Check out our full TH-cam video detailing our coop design: th-cam.com/video/VYqOS1uJxmE/w-d-xo.html Alex is currently working on plans and we will have those ready soon! Make sure to subscribe to stay up to date. Thanks 🥰
If you're worried about the longevity of the hinge, all you have to do is screw in two wooden support arms on the bottom that will hold the door flat when you open it.
Ya I was about to say, between the hinges, those vertical supports for the divider walls and the hatch latch, the only time it's not supported is when it's open and 2 little stopper blocks would change that.
I had to train my hens to sleep on their roosting bars instead of in their nesting boxes. Their feces would always be all over the eggs when I collected them and all over the inside of their boxes. So at night when I put them into their coop, I would cover the openings to their nesting boxes so they couldn't get in. I would take it off every morning when I let them go outside. It only took a week to stop the behavior. Now they only use their nesting boxes to lay eggs and the nesting boxes stay clean so all I have to do is add straw or pine shavings every week or so.
@@MasonDixonAcres we had linoleum in our shed ( the chicken shack). It was so much easier to clean out. We’d refill it with hay abs leaves in the fall. They loved playing with the leaves. Making little nest holes.
Yes, that works perfectly! I heard you say straw for the nest boxes - I find wood shavings work really well, they coat the droppings and you can remove them very easily. They smell good too! 🥰
I just love the cute thank you and I think it's cool that you'll show that you know it's not perfect every time you sometimes you have to mess around the things to get him described for you you know designs can be altered and accustomed to your what your needs are in your place thank you a bless
We have this design for our nesting boxes, too, but in recent years we've had these random really extreme cold snaps a couple times during the winter: the chickens think the smaller space will mean more warmth, but with the offside design it's actually MUCH colder in there. We had 3 chickens die from the cold all huddled up in those before I realized I HAD to block them off for winter. 😢
That's awesome! I love that you can take the dividers out! Also, I read that if you have a roosting bar higher than the nesting boxes your hens will choose to sleep on the bars and the boxes will stay cleaner :)
First birds that can't fly they sure seem to love climbing at the height spot possible for there naps 😂 I wonder what triggers that type of behavior is it to avoid predators that usually walk on the floor ?
@@CrimsonAkato yes, I think it is! But they really cam fly short distances. We have a 4 foot tall fence for them and they get over it almost every day. Now that they're a couple years old I guess the grass is greener on the other side! LOL
Hey I think y’all did a great job!!! And if u can do stuff on a budget, it’s a blessing. U don’t have to have a bunch of money and the newest stuff to be happy.
We have one like this and another that is like a big outhouse. In the walk in coup we use milk crates for egg laying with perches for sleeping on the opposite side. It's a million times easier to clean than the traditional coup
When I was building my coop a friend was remodeling their kitchen and I asked for their old countertop.. they thought i was crazy.. 10 years later I still have a strong floor in my coop with nice top on it ...
Can I tell that your working on a budget? No! You did it with what you had, because that was smart & resourceful. As the old saying goes, "A fool & their money, are soon parted"! Keep up the good work! 👍
I used an old semi truck mud flap as hinges for a gate before. Cut strips the size you need with a jig saw and screw em in. Old leather boots or belts would work for smaller doors.
I helped my buddy build a chicken coop and just put a hinge on one side of the floor of it so just put a tote under it let it drop and dump everything real easy
You are so lucky. We used to find black runners (chicken snakes) in the nest. So full of eggs they couldn't strike.i was too short to see up in the nest so I grabbed a couple instead of eggs.
I used old pine needles like when the needles are reddish orange and the chickens we had were fine and we chose pine needles cuz they help keep mites and ticks away and the birds were fine all the time
Add a hinge from the main box to the nesting box....with the hinge you already put in, you can dump the entire area and sweep it, then fold it back up in place. It will help drastically! We do it with our bunnies :)
Great tip! We have a miscellaneous hardware box and a giant tin of screws and nails too. No reason to buy more if you already have something that could work just as well.
