Nice coop April 💜 ! In case no one else has mentioned it, Your nesting boxes are too high, they should be lower than your roosting bars or your chickens will end up sleeping in the nesting boxes which means they will be full of poop and you’ll get dirty eggs. Chickens will always seek the highest place to roost at night so you always want your nesting boxes to be lower than your roosting bars. I would lower them at least a foot 🍻
Just a few tips since I have gone through a few issues from raising chickens in a similar coop. I would get rid of the fine sand and go to a coarser type of sand. The regular sand will get dusty quicker after a while from the poop that you can’t pick from the sand. The coarser sand/gravel works better overall. I just zip tied some 1/2” hardware cloth on my hay fork to act as a sieve when picking up the poop from the coarse sand. It is quick and easy that way. It is also great for picking up all the feathers when they molt. For the trays under the roosts I use something called Stall Dry which looks like cat litter. It gets rid of the ammonia odour which you will accumulate by using sand. Just get a sieve type scoop that will allow the Stall Dry to be sifted to remove the poop and small feathers etc. As for heating I would go with an enclosed heater with no heating element or exposed bulb as chickens create their own dust which can be flammable with anything with an exposed heat source. I use a heater that circulates oil internally and has no fan. They are inexpensive on Amazon. I also use a temperature controlled plug (Therma cube) which will turn it on and off as needed. As far as predators go I would bury some hardware cloth about 24” around the perimeter of the coop as well to deter anything digging underneath it to get inside. Best of luck. Beautiful job on the coop.
April I wouldn't take the chicken wire off. I just put the hardware cloth over the top of the chicken war. Which doubles your protection for your chickens
Love the look and size of the coop, i also like the walk in design of the hen house, the only thing i didn't like was the use of the sand, i prefer the deep litter method. Im also building a coop i call the chicken bunker, im also in the race for the ultimate coop 😂
Very much a hotel for the chickens. My mum had chickens when I was a kid. I came home from school one day and mum had all the hens in sacks hanging from the rotary clothesline. She was spinning them round and round with a rope. Someone had told my mother if the hens go off the lay this would get them back on the lay. Will you can guess what happen crazy hens walking in all directions when let go and no more eggs, So funny I still remember and have a laugh.Thank you April
Really love how this looks and its functionality. I’m very envious of the dry storage area. That’s brilliant. My only suggestion for next time would be to add drop down doors along the back of the poop trays. I think you’ll appreciate being able to drop down the flaps and sweep out the sand when you want to do a complete change out a couple times a year. I like to add Sweet PDZ to my droppings board to help with the smell.
Oh Boy, part 2! This will be great! One idea: can you design a boot rack where you just pop them on a vertical holder with the soles facing up ? Those coop floors - well, you know! Greetings from one of your fans in Virginia Beach, VA. 😊
I'm really enjoying watching your coop project. I dont have chickens yet, but ive been doing a lot of reading. Theres multipke recommendations that say 2x4 roosts are bad for the chickens' feet. Might be something to consider.
Very nice design and well built! Your chicken’s are gonna enjoy living there. All the little things add up to make a great addition to your homestead. Thanks for sharing April!
When will the set of plans for this coop be available? The link below the video takes me to an egg holder. :| Thanks so much for your videos, April. I've enjoyed every one, and can't wait to build this coop for my flock!!
I escaped from raising chickens when I was a teen-ager. I feel much better now. Since I will not have to be taking care of your chickens I will admit you built a very nice chicken house. The one I escaped from was 20 feet wide and 100 feet long. It was home for over 1000 chickens. Thank you for sharing. Have a great day and stay safe.🙂🙂
Great looking chicken coop April, you two did a great job with the structure . Would like to see it in operation and your views if you'd change anything. Something to be proud of for sure. Thanks for sharing with us. Fred.
I plan on building something similar but on an old hay wagon and will use wood chips (self produced) underneath. Just add a little more wood chips every so often. Pull the trailer off the pile once a year (or as needed) and have close to ready compost. The chicken wire looks a little suspect. I know I will be using hardware cloth. We have LOTS of predators…coyotes, bobcat, owls, raccoons, opossums, etc.
Yes, I address in the video to NOT use chicken wire but use hardware cloth instead. When filming, I was not aware until afterwards but wanted to show the steps (which would have been the same). Thanks for watching.
i was raised in a farm in canada,,we hit down to minus 30 to 40.. the chickens make alot of heat them selves,, i question if u need heaters in texas at 30... plus heat lamps can be a fire hazard also. my chickens go outside in the snow and love it.. so somethin to think about.. reason i say this , if u heat ur coop it deters them from growing winter feathers and if u have a winter ice storm as a few yrs ago u can lose your chickens cause they are not adapted to the cooler climate.
