Caumont Coop & Run

Bugsy

Bugsy

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Vienne, France
Sold under different names in the UK and Europe.

I am looking to keep 4 Pekin bantams and this house is only for wet weather, nighttime etc as they will free-range whenever possible.





I bought this coop as a kit including the extension pack. I guess it's only after you join a forum that you find out the negatives of such a project from reading comments from other users. ;)

Bit late for me to change it now so on I plod :)

Anyway, these are my thoughts and views on this bit of kit.

The construction is straightforward and the wood used is OK, if a little small, dimension-wise.

I have modified it as follows;

I stained most of the wood a manly colour of 'hunky' -red.

I soaked the whole unit in a mix of thinned linseed oil which should go some way to get some time out of it.

Wooden fillet around the coop door to keep out draughts.

Relocated the perches, which were too low.

Sealed, again with wood the gaps under the 'pull-out' poop tray.

Added a waterproof seal to the hinged egg-box lid to stop water blowing through the joint.

Junked the standard ladder-board to the entrance as it is too short (wrong angle).

I plan to fix the unit to a concrete base with perimeter of one-course of concrete-blocks and a 3x2 wood fillet to both keep the coop off the ground and give something to fix it to.

The weather side will have a removable plastic sheet arrangement to keep out the wind and rain.

The exposed roof will be covered in plastic corrugated sheeting.

The run area will be doubled sideways as soon as practicable. (once the base is down and it stops raining)

I will post additional photos as I progress.
 
I'll just chip in with what I did with a very similar roost/nesting box and run I initially bought for my 3 hybrids. It was much too small for them and they basically roosted in the run and used the whole box for nesting and the garden for a run. That being a silly arrangement and by then I'd found out that they don't need a particularly warm, just fairly draft free, place to roost. So I took the wall down with the door in it so the whole box was an open shelf.
Sounds crazy but they loved it and ventilation was never an issue. It still reached 4 or 5 degrees in there when they all lined up on the front edge and was freezing outside.
My garden is very sheltered mind and I'm in the Midlands UK.
 
Hello Bugsy,
Everybody knocks these coops, but years ago I bought an identical one, and it served me well, I even sold if for more than I paid for it!
Yes, I had the odd bit coming apart, and I seem to remember the nest box parted from the main body, but for the price you pay, I did not expect it to last a lifetime.
I'm sure your Pekins will be happy with the arrangement of it as a home, secure at night and free ranging during the day.
I kept mine clean and cleaned, and was happy with the service it gave me.
 
Ooh! Looks like you've got plenty of space. Dont let your guard down re foxes. Might be an idea to double line your run with weldmesh before putting it together. At least around the lower half.
Looking like a pro job Bugsy!
 
Thanks Rick, good suggestion especially as we are very rural.

In 14 years I've only ever seen one fox in our field at the back of the house, plenty of Deer and Wild Boar, and Buzzards, of course.

Gary.

 
Finally, we've got decent weather 19º and brilliant sunshine.

Got the base all finished and trial-fitted the tops. Bolt them all down tomorrow.



 
That looks a lovely job. Is the base solid, or have you gained a bit of extra height by setting the blocks round the outside so that your bedding can go in a the lower level?
Any extension you can make so the roof is completely covered will be worthwhile, as the run isn't very big and rain will blow in sideways as well as fall from overhead. Some of us use clear nylon tarpaulin from Tarpaulins Direct to make custom-fitted panels on the windward sides, for extra protection and to keep the birds and bedding dry. It's easy to cut and stitch/nail to battens on the wooden framework and lasts for years. I take mine down in summer but it's really good in wet windy conditions.
See http://www.tarpaulinsdirect.co.uk/tarpaulins/tarpaulins/monotex-tarpaulin
 
Hi Marigold,

Base is concrete with the blocks on top. This gives extra height and should keep the flooring media in place, hopefully.

I have some clear corrugated sheeting for the rest of the roof and, as you suggest some tarpaulin sheet for the sides in wet/windy weather.
 
Made a start with the wet-weather covers for the windward side of the run.

Acquired some of the sheeting Marigold suggested, (thank-you), 14 euros for a 4x3metre sheet off Amazon.fr.

Really easy to cut to shape. I've used exterior-grade double-sided tape to double up the edges and it sticks rather well.

I'm just waiting for the eyelets to arrive now so it can be hooked in place.

I will probably elasticate the bottom to provide some tension.

 
Looks good. Mine really appreciate the shelter it gives from wind and it also stops rain from blowing in under the roof edge. I've had mine for several years now and it's still OK. I use it over frames I've made to protect strawberry plants, as well as for various odd jobs in the garden, eg nailed over a broken window in the old shed.
When are your girls due to arrive?
 
