Chicken Shanty

Front of "The Shanty"

I built an intermediate chicken coop for my teen chickens.  It's really more of a shanty than a coop...thus the title.  And it is probably the least well thought out building I have ever made - although you'd have to ask J if he agrees.  But, like he said, people will be impressed with my ability to create something out of nothing.

I started with a couple of rectangles from the sides of pallets.  These rectangles aren't usually nailed together, they're bound together with a metal strap.  Because of this, they are pretty wobbly.  But that didn't stop me.  I used two as the "legs" for my shanty.

On top of the legs, I secured a traditional pallet.  Then I took two more larger rectangle things and attached them to opposite sides.  This created the frame for my shanty.  I then started to add plywood walls - we scavenged the plywood from an old shed.  This is where J came in to help.

I needed to make the structure a little more structurally sound, so we put a sheer wall out of plywood on the bottom - between the two rectangular legs.  Then we cut struts at a 45 degree angle and put them into the middle of the rectangles.  That just about got rid of all the wiggles.

Side of "The Shanty"

We had some 1/2 inch pvc that we had cut before.  By adding an angle to the ends, we could attach these pipes to span the back corners of the shanty - thus creating a few perches for the young birds.

We cut some flat sheet metal into the size of the roof, and using an extra piece of plywood for a center strut, we screwed the metal roof on.
Finally, I made a ramp for the girls out of a piece of 1x4 and some 1/2 inch dowel pieces we had left over from another project.  We left the front open so that it would be easier to clean.  It may also be used for turkeys down the road so having a nice wide opening is a good thing.

Skeptical teenage bird giving me "the look."

The chicks haven't figured out how to get up and down in the box yet, but even if they end up outside at night, they can snuggle up under the shanty.  I put straw down inside the box and under it.  We'll see how long it takes for them to figure it out.
In addition to moving the teens out of their outside brooder, we moved the butterball babies into the outside brooder from in the house.  Then we moved the ducklings into the inside chicken brooder and out of the playpen - which really needs to be hosed down at this point. 

This won't be the last shift for the birds.  In a couple of weeks, I'd like to move the teens in with the adult chickens, the broiler chicks into the intermediate chicken shanty, and the ducklings into the outside brooder.  That will make room for the dozen chicks we have ordered to come the first week of May.  By the time we're done, I will have a total of 36 layers, 12 meat birds, 6 ducks, and 2 geese.  I'm going to HAVE to work on a bigger coop.