Forgo the heat lamps and heaters, it's not needed. Best practice is to let the chickens acclimate to the cold, they'll warm on their own. Last winter it got down to -5°F and they were just fine. If you supplement with heat and the power goes out, you will have a higher mortality rate. After Texas' last cold snap, i wouldn't count on having heat when it gets cold like that.
Loved having chickens but dealing with all the poop was the final straw for me. If someone came up with a chicken coop that automatically cleaned itself I would raise a few again. Nice build, jeez your chickens have a nicer house than I do, that roof is awesome.
Again, you do NOT want to block the ventilation in the winter. And other than before they are fully feathered at about 4 weeks, chickens do not need heat. They wear their coats year round. I live where it gets easily 50°F colder than where you are and my girls have been fine for 10 winters in a drafty old barn.
Question: At 5:50 mark, does the door distinguish from chicken and prey? April is one heck of a builder, but I see sometimes the good idea fairy kinda takes over.
All of my coops are mobile but your stationary coop looks great. One thing I learned decades ago with chickens is design your nesting box to be of roll out type for the safety of your eggs. Chickens love the taste of eggs and the first time one cracks you will have many egg eaters in the flock. Nesting boxes on a slight angle allow the egg to roll out to a safe location, it's a lot easier than it sounds. The chicken stands up and the egg rolls away under the egg door and is completely safe for collection whatever time you decide. If you don't think about it now you will have regrets later and say, why didn't someone mentioned the roll out design when we were making plans. 😊
I often get annoyed by relentless product placement in RUclips videos and just want it to end, but this one time with your heater you used, I really wish you went into it more. I used a torpedo heater building my house in mn winter and this looked like it could’ve been great.
Am I right that your presumed light weight (compared to chubby me) allows you to climb directly on the roofing? I thought this type of roofing is not generally considered traversable. Love your content!
A neighbor's son kept many chickens and used a 10 sq ft moveable coop that just sat on the ground. Other his other chickens roamed the property and spent the night in a much smaller coop than you have here. One advantage of a static coop on the ground is insects the birds can eat. Their dung encourages the growth of insects, so a perfectly clean coop isn't really necessary. Heating a coop at 32 F isn't necessary either, chickens are hardy.
Very sweet, it’s different than we typically see yet not so different it’s unattainable for most and I love that bump out. Question, because you’ve had your smaller chicken coop with the traditional bedding style, if I’m remembering right, and now this with the litter/sand method, which do you think is working best for you and the chickens? Also I like how aired out this coop is, fresh air has to be important I’m sure. I’m in sw KS and we get really hot, definitely dry like a desert but we also drop temps significantly and we have a wind issue. I think it’d still work, I’d just have to be sure to button up any air openings for harsh, windy weather but then there’s times it’s stagnant so that why I like this coop so much. Anyways very neat, love the roof, love the materials like the tufftex seems like an amazing product and could be used for a green house
Play sand is dangerous for chickens because 1. it's too fine and cause crop impaction and 2. it's too fine and creates a dust which can cause respiratory issues.
My brother did chickens for years and finally ended up ditching them for ducks and a couple geese. Said they were heartier poultry, bigger eggs, eat all the critters in his gardens and both the ducks and geese are a self powered alarm system. Nothing happens on his property without him knowing when the geese are out.
I can tell you from unfortunate experience that if you have motivated raccoons in your area you will need to upgrade the automatic pop door to a fancy metal one. Mama raccoon figured out how to back drive the plastic one pretty quick and when it jammed she simply tore it out of the tracks.
Awww, come on April, you went cheap on the wire. You're in country with cougars, bobcats, coyotes & snakes. Any of which could get through chicken wire in a heartbeat. Hardware cloth would have been a much better addition to this build. It's a cute little backyard coop for someone with limited space.
You are incorrect. I went with the chicken wire as a choice as I mistakenly thought it was better, which I addressed in the video. I clearly stated do not use chicken wire but use hardware cloth.
@@AprilWilkerson Sorry, didn't hear that part. Probably when I was making my comment. I'll watch it again (give the video another view 😊). Have a nice evening.
She doesn't have to do anything but I think it would be cool. She has immense wealth and donating time, skills, etc to the community is good for everyone. Some homeless people can't work due to mental or physical diseases, physical injuries or substance abuse and some can't get housing or employment for even more reasons. Be kind to those you don't know.
im sorry maam but youre gonna need a shearwall in that extra large chicken coop. JK JK oh god i hope an inspector doesnt read this and go "hhHEY HES RIGHT"
I used the same roofing on the shed I recently built. Do you know they make foam strips that match the corrugations for the underside? I used these also. They were cheap & you cannot see the screws from inside.
