only wish they had already been going at it for this years garden.ROFLLL about the butt shot! He won't be happy, lol,lol,lol. But I will laugh.... hehehehehe. :-D~Red
7:02 PM
redhead83402 said...
corrie ~ awesome! I hope this helps ~ if he needs dimensions or material sizes or anything, just ask, Wood Genius can send him an email with any of the particulars.~Red
7:05 PM

Well, as you can see, I already sorta answered back to lawanda & corrie, in fact, they probably think I completely quit blogging and totally left the whole blog-universe forever & ever amen, since I haven't blogged, since... oh about april..... ( I seem to have a nasty little habit of blogging for every day for a month, and then skipping 5 months.... I don't know ~ my strange urges to write, document, and photograph ~ dumb & dumber....)


Pale Ophelia Floats said...
Hey the coop/tractor/thingy looks great! I'm sensing a backyard color theme which is really frightening since I'm the colorblind one, but meh. Looking forward to the meme. heheh
10:40 AM

Lol ~ ok Madame M. ( pale ophelia, floating about, is she in an underground cistern? why is she so pale? you would think floating about, she would at least catch a feww rays.... perhaps it is on a cloud, but here too, she WOULD be catching some serious ozone.....) ~ I know I promised to meme, but, as you can see, ahem... ~ 'twas futile ~
( toying with the idea of answering the meme right here & now... nahh, I think I will at the bottom, since the other commenters likely don't want to have to scroll through my o-so-dull answers ~ lol ~ may as well save as many as possible, right? :-D)


Tammy said...
Carol - that is one fine chicken coop. Wood Genius is correct.You will need to charge the chickens rent, or maybe sell timeshares.You need high rent chickens, for such an awesome coop.love ya sis, Tammy
8:44 PM

Tammy ~ lol ~ those chickens really SHOULD be paying rent ~ & it adds up to an egg a day ~ the little turds ~ but I suppose I should be patient, afterall, it is the 31st of July, which puts those hens at 17 wks EXACTLY ~ and really only 2 of them are really ~bred~ to give up eggs at 17 wks, the rest will come in some time after that. At least they better ~ lol ~
By the way, we went to a ladies house a week or so ago, and picked a ton of cherries, thought of you, and how kind you were to share your cherries when we came & visited that once ~ I miss you & love you ~
~carer


LillyZoo said...
How manh chickens have put in it and how many eggs do you get per day? Great Coop!
4:09 AM

Lillyzoo ~ well, now, I suppose what we did may have been a bit unconventional ~ we actually got away with sticking 15 chickens in there to begin with, since they were young & small when we did it. We knew there would likely be at least one roo in the lot, turns out there were 2, so we ended up eating them ( we live in town, can't have roo's, otherwise, I never would have eaten fluffernutter & max, they were gorgeous birds... but anyway, I digress...) & then our little toddler neighbor kids went & let them out of the coop one day, and only three were left in there ~ I managed to round up all but the last one ~ so... long story short, we now have 12 birds in there.
It's a nice fit, and they don't mind eachother at all. We also don't move the thing around near so much as we used to, in fact, it's practically grown permanent legs where it's at right now, and the chickens don't seem to mind at all. They are not stressed, they don't peck at eachother, they waddle around & catch bugs & eat any weeds or garden clippings, bread, & general kitchen leftovers (except potato & meat products), & they are totally loveable, and happy, healthy birds. So for us, the space given works for the number of birds we have. They aren't crowded into a cage, but they don't have the Taj Mahal either.
As to the number of eggs we get ~ this is the hard part ~ so far, none ~ but it's because theya re still too young to be producing them. Only the white leghorns are supposed to give up eggs as soon as 17 wks, the rest are somewhere between 18 & 20 wks. Since literally today will be the very 1st day of 17 wks, I'm not concerned.


Christy said...
We found your blog while doing a search for chicken coop "ark" plans. Would you be willing to share the dimensions with us. 4greenfrogs@gmail.com. Thank you!
3:22 PM

Christy ~ hi, we would absolutely be willing to post the dimensions, and If I had my other computer up, I could even post a pic with the dimensions on it & everything, but for now, the best I can do is to give them to you longhand ~ so here you go ~

If you look at the coop from one end ( & therefore see a large triangle, with the nest box doors) & measure that from the very center of the triangle, from the very top to the very bottom ( it's all so VERY :-D) you come up with 68".
Then, if you look at the footprint of the coop, it measures 60" x 96". ( or 5 ft x 8 ft)
They have 21" of headroom when they are down on the ground, underneath.
*One word of caution on this ark ~ it can get very heavy, very fast. As it stands, only Tony can actually move it by himself ~ all the rest of us are wimps, and it takes 2 or 3 of us to move it around. *
While Tony used 2 x 2's, he says he could have gotten away with 1 x 2's. Also, we kind of beefed it up, because of our heavy winters, and don't intend to move it around in the winter. For those who have mild winters, you could use thinner materials & get away with it easily.
We also get summers in the high 90's , & sometimes into the 100's ( but we do always have a nice breeze, as well), & the insulation has been EXCELLENT for keeping the internal coop temps nice & mild. That is with the vents open night & day. During the winter, of course, we will only have the one vent open, or maybe not either, if the ramp being down provides enough ventilation during the day.



