Chateau de Pollo: Building This Chicken Castle With My Hands

csusbgeochem1 (57)in #homesteading • 7 years ago

Cluckingham Palace!

Hows it going everyone? While rooming with @derekrichardson I willingly took on egg layers and built my first rickety chicken coop. You can view my post How I Became An Urban Farmer: My First Chicken Coop to know the details of how I built that coop. After moving out of @derekrichardson's place I needed a space to hold my lovely birds. I set out to build a new coop on the property. This coup would be exposed to the elements until a fence was built and would also be open to predators. Open chain link allowed packs of coyotes to hunt the numerous rabbits that lived locally. As I had built the previous coop to a "Fort Knox" status I set out to duplicate the same thing but in a much nicer fashion.

The property which I was constructing on did not have a perimeter gate and was open, only leaving small steaks in the ground to differentiate the property line. It was up to my best judgement so I dug a trench 9 inches wide. The trench was 10 foot by 12 foot to create the base of the coop. I was digging the area where I would place the outer concrete slabs. The slabs would be 6 inches H x 6 inches W x 12 foot long. I only had (2) 12 foot long boards to utilize as casts so I could only do one side at a time, this in the end created a rhombus structure instead of square. Each side had to be cast in half simply due to the humidity and setting time of the concrete. I would like to point out that NO LEVEL was used in this project EVER! Scouts Honor! As you look at the pictures you can tell things are slightly wonky. I had ONE MONTH to build this thing and was hell bent on it. I used my eyeballs as levels.

The 4 x 4 corner post were set in 18 inch holes (below the 6 inch already dug) although I forgot aggregate so I would recommend that for anyone duplicating this project. It was very difficult lining up the posts one at a time with just myself. I utilized 2 x 4 boards to help me straiten the new posts. A mixture of four parts aggregate to one part Portland Cement Type II/IV was used.

I slowly dug and re-dug to make sure everything was square for all four posts (to my eye), then cast the concrete slabs for the walls. The slabs had two reasons, it kept the base footers off the ground preventing wood rot, and it also helps keep animals from digging directly under the coop. Redwood 4 x 4's were used as corner posts and I cut them so they sat 6 foot tall above the concrete.

When building the wall I consulted online figures and came to a very common construction technique. The picture below shows almost exactly how the walls of my chicken coop were built. The thing is these walls are constructed for residential use and not livestock. The location this coop is built sustains very high velocity winds as well as being in earthquake country. Lastly a friend of mine slipped the idea that if I build this coop, "lets walk on top!", so I also had to consider the extra weight up high.

Image Author: Ahp378, Image Source: Wikimedia Commons. Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported

So for purposes further I will use these general terms (not necessarily used by the source above), #1 was never used by me in this coop as the windows were flush with the caps. #2 is the window header, supported by a supporting stud (not numbered but very important as all window headers are supported by a stud). #3 is actually two parts, a header and a header cap. Either is the same its just each forms a staggered position to one another so that each overlaps either corner 4 x 4 once. If you feel confused by my explanation simply scroll up to the cover photo and look above the letter "t" at the top corner of the coop, each header caps in a manner so that every corner is connected. #4 Is the window seal and that was just the bottom of the coop where the floor panel would go. #5 is the King stud and that supports the very edges of the frame. #6 is the footer, and lags the studs to the concrete floor with concrete anchors.

Each wall stud was placed 16 inches on center, up until the actual coop. The coop itself was built like a giant window allowing me to use the small wood planks to give a panel look. I used 3 inch screws on all 2 x 4 to 2 x 4 mating and pre drilled EVERY SCREW HOLE on this ENTIRE COOP. Pre drilling the holes prevented the boards from splitting. Each wall was built separately, and I added in fire blocks to make the open areas smaller, preventing large animals from pushing in between the studs. Each fire block was 2 foot off the floor or roof, creating a staggered look to the as I alternated between the two. The door was slightly catywompus but worked fine.

Now originally I was going to go with a very cheap look of plywood panels as the walls of the chicken coop, but while building I came across a ton of unused 1 x 3 x 8 foot boards, and a friend of mine gave me the idea to make a panel wall look. It was a brilliant idea and really made the coop look authentic and nice. The panels used 1 1/2 inch screws that eventually had to have the tips ground down as they were slightly longer than needed and the sharp tips would protrude through.