Nothing like a junk box. I keep leftover building supplies no matter how random in an old metal bread box my Granddaddy gave me with screws and springs and hinges and doohickeys and thingamabobbers in when I got my first house. He said always put in your leftovers from projects and one day you will need it. I happily gave this box to my son when he bought his first house and told him the story behind it. He always knew about the junk box and used it at home, but never knew the story behind it. He called me the first day he used it and it made my heart smile.
I love this because of reusing stuff., that’s my way of doing it too.. I miss having chickens.. I’m gonna go watch the whole thing 🤗 thanks for show us!!
Working on a budget it's when you really know you can do things, i always work with pieces, leftovers of wood and even collecting some things on the street and in the trash, you have to be creative and smart, it's a challenging but it's really fun too.
The best floor for a home chicken coop is sand. You can easily make a larger version of a litter box scoop to clean poop off the sand. Any area that gets too dirty can just be dug up, then fresh sand added. Everything goes to the compost heap, of course.
I was doing some research on nesting boxes not too long ago and I was actually surprised to find out that a nesting box isn't supposed to open from the top. It's supposed to open from the back. Go figure. Apparently it scares the hens. If you open from the top you don't want scared hens.
I read that chickens will usually choose the highest option so as long as you give them a roosting bar that's higher than the nesting boxes they will choose the bars to sleep on ;)
Nice job! As mentioned now that you have that taken care of you can start reversing that behavior by blocking the boxes at night for a few days...they will switch back to the roosting bars pretty easily.
Very ingenuitive! FYI, something to look into: we recently started using pine bedding instead of straw for our chickens, and it's cheaper + protects them against mites. Just mentioning as I did not even know that was an option, but it is so much better! Even smells good.
I found a way to save money and recycle... We pull over and collect old furniture and bring them home an strip all hardware and use other parts for saw dust to clean up, or soak up wet stuff and other projects. Helps....neighbors and second hand stores and habitat for humanity donates
We had that problem with some young birds we just moved to the big girl coop. Two nights in at bed time I went in and picked them up and put them on the roost. Worked great.
Great idea. The way way we have ours is cat litter buckets. We get cat litter in square buckets with a hinged lid. We cut through the hinge and that leaves a lip. We sit the bucket on its side and when dirty we fill them with water to soak. Then dump them and sit them upside down to dry.. Reuse.
@@MasonDixonAcres are the roosting bars higher than the nest boxes? We had this issue forever, when our nest boxes were higher than the bars. When we built a new coop, the boxes were on the same level as the bars, and we still had that problem. Then I read somewhere that the bars need to be higher than the boxes, with plenty of spare space. Hens nest on the bars in the pecking order. The hens highest on the pecking order get the highest perch, so higher is ALWAYS better. They also do not like to be crowded on the bars, so if there isn't enough extra space to spread out on, they will move to places like the nest boxes.
Two of my hens chose a nesting box as their bed, and sure enough, made a mess in the box . Thankfully, I’d designed the boxes to be cleaned from the outside and had a door like the one you made. Still, rather aggravating to have to clean that box every day. We were able to determine which two hens were doing it. I’ll say only this. The chicken pot pie was delicious. 😏
Hey , something wrong here I think you should add the hinges on the top part with vertical slides permanently fixed to top part so you can just tilt them like car trunk or boot Now you only have one base which makes cleaning super easy and you don't have to reassemble anything slides.
Check out our full TH-cam video detailing our coop design:
th-cam.com/video/VYqOS1uJxmE/w-d-xo.html
Alex is currently working on plans and we will have those ready soon! Make sure to subscribe to stay up to date. Thanks 🥰
If you have some silicon spray around, spray those hinges. It'll show them rusting. I use that stuff on our farm in so many applications 👌🏻
Slow*
If you're worried about the longevity of the hinge, all you have to do is screw in two wooden support arms on the bottom that will hold the door flat when you open it.
Ya I was about to say, between the hinges, those vertical supports for the divider walls and the hatch latch, the only time it's not supported is when it's open and 2 little stopper blocks would change that.
