Building Chicken Nesting Boxes & Chick Brooder In Coop

Saturday it rained on and off all day but we got some work done anyway. I worked inside the chicken coop while Melanie worked on her herb gardens.

Melanie put more borders around the herb gardens. She hauled the stones herself and cleaned out the grass to make it look nice. She wants me to get her some mulch to fill it in and keep the weeds out.

I worked inside the chicken coop. I built 7 nesting boxes for the hens using all scrap wood and OSB. These are large enough for even the biggest hen to comfortable nest in. They will be high enough so that each hen has privacy in her nest.

Above the nesting boxes I build a chick brooder. This is a large sized brooder with a clean out tray on the floor. The tray is from the large dog kennel that I got at a garage sale recently. I use this for keeping the chicks outside during the day.

The tray slides out easily for cleaning. I made the brooder just high enough to slide in the food and water trays as needed.

The front wall will be hinged to drop down and allow me to clean out the brooder as needed. I will eventually insulate some of the walls to allow for raising chicks in colder weather.

A tiki light set keeps the chicks warm at night while not using much energy at all.

I want to put a battery in there and set up a solar panel on top of the chicken coop. With an inverter I will be able to heat the chicken brooder with solar power.

I will also have LED lighting in the chicken coop. One light will have a switch for me to turn on as needed to service the chicken coop.

Another set of lights will be used to extend the day light hours during winter to give the hens light for egg laying. I will have these on a timer.

There will be boards across from wall to wall for the adult chickens to sleep on. The roosts will extend the actual space of the chicken coop into three dimensions.

I figure I will be able to house 20 to 30 chickens in here during winter nights. With the future outdoor chicken run for daytime I think it will be good.

And the birds go out into the yard to eat bugs and grass during the day anyway.

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Troy
http://www.thedoityourselfworld.com
http://www.theoffgridproject.com

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