As the pictures show I was building various things at different times based on what was available at the time. Not all of the concrete slabs were placed before I started building walls. Also like I mentioned above, The coop was built in a manner of giant windows, with the rear wall needing a large window header. The window header was constructed of (2) 2 x 6 x 12 foot boards with a 1 x 6 x 12 foot board sandwiched between the two. This window header was set upon two king studs at either 4 x 4 post. This gave enough strength to allow individuals to walk on top of the coop. The studs below the window seal were again set 16 inches on center.

Small windows were created to allow air flow during the summer and prevent the buildup of harmful ammonia fumes from the poop the chickens expel. Three on the rear side and three were built on the inside portion of the coop. I used a 12 foot long 1 x 3 to help secure the smaller panels to the entire framework. As you notice in the picture a small area was left open and not paneled up. This section would be were I placed the lay boxes. An old children's toy box was already built and I utilized that box, placing it on the window seal to be screwed in and I cut a few holes in the side of it to allow the chickens to enter. Each box had an interior space of 1 foot cubed. The box was then supported by small beams, cut and screwed to the lower studs.

Like I mentioned above, I was all over the place on this project and started painting the rear wall before all the others were finished. Two coats of white exterior latex paint was used on everything but the coop panels. Only one coat was used and several coats of barn yard red to create a beautiful look. My girlfriend @beckymeep did a great job painting the panels while I continued to build the coop.

Now after the walls were finished I focused on the interior portion of the coop. I'm not quite sure what happened to the construction photos of this portion so ill just go into detail and the photos from here on out will give you a representation. I had to dig holes for three new 4 x 4's that would support the inner portion of the coop, 18 inches deep like the others. One post at every corner as well as one on either side where to coop would meet the wall. Those that were screwed to existing walls had small concrete slabs built under them and were not actually cemented in the ground like the three center posts. The three center posts had small casts 6 inches tall just like the perimeter slabs. 36 square feet of floor space was built to accommodate the chickens (not including the lay box space), with 70 inches of roost bar split between two bars. The interior of the coop was 3 feet tall from floor to roof. The interior walls of the coop were built and painted like the exterior walls. Three small doors were added, much like the windows and would allow the chickens to freely roam in and out at will.

Now came the hard part, digging out the rest of the interior of the coop. This area would accommodate the mulch I would put down for the chickens to scratch through, but this part of the job took FOREVER because I was moving a lot of dirt. Digging down prevented the birds from kicking out all of the mulch to the exterior of the cage while they scratch. Once dug down, I placed chicken wire against the ground to prevent predators and gophers from digging into the coop. On top of the chicken wire, red brick was placed and lined the entire interior of the coop. This is why I called my chicken coop "Fort Knox" of this area. Even a large animal digging underneath would hit chicken wire and would not be able to push it up due to the brick.

I had to find enough mulch to fill in the center so that the birds were not walking on hard brick for long. Before finishing the outer portion of the cage, I had to lag all the walls to the concrete slabs below them. I used 5 inch long concrete anchors, one in between each stud of every wall. This would give rigidity to the structure.

Prior to purchasing the mulch I put the finishing touches on the coop and frankly the most expensive part of it, the hardware cloth that surrounds the cage. I used hardware cloth because while researching how to build a coop it came to my attention that chicken wire was not a successful barrier against predators and a lot of chicken owners preferred hardware cloth, which was stronger but more expensive. Man was it expensive, a few hundred USD on just the cage material. I lined the sides, roof, and windows and was able to move the birds in right away. Heavy duty staples were used to adhere the cloth to the wood. I didn't skimp on the staples either, this was the final barrier between outside and inside.

A few days after moving the birds in, the weather went south and a few nights dropped below freezing with the wind chill. As two windows reside on either sides of both the roost bars I felt it imperative to build window shutters I could drop and give the birds some shelter from those winds. The shutters had hooks attached to allow them to be held up on nice days.

I added shutters to the interior windows as well

I also added hinged locks to the coop door and lay boxes, as I stated before there is no back fence and there is access from the street to our back yard. No egg thieves will lay their hands on my eggs.

The roof was constructed of 2 x 4's cut the width of the coop and screwed in like panels on the top. As these 2 x 4's did not add much support for someone walking on top of them, I placed 2 x 10 x 12 foot long planks the length of the coop. This allowed the weight of the individuals walking on top to be distributed through all the 2 x 4 planks below them and then to the entire structure. Silicone sealer was used in between the seams and any where water might intrude into the coop.