![Chicken Coop Build - Now Complete [pt2]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/lPMjIJFpq7E/mqdefault.jpg)
Nice coop April 💜 ! In case no one else has mentioned it, Your nesting boxes are too high, they should be lower than your roosting bars or your chickens will end up sleeping in the nesting boxes which means they will be full of poop and you’ll get dirty eggs.
Chickens will always seek the highest place to roost at night so you always want your nesting boxes to be lower than your roosting bars. I would lower them at least a foot 🍻
Just a few tips since I have gone through a few issues from raising chickens in a similar coop. I would get rid of the fine sand and go to a coarser type of sand. The regular sand will get dusty quicker after a while from the poop that you can’t pick from the sand. The coarser sand/gravel works better overall. I just zip tied some 1/2” hardware cloth on my hay fork to act as a sieve when picking up the poop from the coarse sand. It is quick and easy that way. It is also great for picking up all the feathers when they molt. For the trays under the roosts I use something called Stall Dry which looks like cat litter. It gets rid of the ammonia odour which you will accumulate by using sand. Just get a sieve type scoop that will allow the Stall Dry to be sifted to remove the poop and small feathers etc. As for heating I would go with an enclosed heater with no heating element or exposed bulb as chickens create their own dust which can be flammable with anything with an exposed heat source. I use a heater that circulates oil internally and has no fan. They are inexpensive on Amazon. I also use a temperature controlled plug (Therma cube) which will turn it on and off as needed. As far as predators go I would bury some hardware cloth about 24” around the perimeter of the coop as well to deter anything digging underneath it to get inside. Best of luck. Beautiful job on the coop.
Oh! Brilliant idea about the hardware cloth zip tied to a hay fork! Thank you!
April I wouldn't take the chicken wire off. I just put the hardware cloth over the top of the chicken war. Which doubles your protection for your chickens
Love the look and size of the coop, i also like the walk in design of the hen house, the only thing i didn't like was the use of the sand, i prefer the deep litter method. Im also building a coop i call the chicken bunker, im also in the race for the ultimate coop 😂
I enjoyed this video. Professionally filmed, and narration clear and concise.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Very much a hotel for the chickens. My mum had chickens when I was a kid. I came home from school one day and mum had all the hens in sacks hanging from the rotary clothesline.
She was spinning them round and round with a rope. Someone had told my mother if the hens go off the lay this would get them back on the lay. Will you can guess what happen crazy hens walking in all directions when let go and no more eggs, So funny I still remember and have a laugh.Thank you April
Really love how this looks and its functionality. I’m very envious of the dry storage area. That’s brilliant. My only suggestion for next time would be to add drop down doors along the back of the poop trays. I think you’ll appreciate being able to drop down the flaps and sweep out the sand when you want to do a complete change out a couple times a year. I like to add Sweet PDZ to my droppings board to help with the smell.
Oh Boy, part 2! This will be great! One idea: can you design a boot rack where you just pop them on a vertical holder with the soles facing up ? Those coop floors - well, you know! Greetings from one of your fans in Virginia Beach, VA. 😊
Your Chicken Mansion is AWESOME April! I enjoyed watching you apply all the details. Which make this project really POP! Great Job!!! 🐓👏😃
Good morning, April! Well, those are some certainly well taken care of chickens.😁 Very nice coop! Have a great week! God bless.
I'm really enjoying watching your coop project. I dont have chickens yet, but ive been doing a lot of reading. Theres multipke recommendations that say 2x4 roosts are bad for the chickens' feet. Might be something to consider.
How much in materials did this amazing coop Cost.
Love to build my own.
Very nice design and well built! Your chicken’s are gonna enjoy living there. All the little things add up to make a great addition to your homestead. Thanks for sharing April!
How warm does it get inside the coop in the summer? Thanks and hello from north Texas.
Awesome job I love the chicken coop amazing for chickens 🐔🐔🐔🐓🐔🐔🐔🐔
Absolutely stunning!!! Your chickens are very loved 💕💕 I love it!! 😊
When will the set of plans for this coop be available? The link below the video takes me to an egg holder. :| Thanks so much for your videos, April. I've enjoyed every one, and can't wait to build this coop for my flock!!