I would get one that's galvanized though. I'm glad that is what I did to my coop that's 13 years old. Held up to a micro burst of 90mph winds. Win.
It doesn't have to be pretty...it just has to work ... and that WORKS perfectly!!!
Exactly! Use what you have and make it functional!
Yea but its nice to build it so it works for a long time. Then you aren't out there trying to repair it again in a few days.
I had to train my hens to sleep on their roosting bars instead of in their nesting boxes. Their feces would always be all over the eggs when I collected them and all over the inside of their boxes. So at night when I put them into their coop, I would cover the openings to their nesting boxes so they couldn't get in. I would take it off every morning when I let them go outside. It only took a week to stop the behavior. Now they only use their nesting boxes to lay eggs and the nesting boxes stay clean so all I have to do is add straw or pine shavings every week or so.
Here in New England we call what you did "Yankee Ingenuity" so great job. Continuous improvement is where it's at 100%
In Mexico we call it a "chicanada"
Linoleum. That would've been ideal to have!! Both on the nest box and coop floor.
We have it in both places! Total game changer when it comes to cleaning
@@MasonDixonAcres we had linoleum in our shed ( the chicken shack). It was so much easier to clean out.
We’d refill it with hay abs leaves in the fall. They loved playing with the leaves. Making little nest holes.
Yes, that works perfectly! I heard you say straw for the nest boxes - I find wood shavings work really well, they coat the droppings and you can remove them very easily. They smell good too! 🥰
Great idea!
We used sawdust on the farm
I just love the cute thank you and I think it's cool that you'll show that you know it's not perfect every time you sometimes you have to mess around the things to get him described for you you know designs can be altered and accustomed to your what your needs are in your place thank you a bless
We have this design for our nesting boxes, too, but in recent years we've had these random really extreme cold snaps a couple times during the winter: the chickens think the smaller space will mean more warmth, but with the offside design it's actually MUCH colder in there. We had 3 chickens die from the cold all huddled up in those before I realized I HAD to block them off for winter. 😢
Aww poor things!! :(
Piano hinges can be a longer-lasting choice, easily cut to length with a hacksaw and often found in hardware stores
That's awesome! I love that you can take the dividers out!
Also, I read that if you have a roosting bar higher than the nesting boxes your hens will choose to sleep on the bars and the boxes will stay cleaner :)
First birds that can't fly they sure seem to love climbing at the height spot possible for there naps 😂
I wonder what triggers that type of behavior is it to avoid predators that usually walk on the floor ?
@@CrimsonAkato yes, I think it is! But they really cam fly short distances. We have a 4 foot tall fence for them and they get over it almost every day. Now that they're a couple years old I guess the grass is greener on the other side! LOL
Great idea for easy cleaning. 👏👏👏👏
Hey I think y’all did a great job!!! And if u can do stuff on a budget, it’s a blessing. U don’t have to have a bunch of money and the newest stuff to be happy.
Amen to being budget conscious
We have one like this and another that is like a big outhouse. In the walk in coup we use milk crates for egg laying with perches for sleeping on the opposite side. It's a million times easier to clean than the traditional coup
Ou house for hens!!! Ha ha!
It came out gooood. Always use what you have as leftovers
When I was building my coop a friend was remodeling their kitchen and I asked for their old countertop.. they thought i was crazy.. 10 years later I still have a strong floor in my coop with nice top on it ...
Can I tell that your working on a budget? No! You did it with what you had, because that was smart & resourceful. As the old saying goes, "A fool & their money, are soon parted"! Keep up the good work! 👍
I used an old semi truck mud flap as hinges for a gate before.
Cut strips the size you need with a jig saw and screw em in.
Old leather boots or belts would work for smaller doors.
I use cardboard coke cases and cereal boxes as nest liners. That way when they get nasty, I just change out the liner.
Love that idea!
I helped my buddy build a chicken coop and just put a hinge on one side of the floor of it so just put a tote under it let it drop and dump everything real easy
So awesome, really great job. The very best things in the world are the things that make your busy live so much easier 💖
After a few rains that wood is going to strip you should probably add some backing to it so it can stabilize the weight
Gratifying to solve problems inexpensively!