Not sure as yet but only when its ready, I'm really fighting the up and down weather here at the moment, 19º and sunshine one day, and peeing down the next :-)06

I'm trying to source some media for the run-floor at the moment. Aubiose is looking favourite and although it's produced in France it's difficult to find.

Googling 'run-flooring' produces some very conflicting advice, true of most searches today, I suppose. ;)

We have a 'composterie' nearby who in addition to creating soil compost also produce woodchips. No idea what it's like so I must get round and have a look.

Back to work, heavy rain is forecast this afternoon...................... :?
 
The main Aubiose website in UK has a list of suppliers, so maybe they also have this on their French site. Often here, it's an equestrian establishment that uses it and is willing to sell it on. Prices here vary wildly and are inflated if you have to pay carriage. The place I get it from will deliver free for 9 bales or more, and actually only charge £1.80 per load for local deliveries anyway, which is nothing really. It's lovely stuff, warm and soft, incredibly absorbent compared with alternatives, lasts a long time, is wonderful in the compost heap mixed with greenery in summer, and in winter I just put the contents of the muck bucket round mature shrubs etc as a fertile weed mulch. Wood chips are useable if available cheap locally, but there have been horror stories about people getting terrible red mite outbreaks after using them, as the mites come from wild birds and can sometimes remain in the tree branches and contaminate the chippings. Make sure any chips you use come from non-prickly trees as they can cause foot infections (bumble foot) if a bird treads on a thorn. Wood chippings do rot down in situ and produce mould spores, harmful if inhaled when eventually dug out.
 
if you can keep it dry then it hugely expands what you can use in there given the surface area is so small. Soil, dried leaves and straw could be used as long as you turn them over on a reasonably regular basis.
 
I finished off the weather/rain sheets with elasticated shockcord fastened to the blocks. This pulls the sheet away from the side of the run to ensure a good airflow without draughts or rain entering.

The tops are secured with 4mm eyelets in the cloth hooked onto 'L' shaped galvanised hooks.

(tip) put the eyelets in the cloth before fixing the hooks. That way you get a perfect fit.

I made an additional small cover for the area under the coop where the 'dust-box' is situated to keep the sand/ashes dry. All the covers can be removed in a couple of minutes when, and if, it ever stops raining.




I have filled the run with Aubiose to a depth of about 10cm (4") and last night we had a storm with lots of wind and rain and ........................

it stayed totally dry :-)08 :D

Now, all I need are some hens.

Hope this brief tale has been of interest to others.

Gary.
 
That looks a really good way to fix the tarps, Gary. I've always secured mine sandwiched between the wooden posts supporting the mesh, and strips of wooden battens, nailed together round the 4 sides. The force of the wind here can be enormous and before I'd worked out how to secure them, they occasionally tore free in a gale and scared the hens with their flapping. My panels are much bigger than yours, the run is 4 metres by 3 metres, divided into half on the long side and three on the shorter one, so stability is harder to create, They do flap and bang against the mesh sides in heavy gales, but the hens seem to be used to it by now as it's just noise, not anything that looks predatory!
I hope you're going to carry on this thread, yes it is very interesting, and you're just getting to the good bit! When do they arrive?
 
The whole coop and run is fairly well sheltered from the wind by the huge 'bay' bush and beech hedge behind it.


Marigold said:
I hope you're going to carry on this thread, yes it is very interesting, and you're just getting to the good bit! When do they arrive?
Click to expand...

It could be as soon as tomorrow, I'm just now receiving 'portfolio' photos of the actual 'girls' to enable me to make a final choice.(bit like online dating - I should imagine) :roll:
 
This recent spell of bad weather has highlighted a problem I'm sure more beginners have faced, my run is too small. I realise I fell into the trap of buying a, so-called "suitable for 4 hens" setup from the advert which in reality, is rubbish. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.

My plan has always been to let them free-range whenever possible but if the weather dictates that they stay in, well they need more space.

To that end I have started to construct an extension. It is 2.5 x 1 metre and will give the hens more than double the space they have now. 4.75 square metres in total. More important, I think, is width as a narrow run creates a bit of aggression when three or more decide the want to pass each other.

I'm going to add a big door at one end to give me access for cleaning etc and may even panel the whole 'windward' end in tongue & groove weatherboard.

Construction under way.





I've now run out of wood for a few more uprights but the main construction is finished. Just stained the roof and the side with Cuprinol Fence-Care, the two ends are hanging up as the wood needs to dry a bit.






Once assembled the whole frame will be given two or three coats of linseed oil - it's brilliant stuff, protects against the wet, can easily be re-applied and doesn't flake off like paint and varnish.
 
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