Never stop building!!

[Gone Country Farms]

I have just built three new pens two for call ducks and on for my chickens! the first one Is a 6 ft tall 4 ft wide and about 2 ft deep chicken pen. They are great for breeding pens. It has three levels and can fit about 3 bantams in each level. The second picture is one of the call duck pens. They are about 5 ft long 2 ft wide and about 5 ft high. They got a nice little box in the back of the cage where they can go in and lay eggs and just rest. That box has a big door in the back so that it's easy to gather eggs and to clean out. It also has a little door where the hole goes into the box to make it easy to catch them in that box. The floor of this cage is made out of 1/4 inch square mesh, works fantastic. In the middle of them I got a dish washing container (white tub). One of the cool things I did was bent aluminum (brown? around the 2 by 4s and 2 by 2s to cover the wood from rotting! Also put an aluminum roof on the back of the box so that when the cages are outside the ducks don't get wet when they go inside there nesting box. I don't know how many can fit in each one I got 4 in one and 3 in the other. I'm gonna build one more of these. What do you guys think?

[SandyM]

I'm so jealous! Those look AMAZING!

I was ar a forum members home the other day ...ducks!!!! I was in love instantly! Think I spent more time looking at ducks then the silkies

I was looking at a pile of left over building products yesterday to try to envision a finished product. Wasn't very successful in my vision but I know there's a kick ass coop design in there somewhere. All I could think is Al would have a new chalet for chickens and ducks built by the end of the week lol!!!

About 100 sheets Of plywood...stacks and stacks of lumber and all this (and more behind the scenes not captured)...

[Robbie]

Gone country those are amazing!
Sandy you have the coop building motherlode right there.......... just google chicken coop images and you'll get lots of ideas.

[G Williams]

Jeez now I want Call ducks, Off to the lumber yard!

[Home Grown Poultry]

Very Nice Matt!!! looks like they will last forever! absolutly perfect!

Sandy your options are endless! my stack of wood is dwindling, i sure could use a stack of plywood like that!

[WLLady]

NICE! Those are awesome! i like how they're easy to get into for cleaning-and the manual door is genius!!!!

Sandy....if your wood starts to get in the way, i'm happy to "store" it for you LOL I'm pretty much out of building materials...a few 2x6s kicking around, and a few ends of ply that will be made into roll out nesting boxes when i get the time/energy.

[SandyM]

I did a plywood count yesterday and there are 205 sheets, and no clue how many board feet of lumber there is. Not all for me I've been told ...lou needs to finish the inside of the new garage ...boo! So I've allotted him 10 sheet Haha :) if I need more lumber, then it's easy enough to purchase more.

I have to get my ideas onto paper. Somehow. Poor Lou. Anyone else divorce over coop design?

After being at Dougs I realize ducks are a must! So in my head I have one half of the gazebo/hexagons type shaped building allotted for ducks, including a ramp up to the swimming area. All the water from rain etc. I want to run into the duck coop, with over flow into rain barrels.

The other portion of the gazebo building will be bachelor pad, nursery, college and honeymoon suit all separated accordingly. I'm going to build a smaller quarantine coop on the other side of the property from where the other coops are/will be. I'm going to make that just an indoor building with no access outside and go to habitat for humanity reuse store and look for skylights or some windows to add so they are naturally lit during the day.

Thankfully I have a handy friend who has offered to help build with me. Lous busy time is spring to winter so his help can't be part of my plan entirely.

2016 - Coops built
2017 - year round greenhouse built, multi level
2018 - build small barn & a few cattle if I can swing cattle (complicated because of lack of grazing ... We are 23 acres of trees trees and more trees)
2019 - off the grid, completed by end of 2020.

[Gizmo]

Sandy I'm so jealous. I need more land 2 acres is not enough! We built our coop all summer. Hurt my back doing it...it's still acting up. I'll have to take some pics and post them. I would love to get ducks but I don't dare ask about building another structure until hubby has time to work on his stuff. But I am thinking of making a chicken tractor for the meat birds.

[SandyM]

Back pain is the worst!!! Ugh!!! Pictures are always welcome :) I'm always looking for ideas. I basically have about 2 acres of grass with the house area, maybe a bit less maybe a bit more, but the rest is all trees. I'm terrible with measurements. I'm starting to feel pretty jammed in over here.

We definitely need coop builders on wheels!! Can you imagine the happiness one could have if a group of coop building crews showed up and said, you have 48 hours .., what can we get done for you? Omg! I'm excited just thinking about the possibilities of my fantasy crew showing up. Back to reality.

I have a lot to do this spring coming. Over the next month I'm going to build with Lou a little storage shed for my cans of feed and cages and all my chicken supplies that I have scattered in different storage areas that makes my chores much more of a challenge .. Especially in the rain. He's suppose to let me do the work and just help guide me (I foresee a cold blooded murder taking place right in front of me) so hopefully I can gather enough knowledge to figure it out in the spring with a friend.

[windwalkingwolf]

Love them, Gone Country!