I escaped from raising chickens when I was a teen-ager. I feel much better now. Since I will not have to be taking care of your chickens I will admit you built a very nice chicken house. The one I escaped from was 20 feet wide and 100 feet long. It was home for over 1000 chickens. Thank you for sharing. Have a great day and stay safe.🙂🙂
Nice work on the chicken coop April! Thanks for always sharing with us!💖👍😎JP
Very nice! Thanks April and Happy Holidays!!❤
Great looking chicken coop April, you two did a great job with the structure . Would like to see it in operation and your views if you'd change anything. Something to be proud of for sure. Thanks for sharing with us. Fred.
Well done. Good job. Good girl. Good idea. Very Very Very nice chicken house. I like your video. God bless you.
جميل جدا احسنتي انا معجب جدا. باعمالك وافكارك ❤❤❤
I have and probably will never keep chickens but this is an awesome build. I love the name.
It's kind of Aggie colored though!
Do you have any videos showing how you built your door?
Wow that's a beautiful chicken coop! Great work 👏 👍
Thank you very much!
I plan on building something similar but on an old hay wagon and will use wood chips (self produced) underneath. Just add a little more wood chips every so often. Pull the trailer off the pile once a year (or as needed) and have close to ready compost.
The chicken wire looks a little suspect. I know I will be using hardware cloth. We have LOTS of predators…coyotes, bobcat, owls, raccoons, opossums, etc.
Yes, I address in the video to NOT use chicken wire but use hardware cloth instead. When filming, I was not aware until afterwards but wanted to show the steps (which would have been the same). Thanks for watching.
Maybe you could do a video on why you went with this sand method instead of the deep litter method for tending to the chicken droppings.
i was raised in a farm in canada,,we hit down to minus 30 to 40.. the chickens make alot of heat them selves,, i question if u need heaters in texas at 30... plus heat lamps can be a fire hazard also. my chickens go outside in the snow and love it.. so somethin to think about.. reason i say this , if u heat ur coop it deters them from growing winter feathers and if u have a winter ice storm as a few yrs ago u can lose your chickens cause they are not adapted to the cooler climate.
Ficou muito bom aprill!😊👏👏 ótima semana a você!🌹😘😘
Love it! The chickens must be so happy!
Forgo the heat lamps and heaters, it's not needed. Best practice is to let the chickens acclimate to the cold, they'll warm on their own. Last winter it got down to -5°F and they were just fine. If you supplement with heat and the power goes out, you will have a higher mortality rate. After Texas' last cold snap, i wouldn't count on having heat when it gets cold like that.
Well done! and the battery operated chicken door is very cool🤙🏾💯
Loved having chickens but dealing with all the poop was the final straw for me. If someone came up with a chicken coop that automatically cleaned itself I would raise a few again. Nice build, jeez your chickens have a nicer house than I do, that roof is awesome.
Great video and design. What was the cost of materials for this project?
Again, you do NOT want to block the ventilation in the winter. And other than before they are fully feathered at about 4 weeks, chickens do not need heat. They wear their coats year round. I live where it gets easily 50°F colder than where you are and my girls have been fine for 10 winters in a drafty old barn.
Hats a nice one I want to build a bigger one. I had a 1500 sq foot pheasant pen
Question: At 5:50 mark, does the door distinguish from chicken and prey? April is one heck of a builder, but I see sometimes the good idea fairy kinda takes over.
It turned out great April! 😃👍🏼👊🏼
Thanks!
How did you determine spacing for the chickens ? Terrific as usual !
Epic Gardening has a nice video on this.
Great job. Thank you
Nice Work ! 😊
Thanks!
That's a cool looking coop
Thanks!
Gosh, I love her!
All of my coops are mobile but your stationary coop looks great. One thing I learned decades ago with chickens is design your nesting box to be of roll out type for the safety of your eggs. Chickens love the taste of eggs and the first time one cracks you will have many egg eaters in the flock. Nesting boxes on a slight angle allow the egg to roll out to a safe location, it's a lot easier than it sounds. The chicken stands up and the egg rolls away under the egg door and is completely safe for collection whatever time you decide. If you don't think about it now you will have regrets later and say, why didn't someone mentioned the roll out design when we were making plans. 😊
I often get annoyed by relentless product placement in RUclips videos and just want it to end, but this one time with your heater you used, I really wish you went into it more. I used a torpedo heater building my house in mn winter and this looked like it could’ve been great.
Awesome build and spoiled chickens!
Do you have a link for the exterior harvest door hardware?
Just wondering, since you will have a good supply of eggs, what’s your favorite way to fix / use eggs April? 🤷🏻♂️ 🥚 🐓
Looks good, now you need to start a meal worm farm to feed them for extra protein.
