Building The Stone Chicken Coop Part 12: Oak Roosts and Chicken Ladders

Added the roosts and chicken ladder! There will be one last video to this build, and that's staining the exterior, but we have to wait for the weather to warm up before we can stain the upper story. What color should we stain it?
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[@FireDude13]

Wow that is a spectacular build! I got so into the build I just binged the entire series lol! So awesome to use rocks from your property for the base. Just really really cool. Thanks for sharing!

[@ghostridergale]

I’m really glad I designed and built my coop high enough that I can stand up and walk inside my coop. I collect my eggs from inside the coop and never have to deal with rain, snow, or ice on the outside of the coop when trying to collect eggs. Plus it’s really great when cleaning my coop to be inside it and being able to clean it regardless what the weather outside is doing. Many times I’ve been in the coop hearing the rain just pounding down on the corrugated metal roof on the coop and so glad I’m inside where it’s nice and dry. Not to mention a little warmer inside too or cooler on hot days and I’m out of the sun beating down on me! Certainly costs more to build a taller coop, but least for me I believe it was worth every penny when I have to do anything inside the coop in bad weather!

[@Entropy-booster]

Nice job; enjoyed the video. Look forward to more vids of the animals getting used to their new shelter.

[@estellaknox9285]

I love ❤ it!! Chickens saying a new house 🐔 they love it they going too lay lots of eggs 🥚 😋 😄

[@takeitslowhomestead5218]

I’m so glad you were finally able to get back out to that great project. It’s been a long winter. I hope your chickens will adjust quickly. I’m looking forward to your fair-weather videos.

[@zates2272]

Great looking coop! Love the rock!

[@d.j.robinson9424]

Wow, your coop/goat barn is amazing and beautiful, not to mention very functional. Outstanding job 👍. I hope you have a pick axe for that conduit..? 💚💛☉🐔🐔🐔🐔

[@davidmatznick778]

Great video Todd it is looking very good.

[@Shananana99]

Wow thats lovely

[@tkomla]

Lovely job here!

[@CopperIslandHomestead]

I love it!! That was such an amazing idea 💙💙💙

[@BonaventureGuitars]

Loved this series as I’m just beginning to build my first coop, but man oh man that was one sketchy use of a tablesaw. Glad you still have all your digits! 👍

[@RedStorm.]

Make another platform just a couple feet below the other one. Just low enough for the chickens to fly up to then jump onto top deck.

[@Yeshuaschosen]

We use an old stump cut off a big log!

[@neildriedger637]

GREAT video!!!!!

[@sheilamclaughlin963]

Nice coop

[@jenniferhaasch7961]

If you lived in Wisconsin your property taxes would double if they seen that beautiful coop, nice job!

[@shannonswyatt]

In the future if you want to cut a piece of wood like that stick you should attach it to a 2x4 or something straight. You can hot glue it or use a couple screws. Way safer.

[@triciasklodowske5653]

"your not Jesus", LOVE IT!! Love the look of it. Very cool. Thanks for sharing. God bless.

[@judymckerrow6720]

Is there anything you would do differently if you had to build another chicken/ goat house? Are you going to be painting the coop? 🌷💚🙃

[@larrylewis3573]

Dear Family Dad, I have been following closely your building of the chicken coop/goat shelter. It all looks good. Please keep us up-to-date on how it is working out, both what is working out well and what you might have done differently. I am sure that other homesteaders, who are blessedly handy like yourself, will want to take up your ideas and follow through, using similar materials. I was very interested to see that you made use of oak branches for the roosts. Let us know, insofar as you can tell, how the chickens like these roosts. I seem to remember from somewhere that these are exactly the kinds of roosts chickens like, because they fit their feet naturally. Also, I am not getting the whole picture of the nesting box. Could you show us a hen sitting on the nest in relation to where the eggs end up for you to collect. Is there one nest box for them, or more? If it is just one, how many hens will potentially be laying in it? Let us know how this works out. The height of the exit/entrance to the chicken coop will be of interest to your followers. How is it working out for them? Are they all able to exit and enter with relative ease? I now have a few questions : 1. How many chickens did you raise last year? Did you raise all of them under mother hens? How many pullets did you raise and how many cockerels? 2. Did you cull your chickens last fall? How many did you have processed for meat? 3. How many chickens did you keep over winter? How many hens? How many roosters? Did these provide you with enough eggs over winter and now into spring? 4. Last is my most important question. You recall that pullet which, in the fall of 2020, when she was barely six months old, hatched out 10 chicks. This is a story I have told to others, so instructive it is for self-reliance in raising chickens. Do you still have this hen? How has her progeny worked out? I ask this, because I know a racoon got some of your chickens last year, including your rooster, which you had to replace. Did this hen escape and is she still in your flock? Thank you for your videos. I love watching you put things together with some wonderful tools, which you are so skilled at using. This is always a pleasure for me, and, I am sure, very instructive for those who are learning these skills. Sincerely, Larry Clarence Lewis Ontario, Canada.