Pretty clever 👌
Thank you, brilliant idea!
So simple and practical
Glad it was helpful! We have more details about our coop build in 3 other full TH-cam videos if you're interested ☺️
Good advice
Good idea, I Love Chicken’s
Necessity is the mother of invention
Great idea
You are so lucky. We used to find black runners (chicken snakes) in the nest. So full of eggs they couldn't strike.i was too short to see up in the nest so I grabbed a couple instead of eggs.
That must have been a shock 😳
I love your chicken coop
Hey, budget or not, it works!! That’s all that matters. Good job.
❤️💜💚
Love making things easier
Necessity is the mother of invention.
Live and learn.
Gratifying, isn't it?
I can't stop looking at this video.
Very very smart.
That's brilliant. That section is the hardest part to clean and when I clean it I'm never happy with the level of cleanliness. Thanks for this idea!
Great idea!!!
Much improved
Good job!
You should put another eye hook on the other side too! Extra support;
Great job :) you don’t need fancy tools or expensive materials. The chickens will be happy either way ❤❤
I used old pine needles like when the needles are reddish orange and the chickens we had were fine and we chose pine needles cuz they help keep mites and ticks away and the birds were fine all the time
This is so awesome. Thank y'all for sharing, love the little hinges.❤️
awesome! I have the same problem. I am making these changes. Thank you for sharing.
You can buy straw nesting pads as well
awesome!! And thrifty is the best!
You guys are rookie hen owners no doubt
From my uneducated perspective you are doing well, use what you have and make it yours by what works for you.
May you be blessed always.
Add a hinge from the main box to the nesting box....with the hinge you already put in, you can dump the entire area and sweep it, then fold it back up in place. It will help drastically! We do it with our bunnies :)
As long as it works that's all that matters. Oh and no sharp edges, don't want anyone to get hurt
When I get hens again I'm gonna d this, too. Thanks.🐥🐣🐤
If it works, it works! American ingenuity at work...goodjob!
Few things more satisfying than getting to a fairly permanent solution with materials on hand.
Great tip! We have a miscellaneous hardware box and a giant tin of screws and nails too. No reason to buy more if you already have something that could work just as well.
Fantastic, love this video, thanks for sharing. Very smart, especially if working on a budget. Very smart a little thing made a big difference.
great ideas
Nothing like a junk box. I keep leftover building supplies no matter how random in an old metal bread box my Granddaddy gave me with screws and springs and hinges and doohickeys and thingamabobbers in when I got my first house. He said always put in your leftovers from projects and one day you will need it. I happily gave this box to my son when he bought his first house and told him the story behind it. He always knew about the junk box and used it at home, but never knew the story behind it. He called me the first day he used it and it made my heart smile.
I love this because of reusing stuff., that’s my way of doing it too.. I miss having chickens.. I’m gonna go watch the whole thing 🤗 thanks for show us!!
Working on a budget it's when you really know you can do things, i always work with pieces, leftovers of wood and even collecting some things on the street and in the trash, you have to be creative and smart, it's a challenging but it's really fun too.
I want some chickens. 🐥🐔🐓
Nice job I love when people modify
if you make your laying boxes deeper you can use oats for the laying boxes eggs come out way cleaner . and easier to clean
Do you mean oat straw?
@Elizabeth Cobb no regular oats not rolled oats. That's what we used when I worked at a hatchery
I’m a fond user of an industrial vaccume cleaner..
Those tiny hinges are just magical, aren't they?
what a cute design and now it opens
The best floor for a home chicken coop is sand. You can easily make a larger version of a litter box scoop to clean poop off the sand. Any area that gets too dirty can just be dug up, then fresh sand added. Everything goes to the compost heap, of course.
I was doing some research on nesting boxes not too long ago and I was actually surprised to find out that a nesting box isn't supposed to open from the top. It's supposed to open from the back. Go figure. Apparently it scares the hens. If you open from the top you don't want scared hens.
