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livingontheland - [Livingontheland] *Chicken Condos... or how to best house chickens

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  • From: Doug Willhite <drwillhite@earthlink.net>
  • To: Harvey Ussery <harvey@themodernhomestead.us>, livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Livingontheland] *Chicken Condos... or how to best house chickens
  • Date: Thu, 27 May 2010 09:40:21 -0700

Raising chickens in your backyard is a relatively simple way to produce your own food (meat and eggs),  learn animal husbandry skills, hedge against a struggling economy, and make your family more self-reliant and financially independent. 

When it comes to the best coops and care for backyard chickens there are many options, choices, and ways to go about it.  It all depends on where you live, your preferences, and the needs of your chickens -- all of which may vary, depending on where you live.

In the rugged, mountainous, backcountry where we abide there are many predators (besides us) that want to eat our chickens, eat their eggs, eat the chicken food, or all of the above.  These furry and feathered "neighbors" include mountain lions, bobcats, coyotes, rattlesnakes, owls, hawks, squirrels, rats, foxes, raccoons, ravens, gophers and stray dogs.  We also have goats that would like to eat the chicken's food or push their weight into the chicken's houses.

We, our chickens, and our plants/trees must endure hard, late Spring frosts, hurricane force wind gusts, heavy snows, rains, and year around hot and cold temperature swings.  As you can imagine, under these circumstances it isn't easy to grow food where we live.  That is one reason among many that we tend to focus our efforts more toward "raising" our food, as opposed to "growing" it (which we also work at doing here... but that is another story, a different article).

There are also matters of convenience to think about:  Who wants to step in chicken poop every time they go to feed and water the chicks, or to collect eggs?  Not me! :)

With all of the above in mind, we decided to build what we call "chicken condos," although they could just as well be called chicken fortresses!

Features & Benefits of Chicken Condos

*Condos are completely predator proof.

*The upper level of the condos are boxed in and protected from all types of harsh weather.

*The downstairs of the condos are open air (dirt floor, wood frame w/ steel screens or 1/2" hardware cloth)  which allows the chicks some features they seem to much enjoy, such as scratching in the dirt, preening in the sun & each others company.

*One or two chicks per condo makes it easy to tell who is laying eggs and how often.  It also makes it easy to tell how much they're eating, cuts way down on how much the chicks peck at each other, and enables selective breeding. 

* You can easily collect eggs whenever you please without stepping in poop.  Nesting boxes are easily accessible to you from the outside through a little door which is about chest high.  Each condo has a small ladder going from the ground floor up to the nesting box and roost which the chicks climb.

*You can stand under the roof overhang protected from rain, sun, and snow to feed the chicks or collect eggs.

*Roosts are located upstairs at eye level where the chickens can peer out through a slot opening or you can peer in at them.  This makes it fun and convenient to tell what they're up to when they're upstairs.

As a side note:  We feed our chickens a combination of scratch (which is mostly corn,) protein-layer pellets, broken up oyster and egg shells, kitchen scraps, worms, wild flowers, bugs, seeds, homegrown corn, apples, etceteras.  Although we haven't tried it yet, I imagine that in a pinch you could get by just fine without feeding your chickens modern factory made "mash" or protein layer pellets.  Before the industrial age, didn't folks keep chickens for eggs and meat without having to drive to their local feed store to fork out their hard-earned cash on special factory made protein pellets?

It's always good to consider how folks provided for themselves and went about doing various activities in the days before the relatively recent industrial age began.  We know of many knowledgeable thinkers and analysts these days who feel that due to energy resource constraints and other limitations of our biosphere the industrial age has pretty much run its course and will soon be a relic of history.  This means, if we are to carry on living well, we must re-learn to do some activities, such as feeding our families, in ways that our forebears did back in the old days.


The building materials needed for chicken condos are commonly available at most hardware stores and building supply outlets.  You'll need:
*4"x4"x8' GDF (green douglas fir or other) wood posts & beams
*1/2"x4'x8' OSB (or other) plywood for roof underlayment, upper floor siding, nesting boxes and doors
*2x4's for roosts, door frames, rafters, facias and backing
*peer or foundation blocks (heavy solid concrete blocks with galvanized metal brackets protruding from the top for attaching your wood frame)
*arsenic pressure treated 2x4's (also known as mud sills) for the underbelly of the condos (or places where wood touches soil)
*heavy duty vinyl coated deck screws: 1-5/8", 3" & 3-1/2" sizes (We use Simpson brand screws and brackets.)
*3-1/2"x3-1/2" metal post brackets (for attaching 4x4's to each other)
*2'x1/2" hardware cloth (steel mesh fabric with 1/2" openings)
*PVC Vinyl coated chicken wire (or other)
*heavy duty roofing felt (tar paper) & staples
*2'x8' corrugated metal roofing
*2-1/2" self-drilling galvanized screws with neoprene washers
*Outdoor fence or deck stain or paint
*barrel bolt latches and door handles for nesting box doors on upper level and access doors on lower level.

We have no drawings or blueprints to share, but we'll post a few photos of the condos on our website in the next day or two.  You may highlight and copy our photos right off of the webpage.

Any questions?

thanks,
doug
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  • [Livingontheland] *Chicken Condos... or how to best house chickens, Doug Willhite, 05/27/2010

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