Comment deleted
This post has been removed by a blog administrator.
7:57 PM

This comment was deleted by me, since it was just some dude advertizing ~ :-D


twinshiner said...
Hello, we were in the process of building our own chix arks when i found your blog. thanks for all the photos. the visuals sure helped me *see* and refine our arks. So, what about an update on the chix now that they're several months old. Is the ark still accomdating them? And design tenets you'd like to do differently? I've been watching your blog hoping for an update from you. Sure hope you've not stopped blogging as I enjoyed reading another homeschooling red-heads thoughts and humour. I added your site to my links on my blog. Hope you don't mind. ~the twinshinerhttp://twinshiner.blogspot.com/
1:07 PM

Twinshiner ~ hello! yes, it IS still accomodating them ( see my reply to lillyzoo above), however, as noted, there are now only 12 chickens in there, instead of the original 15.

Also ( sorry, I seemed to have answered a number of your questions already, if I weren't so lazy, I'd just re-type them, or even copy & paste them, but, there you have it, laziness at it's finest, asking you to please scroll up several times, filter through on your own... I know, I know, laaazzzyyy blogging, lol .... sorry... sorta.. :-D) yes, indeedy, there are some things we'd do differently, just check out the answer I gave Christy up above.

One good thing about the size of our ark, however, it IS large enough for all of those 12 chickens, even though it IS also quite heavy. And it has proven quite predator proof ( except for the toddlers, didn't see that one coming) Still, it CAN be moved, just not so easily as I'd like. ( For instance, it would be nice to be able to move it on my own ~ yes, I am a 5 ft nuthin wimpo-deluxe, however, I'm not totally incapable of lifting & etc... but this IS pretty heavy.) Also, with regards to the nest boxes, I think we are going to have to make the entrance hole for the chickens a little larger ( though we have seen them in there, so they can fit just fine), and we really need to add a little stick of wood or something right where the nest box door opens, as the wood shavings can just fall out. ( yah, yah, this was my whole wood working contribution to the ark, & I haven't done it yet ~ on the other hand, those ladies haven't started laying yet, either... )

Another thing I'd change ~ those blasted knobs ~ we have these two little wandering toddlers in our neighborhood that just waltzed right in, & let the chickens all out ( "we were wookin at da chickies..). So NOW, we had to put some new closures on them, with little padlocks, which is more of a pain in the tooshy, but at least ~da chickies~ are safe.
Also, you linked to me? SHHWEEET ~ I will stop by your blog & link to you as well ~ thanks for the link!


Pebel said...
Hi,This is a geat Coop! I too found it when looking for plans for our own coop. I am starting homeschooling this year and we have acquired 4 chicks that are soon to be in desparate need of a coop. Would you all be willing to share the dimensions? The pics were great, but I can't quite figure out how everythng fits at the apex. I would love any pointers you or "wood genius" have. I am definately not a wood genius but am trying. My email is pebel@hotmail.com. Thanks! Patrick
1:55 PM

Hi Pebel! Thanks! Believe me, for 4 chickens, this coop is a PALACE. Personally, I wouldn't make one this big for just 4, since you could definitely get away with half the size, and therefore make it WAY more transportable. However, if you are planning on more later or something, check out my answer to Christy up above for the dimensions. ( I know, I know, more LAAAZZZYYY blogging.....it's a habit, I admit it....)

Congrats on the starting homeschooling!! It's a big leap, but it's SOOO worth it! My son is able to excel at Scouts, my daughters get to excel at their hobbies, and they all get to expand on their talents, & have so much FUN, because they don't have the snasty strict schedule of meaningless line-ups, ridiculous homeworks, & asinine no-child-left-behind- ISAT- test teaching. I do not even CARE about the ISATS, ( or the state standards, for that matter, shhh.. madame M, you didn't see anything....), nor do I teach to ISATS or standards, yet somehow, my kids seem to do just fine on them. If you haven't read it before, I HIGHLY reccomend the book "A Thomas Jefferson Education", by Oliver Demille. It is the one book about homeschooling that I have found absolutely INVALUABLE! I could go on & on about the whole homeschooling thing, but I guess I should save that for another post, eh?

~Red