Lord Noel's Ark

Whatto! Chicken Fanciers.........

I've been so inundated with requests from the public..........

...asking me for details of "Lord Noel's Ark"......

....and how to build it....

....that I have decided............

.....to reveal here for the first time........

...the secrets of "How to build a Chicken Ark"....

...or.....

...."Free Chicken coup design details"

....depending on what you're searching for.

I looked around a lot on the net to check out designs for myself.....

....and was amazed how few there were available.

In fact one chap seemed to have the whole internet sewn up.....

.....with all designs for Chicken Arks leading back to his web page....

....where you were offered a complete book of designs!

But that wasn't what I wanted.

I'd decided on a simple Ark shape.....

....which was going to be just above ground level.......

and I worked on the principle of......

...keeping it simple!

Each piece is based on a frame......

....made from thinner pieces of wood......

...onto which I screwed the outer cover.

So.....just for you are the stages of "Making a chicken Ark"

Stage 1. (above)

Decide on a triangle size that will house the number of chickens you plan to have inside it.

(The depth of the Ark can be adjusted if you need to have it bigger without going any higher)

This triangle becomes the template for the front and rear panel.

Make the side frames to suit your circumstances..... but the width of the frame will give you the depth of the Ark and determine where the front and rear panels will end up.

Stage 2.

Having decided the depth of the Ark I put in sliding floor....that I can pull out (for ease of cleaning).

Stage 3.

Put some perches inside at various intervals so that the birds can roost comfortably at night with a few inches space between them. If the space between the percehs is big enough to let an egg fall through it will discourage the birds from sitting on them to hatch them out. If you want them to sit on the eggs.....put in a flat surface on top of the perches.... or let them sit on the floor.

Stage 4.

The front door is removeable. When the chickens go inside at night....it's up to you to put the door in. Likewise...when morning comes.....it's up to you to open the door to let them all out.

Because the courtyard in which my chickens live is surrounded by a six foot wall .....I have now completely removed the door and allow the chickens free access and exit at whatever time suits them....so far it seems to be working well.

Stage 5.

I wanted a run that was removeable. It's important to show the birds where they are expected to live when you first get them. So the run was to keep them in the area of the coup . Again...it's made of a basic frame and the Ark has overhanging eaves at the front and back for greater weather protection.......but the front eave allows the run frame to slide under it....preventing the chickens from being able to escape from that end.

Stage 6.

I put in some floor tiles to create a nesting shelf at the top.......and to make the floor easier to clean at the bottom. I am considering making the lower perches removeable to make it even easier to clean out.

Stage 7.

This is how I made the door secure.......these added pieces of wood that I put on the back of the door, grip onto a length of wood after the top of the door has been slid upwards into a space which is bigger than the actual door. (This is starting to sound complicated but it isn't really).

Stage 8.

Here you can see the back has been taken off....so you can get at te eggs and clean out the Ark once the ladies are out feeding themsleves. On the Ark itself is a triangle of wood behind which the back panel fits............. to stop it falling outwards.

Stage 9.

These small 'stays' move out of the way to allow the rear panel to be taken out and slide down to keep it in place. I found that making them out of plywood means they are less likely to fall apart.

Stage 10.

Its best to protect the undeside aswell......I used chicken wire here but some people use even stronger materials.....depending on the 'threat level' where you live. As I said earlier....I actually leave the front door completely now....though this may change when winter arrives.

Here you can see the triangular end of the 'run' has been removed to allow the ladies to explore the rest of the garden.

Hope this has been of some use to all you chicken enthusiasts out there.

Tallyho!

Best Wishes - Lord Noel