Tip for you Beau if you want to avoid a traumatic fox attack - either take that rebar and attach it to the floor of the coop, or dig a trench about two feet down around the outside and fill it with chicken wire before backfilling. Foxes will dig under those sleepers otherwise and you'll have a really tough morning.
As a german backpacker I would totally live in your chicken coop for 40 bucks per night. It's like a cat cafe. But with a bed and chickens. Great stuff!
@@Targe0 Lol, I once stayed in a particularly rowdy Queensland backpackers hostel and slept like a baby. A German girl told me in the morning "you sleep like a stone"........ didn't know whether to be flattered or offended?
Easier than digging down (about 2 feet minimum) for anti-fox chicken wire, instead just lay i out *horizontally* about 3-4 feet on the surface around the coop, and use a few tent pegs etc to fasten it to the ground. The foxes will try to dig, and won't be able to penetrate it. They'll try different spots, but they usually won't try going further away from the coop until they find the edge of the wire. They'll eventually assume the ground is impenetrable and give up trying...
My worry (which might be misplaced) with that would be that if it lifts up it it could become a stabby/tripping hazard for the kids. Maybe bury it a couple of inches?
@@alexandermorganti7468 That's true, need to be careful to keep it safe for the kiddos. In time the grass ggrows through it and kind of locks it into the ground so it's barely visble, but absolutely could throw some soil/ mulch. gravel etc over it👍👍
Awesome work Beau. While on a motorbike trip earlier this year I actually rode past your place and saw the chicken coop, and at the time even said to myself, I bet he made a film about building that, and 6 months later, here it is. Well done legend. 👍🏻
This reminded me so much of my dad who built sheds out of whatever was to hand. Great job, fun story! Your girls are so blessed to have you and Helen as parents.
Great coop. We’ve kept chooks for 18 years, pretty successfully until this year, when I decided to install an automatic door. Fox cased the joint. Saw the door opened and closed at the same time every day. Took most of them one day and came back next day for the rest, while I was still in mourning and didn’t have the presence of mind to turn the blooming’ thing off. Glad to see you’ve not made the same mistake.
I get genuinely excited when you post new content. You are an interesting gentleman and I appreciate living your adventures vicariously through your videos.
you need to fox proof the the run they will quickly dig under the run ,dig a channel around the edge of the run about 600mm deep drop concrete pavers/slabs in vertically or fill with concrete. the chucks will also dig holes where you don't want them to form dust baths and digging for food. the large gauge mesh you used on the end wall and above shoulder height will allow rats and mice easy access. The fly screen door needs proper mesh a fox can burst through fly screen I've lost chucks this way. The chucks need a roost box something you can close off securely inside the run not just for fox protection but so every day when you lock them in and let them out you can inspect the birds for any issues. don't normally comment like this but don't want your girls finding the remnants after a fox attack. I've learned these lessons the hard way. i currently have a flock of 150 in total old breeds (not for eggs but to keep the breeds going, the eggs are a bonus).
That screen door needs something tougher in front of it to keep predators out. Also, chicken wire is only good for keeping chickens in, not particularly effective at keeping predators out. A predator apron around the coop is a good idea as well to keep anything from digging in.
Hey Beau, I really get the "it needs to be straight on the floor" thoughts. But a mobile chicken coop with wheels would have been the way to go. For moving them around to fertilize the whole garden without needing of grounding material (stray or wood). Plus, this spot of your garden will form now on turn into Mordor haha Good luck and a lot of joy with the ton of eggs ;)
Beau, I wanted to say that I love your channel and your content! I also wanted to say that I believe too in a world where you should repurpose everything you can. Every object has it's own story before it's repurposed, which makes every new creation more special and meaningful when constructed and used. I'm happy to see more people that know the cost of true labor and that nothing is as simple as just to buy and throw. Thank you for another amazing and true quality video!
What do chickens eat? Literally anything that does not eat them first, seeds, bugs, cows, horses ... no matter how long dead. 4H called them something to the effect of self propelled stuff-to-protein converters.
Looks great! As others have said though, I would be quite worried about foxes. Not sure how much of an issue they are where you live. Also, the chickens will probably tear up the ground pretty fast. We normally move our chickens around for this reason, but maybe less of an issue if the ground is dry most of the year.
The supervisory authority for chicken coops approved the building with two very satisfied faces. Your girls were visibly very happy. I think there is a fine line between people who collect everything and people who build something from what they have collected. I was someone who kept everything and now I'm someone who still keeps a lot but not all the stuff. It has to have potential. Thank you for a very nice story.