[@SSLFamilyDad]

Hey Larry, thanks for watching! I’ll answer as much as I can here. We just raise through the 10 that we’re born and 2 mother hens. We also got a new rooster from a friend, we had 2 die or get taken last year. Now they are all in the big coop so there are 11 right now I believe. This year we are buying new hens for diversity and we ended up with 3 roosters with what we have. We did not cull any for meat last year but will this year. We had enough eggs with rough winter and also freeze dried extra last summer

[@burntbeansoup]

How do you clean that thing?

[@ghostridergale]

I got the same exact auto chicken door you got and I had the same problem with the door hanging up on the coop wall. What I did to resolve this was just put washers behind the door as I pushed the bolts thru to anchor my door to the coop. Now I sincerely hope your works better then mine has. The push button to change modes never has worked so it only works disk to dawn and when the seasons change and it starts getting dark earlier the door closes too soon for my chickens to get in the coop. I’ve tried contacting the company, good luck with that! Never got any response? So for now I’m just disabling the door in the shorter daylight seasons. But I think I have a solution that hopefully will work and that’s adding a light that shines on the door sensor that the light will be on a timer to turn off anytime I choose it to. Least in theory I believe this will work! But it’s a shame I have to come up with another device to solve a issue with this door that should exist in the first place. Still, at the time this seem to be the cheapest auto chicken door that works on a battery. Although I wish it was 12 volt instead of 6 volts. Although with a little tinkering you can run 2 of the 6 volt batteries in series making 12 volts to charge with a 12 volt charge and still have the 6 volts for the door. Least according to the information I’ve read. Worse case I blow up the door’s electrical system! lol But since it doesn’t work right anyway I won’t be too upset if it gets fried! Either way, best of luck to you with everything

[@larrylewis3573]

Dear Family Dad, Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions. I have a couple more questions arising from your answers. Questions : What breed of chicken to add diversity to your flock do you plan to add? Is your decision to add a new breed based on your decision that your current flock is too inbred ? Or, is your current flock lacking certain characteristics which you want to strengthen? As always, thank you in advance for answering my questions. I think other followers will be interested in the reasons you have decided to add a different breed. Sincerely, Larry Lewis Ontario, Canada.

[@loriet2349]

Just found your channel and it's awesome!! Can't get the link to the previous coop you built to work. Could you help me out please? It's exactly what I want to build. Thanks so much!!

[@SSLFamilyDad]

Have you tried it from www.SSLFamilyFarm.com?

[@dooleysmichiganhomestead8339]

The Dooley's Of Michigan

[@carolynbuddie9588]

Were you able to get all the chickens in there or do you still have those chicken condos that came in a kit??

[@debbiewelch4073]

❤️

[@judymckerrow6720]

How is your indoor garden doing? 🌷💚🙃

[@FATTY1990]

@SSLFamilyDad have you thought about Painting the coop ?

[@davidcrowson4745]

I can't wait to see the video when you and your wife try to load that on your trailer when you move again like you did the SSL family chicken coop you about broke your leg last time ...ouch. just kidding that's an awesome looking chicken coop goat shelter well done sir.

[@SSLFamilyDad]

Lol

[@drewl6835]

I feel your pain. It took my chickens months to figure out where home was.

