Garden and Chicken Run Expansions!!!!

After months of being holed up in the house, I took a "me" day today. Took the day off from work and dropped the kid off at the babysitter so I could work outside for a little while. Seemed perfectly logical considering the temperature has stayed above freezing for a few days in a row and the 1 foot of snow we had on the ground has diminished to about 2 inches in most places. I have been toying with the idea of a garden expansion for awhile, then we added 5 more pullets to our flock of 7, so the chicken run expansion seemed a good idea. So here's the plan....

The garden's original size was 25 feet by 40 feet. I am expanding the 25 foot dimension. I have decided exactly how far, but somewhere in the the 6 to 10 foot range, giving me somewhere in the neighborhood of 240 to 400 additional square feet, or put another way a 24% to 40% expansion. I started today by pulling the posts from the west side of the garden, and left it at that for now. Like I said I haven't definitely decided how much larger I want the garden. Decisions, decisions.

The chicken run expansion was more straight forward since I only had so much space to work with. The original chicken run was 15 feet by 20 feet or 300 square feet total. I am expanding the 20 foot dimension. The new dimensions will be 15 feet by 27 feet or 105 square feet more than I had before. At least initially the expansion will be separated by the original fencing which will give me 2 separate areas. The new pullets can be put into the new smaller area and hopefully when added to the flock will be integrated with minimal problems. I'm also hoping that once the new are living peaceably with the old I'll be able to put all the chickens into the newer run and get something green to grow in the original run, and rotate the chickens back and forth (at least spring through fall) growing grass and clover in one side while the chickens eat, scratch, and generally destroy the other. If that doesn't work out I'll remove the original fencing and just expand the run. The upside to that is I will be able to expand the chicken coop making more room for additional chickens. I can't keep up with egg orders as it is right now. I took 2 metal t-posts that I removed from the garden and put them into place. I also took the center wooden post I removed from the garden and used it for the corner post of the chicken run expansion.

I don't have any pictures yet since it wouldn't really look like anything has been done. I will post them in the future when everything is done.

The Chicken Coop

In October 2008, I built my chicken coop. It was quite the project and took multiple weekends for my Dad and I to complete, but I think the end result was worth the effort. The picture to the left shows the finished product (mostly anyway). The only items still to be completed is the gutter and rain barrel, I'll be waiting for a warmer weekend to complete those additions. The chicken run is located next to my vegetable garden, eventually there will be an access door cut into the fence so I can let the chickens enter the garden area for an hour or so to eat bugs and fallen vegetables and deposit their fertilizer, again a project for a warmer weekend. I apologize for the quality of the photos, but it was getting dark when I took these.

The coop itself I designed basically from scratch; however I did use ideas found on BackyardChickens.com and several books. The overall dimensions are 5'x8', with a lean to style roof. I hope to house 10 Buff Orpintons or a like number of Barred Plymouth Rocks. It has a human sized door and of course a chicken door. A 2'x2' slider window was installed above the chicken door to allow light to enter. Unfortunately the coop faces west for the most part because the layout worked better that way. An additional window may be needed on the south side of the building for additional light as the west facing window lets in marginal light, at best, during the day. The nest boxes are built into the north facing wall and are accessible from the outside. There are 3 nest boxes in all each one approximately 14"x14"x15"deep. The structure's roof is shingled along with the nest box "dormer". The entire roof over the nest boxes lifts up using a "piano" hinge. When collecting eggs I use a small chain attached to the roof structure to hold it open. The entire building is insulated using R-13 fiberglass insulation, and all interior seams are caulked to avoid any drafts. Ventilation may be an issue in the summer. Most of the wind in my area comes from the west in the summer. The roof rafters are exposed to the open air on the east and west sides creating air flow between them. While most of the roof is insulated 2 of the "channels" created by the rafters were left uninsulated and I placed closable heating vents in the ceiling. When air comes through and the vents are open air comes into the coop, and at a pretty good rate with even the slightest bit of wind. In the winter they are closed to keep heat in.

The chicken run is fenced in but not covered since I don't seem to have a predator problem with my ducks, which generally range freely on my pond. The yard is 15'x20', and is sloped. I haven't devised a scheme to deal with inevitable loss of vegetation in the run. I don't have the space to partition the run into 2 different yards allowing grass to grow on one side while the chickens tear the other side to shreds.