Beau it's such a joy to watch you living in curiousity, delight and experimentation! It buoys the spirit to see someone upholding and grappling playfully with these values (& chickens) in the rapidly evolving online space. Thanks for being you ya cheeky bugger!
Oh she's a beauty! I've got to be honest, I had a couple of dad tears for you when those little look-like-their-mom girls you've got were in the coup with you and the chickens. Just a beautiful video, classic Beau. Good on ya.
Love these junk projects mate, they're a much grander/larger scale version of the sorts of things I find myself doing! Using bits of random crap you've got laying about and trying to jigsaw them together into something useful is such a fun process and, just like you, I love they way these sorts of things look. They feel a lot more organic and full of character than what you build if you go and get the "ideal" materials from the hardware!
Anytime I see A Beau video: Beau is an international treasure, none of us deserve him. Anytime Helen shows up in his videos: Not even Beau deserves her.
I built my own coop many years ago from a picture I found in a magazine. No measurements, no instructions, no nada, just the picture. I think it came out really well. It was certainly functional for about 10 years. It had an upstairs and a downstairs. I locked the birds in the upstairs part at night to protect them from predators. Good on you for this family project!
Fantastic video! It reminds me that I need to focus more on enjoying the process when working on projects. I think if I embraced the journey, I'd take on more of them. Thanks for the inspiration
I'm a developer, I am not good around tools and materials and construction sites. When I look at these videos I wonder how it would go if Beau was to teach someone like me for a day how to build a shed and then somebody like me would teach Beau how to make a simple application. that's a video I'd watch in a hearbeat, seeing what Beau makes of our craft :)
That's awesome :) I have 14 free ranging chickens here, they're the best thing I ever did I reckon! BTW chickens drink a LOT of water, especially in Summer, and they make a lot of mess so do whatever you can to catch chook poop in the common areas (their sleeping area for starters) to make the clean up easier. They need a lot more space than that too but I guess you'll be letting them out once in a while? They also need a high (flat not rounded) perch for sleep, they like to feel that they're too high up for predators to reach. My chooks sleep very high up in a tree. And don't forget oyster shell or some other extra calcium source. Helen was right :P Closer to the house would have been better and further away from the road. You're going to love having those girls!
Other than needing security against coop invaders thats an awesome chicken coop. My Grandmothers chicken coop was built out of similar materials and has been on the farm as long as I can remember, I'm 53😅.
Beau, I love watching your videos. Not only are your building a heckin cool chicken pen, you're doing with with junk materials and STILL making it look wonderful, you're doing it on a zero budget and you're doing it with love. I absolutely adore the idea of getting the girls something to look after - a sense of belonging, a sense of responsibility and a sense of accomplishment. Wonderful stuff, thanks for sharing my friend!
i feel like being asked that by a colleague is less puzzling than being asked by your husband though lol. like surely you should already know whether your wife likes eggs
The chicken coop looks amazing! It really reminds me of a lot of the old houses in my hometown. There used to be this old lady, she lived in a old house that leand against a chicken coop, under an old oak tree. When we would walk by on my birthday, she would give me an egg. A lot of the construction from That time used whatever was there. The combination of tin, wire fence, old wood and windowframes, really fits that aesthetic. Beware of the foxes tho! They will get in somehow, they always do. Best you can do is to overbuild. Your construction looks great, it needs a little bit more safety tho.
Never made an chicken coop, but my autism is tingling and telling me that the chickens might enjoy a little room with a ladder inside to balance on. The idea being that a bunch of chicken can heat a small room much faster than a large tin tent. But then again, you're down under, so I doubt low temps are much of an issue
"German backpackers" 😂 I speak german and I do no some German Backpackers in Oz ... I'm not sure if they would be happy with the coop for that price 40$ 🤣 but let me know if it doesn't work out with the chicken!
I've been so stressed out about the build of my chicken coop that I'm trying to have done in the next two weeks or so and this came at just the right time
This video reminds me of my first junk project, 5th grade, didnt wamt to go to school. I was tired of my tv sitting on the floor so i found two 1'x1' (merican feet) plywood squares that looked like fake wood flooring, got a single 1"x2" and cut it for the legs, i atteched the two squares together at the seam with a small section of 1x2 in the middle, sister8ng them together. It was junk, but very effective, and it worked. Had it for 10 years at least.
