In an earlier post I described my conundrum with the roof of my chicken coop falling down during a storm. Even though the structure failed, I still felt a sense of progress in my development of coop-building skills. Recently I undertook the task of rebuilding the coop in a manner that was more respectful of the powers of rain to warp wood and bring things crashing down. But, unfortunately, the coop saga isn’t over yet.
I used part of the old frame of the first coop to prop up the new structure, but I improved on the roof by halving its size and reinforcing it with narrow boards to prevent the roof from bowing with moisture. Taking note of my chickens’ preference to roost off of the ground at night, I built a raised platform under the roof. I also added a hinged door to the front of the coop (with a latch) for easier access to the chickens and their eggs. To cover the area that the new, smaller roof didn’t enclose, I put up a tarp.
The day after I finished the new construction, it rained. The chickens looked cozy on their platform under their roof (which totally held up!). Smart One, my favorite chicken, laid an egg on the platform the next morning. I lifted the shiny new latch on the door and swaggered in to retrieve it. I was proud of myself.
And then the wind picked up.
The tarp that I hastily zip-tied down flew off of its supports in the wind. The most adventurous of my chickens (Roberta, the troublemaker) managed to flap out of the coop, on to my newly-improved roof. Her less adventurous counterparts followed suit, and the next thing I knew I was coming home from work and there were four chickens perched high in the tree next to the coop. The next morning they came down out of the tree on the opposite side of the fence, and according to my next door neighbor, somebody laid an egg in the bushes in his driveway. How embarrassing.
It seems that my chickens still prefer the setup that mother nature provided, but I have ways of catching up. The next coop improvement will involve the construction of a nesting box, and the addition of perch bars made out of a tree branch that fell into the backyard during the same winds that blew the tarp off.
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