Clever fix... love that you repurpose mismatched hardware.
Itll def come out drilling in to the ply layers need some solid wood support
There is a specific height that if you make the box they wont sleep in the box. Dont give them too much room and they wont sleep there.
I have one hen that slept in one for a short while. She's picked on as the most submissive, so I'm glad she protects herself. Chickens are a holes.
I read that chickens will usually choose the highest option so as long as you give them a roosting bar that's higher than the nesting boxes they will choose the bars to sleep on ;)
@@tammystoudt5137 not really...I have a high roost and my roosters sleep on top of the nests which are lower so idk...
Nice Mcgyverism👍
Best move you made❣️❣️
Thanks for sharing this is a really good tip. Happy henning lol
You guys are genius!
Nice job! As mentioned now that you have that taken care of you can start reversing that behavior by blocking the boxes at night for a few days...they will switch back to the roosting bars pretty easily.
Good Job ❤❤❤❤
Thank you!
Very nice thx for the tip!
Very ingenuitive! FYI, something to look into: we recently started using pine bedding instead of straw for our chickens, and it's cheaper + protects them against mites. Just mentioning as I did not even know that was an option, but it is so much better! Even smells good.
Good to know!! Thank you for the suggestion!
Great job!!
That design is a lot more than our back in the day one. It was all made of 1x12s 12 nest 6 on each side of the hen house: a tin and pole shed
Great Job!!! It’s P E R F E C T.
That looks amazing great job
I found a way to save money and recycle...
We pull over and collect old furniture and bring them home an strip all hardware and use other parts for saw dust to clean up, or soak up wet stuff and other projects.
Helps....neighbors and second hand stores and habitat for humanity donates
Make them a roost higher than the nest boxes using 100 x 75 mm timber and you wont have that problem.
That's better! Much easier to clean the beds.
We had that problem with some young birds we just moved to the big girl coop. Two nights in at bed time I went in and picked them up and put them on the roost. Worked great.
Yep doesn't take long for them to learn! Unless they get broody and will stay in there all day and night 🙄
Great idea. The way way we have ours is cat litter buckets. We get cat litter in square buckets with a hinged lid. We cut through the hinge and that leaves a lip. We sit the bucket on its side and when dirty we fill them with water to soak. Then dump them and sit them upside down to dry.. Reuse.
Great tip!
@@MasonDixonAcres thx
Ingenious!!❤❤
Great idea 💡
Such good tips. Thank you.😂❤
Looks great
Use pine shavings and put up a roosting bar. They sleep on a roosting bar at night.
We do have roosting bars! One of the hens just decided she wanted to sleep there instead for several weeks 😅
@@MasonDixonAcres are the roosting bars higher than the nest boxes? We had this issue forever, when our nest boxes were higher than the bars. When we built a new coop, the boxes were on the same level as the bars, and we still had that problem. Then I read somewhere that the bars need to be higher than the boxes, with plenty of spare space. Hens nest on the bars in the pecking order. The hens highest on the pecking order get the highest perch, so higher is ALWAYS better. They also do not like to be crowded on the bars, so if there isn't enough extra space to spread out on, they will move to places like the nest boxes.
Two of my hens chose a nesting box as their bed, and sure enough, made a mess in the box . Thankfully, I’d designed the boxes to be cleaned from the outside and had a door like the one you made. Still, rather aggravating to have to clean that box every day. We were able to determine which two hens were doing it. I’ll say only this. The chicken pot pie was delicious. 😏
GREAT video!
Live and learn. Good solve. Keep goin5.
I switched to wood shavings from straw it it lasts twice as long and stays cleaner longer. That is a great setup.
Hey , something wrong here
I think you should add the hinges on the top part with vertical slides permanently fixed to top part so you can just tilt them like car trunk or boot
Now you only have one base which makes cleaning super easy and you don't have to reassemble anything slides.
Adding this to my chicken coop!
Nice ideas 💡 ❤
Former chook mumma, great suggestions here. Mine free range my yard so I had poop everywhere lol
Yup, we know that well 😅