[@ghostridergale]

When I got my chickens for the first couple days I had to put my chickens in the coop by hand. After that the chickens figured out that’s where their supposed to go to roost. I do the same thing with baby chicks that I keep in a smaller coop till their old enough to go in the larger coop with the adult chickens. At first they always want to go back to the smaller coop I kept them in, but after a few days of putting them in the larger coop by hand every night they figured out they had a new larger home to roost in. Chickens seem to catch on pretty quickly, just got to show them what you want them to do. I’m fairly new at raising chickens myself, the chicken seem to be much smarter than I ever gave them credit for. The chickens also pick up quickly who’s their care giver too, who’s got the food! LOL I’ve got 42 chickens of different breeds with 6 roosters . 2 of the roosters are miniature size. I find it hilarious when I go outside and the chickens eagle eye on me from a pretty good distance away and here comes the 42 chickens running and flying towards me just as fast as they can go and making a noise of excitement to see me. They’ll follow me all around the property for least 10-15 minutes before least some will loose interest in following me and do their own thing. When their following me around, if you ever seen the movie ELEPHANT WALK? There’s a scene where several baby elephants are following a younger girl if I remember right? Been a long time since I seen that movie! But there’s a iconic tune that played in the movie that people always recognize and associates directly with the movie that always pops into my head every time I look back and see this long line of chickens following behind me. Least to me it’s quite funny! Oh and I got to be careful bending down too, when I do it’s not unusual to have least a couple chickens fly up on my back and if I stand up slowly they’ll walk up my back and stand on my shoulders. Their in no hurry to get down either, but you don’t want to let them stay on you for long since they don’t care where they decide to take a poop at? You may end up changing cloths and taking a shower sooner than you planned on? 🤪🤮🤢😂

[@RedStorm.]

In winter you will need a heat pad under eggs cuz they will freeze.

[@SSLFamilyDad]

The sell one at hengear.com and I plan to get it for next year!

[@edemup44]

That is nice of you to leave those top doors open for the raccoons and foxes. They will thank you. 👍

[@SSLFamilyDad]

Lol, they can’t get not the coop from the attic unless they are really really small:)

[@ghostridergale]

@@SSLFamilyDad I leave my 2 large doors on my coop open during the day and the chickens have a ramp to walk up inside the coop. I leave it open mainly to air it out and let fresh air in more. It’s built being 3 ft off the ground. Once in a while I’ll forget to close up their back doors. But as of yet I’ve not had any troubles with predators at night getting in the coop and we have quite a few predators around our property especially at night. Coyotes everywhere and seen even a bobcat a couple times as well. Of course there’s raccoons and possums too, all of which will go for a chicken dinner given the chance! Owls and Hawks seem to be my biggest problem for killing my chickens and even though I always thought owls hunted after dark? I’ve had the owls kill my chickens before the sun had even gone down yet. By chance I caught a huge hawk on top of one of my chickens getting ready to kill my chicken and I was able to run over and scare it off. It wasn’t wanting to give up the chicken though, I almost got close enough that I could of grabbed the hawk before it finally flew off. Chicken gets up and shakes herself off and goes about her business like nothing happened. Not even a thank you for saving her life! LOL

[@spacecase0]

At the start of the video I was wondering how you would get the chickens to move homes so easily. By the end of the video I realized your chickens aren't smarter than mine. They might figure the ramp out better if it were right in front of the door. Although a straight ramp with a bunch of distance isn't something they figure out either. Maybe a ramp is zig zags back and forth as it goes up so that it is quite close to the door for the entire distance?

[@viktoradamson3363]

How many chicken did you have ?

[@carolynbuddie9588]

That looks like an awfully tight squeeze working area in the chicken coop attic where you are going to tie those wires together. Better you than me!! Lol!!

[@danieltaylor5231]

That which man creates goat destroys. Do you think you could fit say 40+ chickens in the coup?

[@SSLFamilyDad]

I hope so:)

[@danieltaylor5231]

@@SSLFamilyDad 🤞🙏

[@judymckerrow6720]

How is the maple syrup extraction going? Will you be getting any bees 🐝? 🌷💚🙃

[@soupysoup931]

nice content but could definitely speed up the work transitions so its more fun to watch than at 1x speed

[@marksadventures3889]

Chickens get fleas and mites, what are you going to use to control pest issues? Is it safe from large predators?

[@skrtskit1521]

💖🐱‍👤

[@estellaknox9285]

Old goat not feeling it 😕

[@laurelpowell5471]

Your recent videos for some reason are buffering