Am I right that your presumed light weight (compared to chubby me) allows you to climb directly on the roofing? I thought this type of roofing is not generally considered traversable.
Love your content!
A neighbor's son kept many chickens and used a 10 sq ft moveable coop that just sat on the ground. Other his other chickens roamed the property and spent the night in a much smaller coop than you have here.
One advantage of a static coop on the ground is insects the birds can eat. Their dung encourages the growth of insects, so a perfectly clean coop isn't really necessary. Heating a coop at 32 F isn't necessary either, chickens are hardy.
Chickens got treats and toys - I got so much to learn...
Ours loved mealworms.
Fantastic!
Very sweet, it’s different than we typically see yet not so different it’s unattainable for most and I love that bump out. Question, because you’ve had your smaller chicken coop with the traditional bedding style, if I’m remembering right, and now this with the litter/sand method, which do you think is working best for you and the chickens? Also I like how aired out this coop is, fresh air has to be important I’m sure. I’m in sw KS and we get really hot, definitely dry like a desert but we also drop temps significantly and we have a wind issue. I think it’d still work, I’d just have to be sure to button up any air openings for harsh, windy weather but then there’s times it’s stagnant so that why I like this coop so much. Anyways very neat, love the roof, love the materials like the tufftex seems like an amazing product and could be used for a green house
Chicken cupola [with a AW logo weathervane] to house the predator alarm/ strobe? Security cameras?
That’s a Chic Palace !!!!
Play sand is dangerous for chickens because 1. it's too fine and cause crop impaction and 2. it's too fine and creates a dust which can cause respiratory issues.
5 stars chicken hotel !
Do you have a link to the chicken door?
It's made by Run Chicken, easily found on Amazon
WOW ! ! 👍👍
How many birds for this? I need it for 50 to 75 and during the day they are all free range
I had 20 chickens comfortably. I know others put more but felt they would be healthier if not jammed. Thanks for watching.
Looks awesome. These chickens have better housing than lots of millennials and gen z!
My house isnt as nice as your coop great job April.👍
innovative ....
:)
My brother did chickens for years and finally ended up ditching them for ducks and a couple geese. Said they were heartier poultry, bigger eggs, eat all the critters in his gardens and both the ducks and geese are a self powered alarm system. Nothing happens on his property without him knowing when the geese are out.
Very cool =)
Thanks!
I can tell you from unfortunate experience that if you have motivated raccoons in your area you will need to upgrade the automatic pop door to a fancy metal one. Mama raccoon figured out how to back drive the plastic one pretty quick and when it jammed she simply tore it out of the tracks.
The Run Chicken door she showed is made of aluminum.
Cluckingham Palace.
What toys do chickens like?🤣🤣
The little xylophones, little hanging things that parrots like to peck at, little swings, and such. It entertains them. Such fun! Thanks for watching.
RICKY BOBBY 🏁🏁🏁🏁
Lucky chickens.
Awww, come on April, you went cheap on the wire. You're in country with cougars, bobcats, coyotes & snakes. Any of which could get through chicken wire in a heartbeat. Hardware cloth would have been a much better addition to this build. It's a cute little backyard coop for someone with limited space.
You are incorrect. I went with the chicken wire as a choice as I mistakenly thought it was better, which I addressed in the video. I clearly stated do not use chicken wire but use hardware cloth.
@@AprilWilkerson Sorry, didn't hear that part. Probably when I was making my comment. I'll watch it again (give the video another view 😊). Have a nice evening.
👍🏻👍🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Nice chick hotel.
It would be cool if you could donate something like that to the homeless
She doesn't have to do anything but I think it would be cool. She has immense wealth and donating time, skills, etc to the community is good for everyone. Some homeless people can't work due to mental or physical diseases, physical injuries or substance abuse and some can't get housing or employment for even more reasons. Be kind to those you don't know.
There are ultimate chickens ?
They are spoiled chickens! They are pets who will lay eggs, not be eaten themselves. They loved to cuddle. :)
I used the roofing on my shed. It only lasted 18 years.
im sorry maam but youre gonna need a shearwall in that extra large chicken coop.
JK JK
oh god i hope an inspector doesnt read this and go "hhHEY HES RIGHT"
Is this raccoon proof? They killed a lot of my chickens here in the hills. They know how to unlock coops and such.
Are you going to start raising birds for Tyson's? 😅
I used the same roofing on the shed I recently built. Do you know they make foam strips that match the corrugations for the underside? I used these also. They were cheap & you cannot see the screws from inside.