Finished coop

Please GOD don't buy the coop we bought. Definitely a "you get what you pay for" situation. This thing is a TOTAL piece. Of poo (to clarify). We're going to spend all weekend reinforcing all the pieces that BROKE during construction, including the door. We're also planning on adding some corrugated plastic to the top for aesthetics...

Here she is:

Elinor (Brave) and Barry (I've been informed it's with an A) romping in the yard..

End result with stain and outdoor paint:

Took a total of about 5 hours with 2 pretty smart guys putting it together. The screws were all the wrong lengths, there were no words on the instructions and the materials are crap. The wood kept splitting and we had to use wood glue and clamps to fix the door after opening it only a couple of times. Nothing is level. But until we have the budget to splurge on something fancier this will do.

We predator proofed it by burying chicken wire (hardware cloth would be better, but home depot didn't have it. Weirdos.) about 3-4 inches under the dirt. It goes about 3 inches into the coop and then protrudes about 14 inches out from each side of the coop. Good thing too since our neighbor's dogs seem uber curious about what's happening back there and have dug all the way under our fence. That's a whole different beast. Literally. To see how we started our deep litter method on the bottom, please check out the Coops and Poops post from March...

The chickens don't know to go upstairs for the evening, so we're trying to teach them. Luckily they're not sleeping in their nesting boxes, just laying below their roost, all snuggled together in the corner. The first few nights I didn't put their food and water up there for night time, but I moved it up last night since the door is broken and they won't have as much free time as normal. It's also dipping into the low 30's tonight, so I figured they didn't need to be out tomorrow in the predicted snow showers. So they'll have everything they need in their little lofted coop. So far, so good...