Shortly after finishing the roof I decided to put a bench up top so @beckymeep and I could enjoy the New Years Eve fireworks show that would take place down in the city.

I own four hens and one rooster (one hen is missing in the picture below) and its peak egg season at the moment.

Now I am swimming in eggs of all different colors, Eggs Anyone?

Now you may ask why I went through so much trouble for so few birds. Free range eggs have a ton of health benefits. The website Mother Earth News has an article written by Tabitha Alterman titled More Great News About Free-Range Eggs that states:

Tests show free-range eggs have more vitamin A and more omega-3 fatty acids than factory farm eggs. Now it turns out they have more vitamin D as well — three to six times as much!

Now as many of you know California is very progressive in its policies and has recently enacted a law forcing egg producers in the state to give more space to their layers. KCET.org has an article by Neal Ungerleider titled California's New Egg Law which explains:

Two new regulations took effect on January 1st that will have a big impact on both the availability of eggs in California, and California's large egg industry. The first law, called Proposition 2, requires the space allocated for every egg-laying chicken in California to be increased by nearly 70%. The other regulation, AB 1437, bans the sale of eggs from chickens in small "battery cages" in California altogether. Battery cages account for nearly 90% of the American egg supply, but have been linked to higher salmonella rates than the use of larger "colony cages," the habitats that contain "free-range" chickens.

These new laws in California have caused a lot of problems with neighboring states that sell eggs inside California. Poultry World has an article written by Tony McDougal titled 13 US states take legal action over California egg law which gives insight:

The lawsuit alleges that California’s requirements violate the US Constitution’s interstate commercial clause and are pre-empted by federal law.

The website Farm Futures has an article written by Gary Baise titled Missouri Attorney General defends states’ sovereign, economic interests which further elaborates:

The Reply Brief filed on March 20, 2018, to the Supreme Court states, “California persistently ignores federal law in its regulation of extraterritorial agricultural production.” The brief also declares California’s effort to regulate the size of a cage for laying hens “…reflects one of several attempts by California to dictate the manner of agricultural production in other States…”

These new laws have caused the price of eggs to increase. Now with all the infighting about policies going on, other states have taken steps to maneuver around these new standards. KQED.org has an article written by Lisa Held titled [How an Iowa Law Requiring Grocers to Sell Conventional Eggs is Stirring Controversy] that notes:

Despite igniting a national controversy, Iowa lawmakers are quickly moving forward with a law that would require grocery stores to sell conventional eggs from hens raised in battery cages if they also sell “specialty” eggs with labels like cage-free and free-range. The House passed House File 2408 at the end of February, and it then passed the Senate earlier this week. The bill has now been sent to Governor Kim Reynolds to be signed into law.

It seems the price of good quality eggs is a hot topic on the table. With a flow of fresh eggs at my fingertips, I wont have to worry about the new regulations. I hope you enjoyed this post and it motivates you to build your own coop.

Sources Cited:

Mother Earth News: The Original Guide To Living Wisely
KCET.org
Poultry World
Farm Futures
KQED.org: Public Media For Northern CA

All photos, unless otherwise stated or sourced, were taken by @csusbgeochem1. Animations and cover photo created by @csusbgeochem1 using GIMP.

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7 years ago in #homesteading by csusbgeochem1 (57)

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dawg-boy (57) 7 years ago

Great Chicken in the sky! That is a Castle fit even for Foghorn Leghorn!

Very nice work indeed, and done right. I might have only lined the foundation myself, but a brick floor does have some real advantages.

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csusbgeochem1 (57) 7 years ago

I say, I say, I say you made the right choice! :)

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steemgridcoin (51) 7 years ago

Thank you for your contribution.

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This post was upvoted and resteemed by Steemgridcoin with the aim of promoting discussions surrounding Gridcoin and science.

This service is free. You can learn more on how to help here.

Have a nice day. :)

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csusbgeochem1 (57) 7 years ago

Thanks for the upvote, but im not sure it was resteemed. Thank you as well for promoting discussions surrounding science!

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lesshorrible (59) 7 years ago

Great post! I enjoy reading and getting inspired by your projects. Clockingham palace looks awesome and I am sure your chicken will appreciate all the effort you put into their home!:D
Cheers!

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