Independence Homestead

In the first post of our hoop house build, I detailed how we built the frame for the hoop house. Here I will detail the rest of the process: covering it, getting it setup for chickens, and getting the chickens in it!

The hoop house, rear view

We recently picked up some white tarps at a garage sale, in fact that purchase was the catalyst for the hoop house project! We originally covered the tarp with 4 white tarps, each one covering one corner, with the corners overlapping. This wasn’t working well with the rounded ends, though, and we weren’t sure how to make a door. So we took all the tarps off and started again. This time we used 2 white tarps to cover the main portion of the hoop house. For the ends, we cut up a different, big tarp into curved pieces, cutting it to fit the ends. For the front doorway, we split the tarp in half. We attached the tarp using rope, attaching it to the cattle panels making up the frame. At the bottom we put screws into the wood base, and slipped the tarp grommets over the screws.

This hoop house was built to house the two dozen hens we purchased for a “rent a hen” operation we plan on launching next spring. We will build compact coops to house two laying hens for families to rent on a monthly basis. Rent A Hen will give families the opportunity to learn about hens and where their food comes from, plus enjoy fresh eggs, without making a long-term commitment to keep chickens. Since these hens aren’t laying yet, we are keeping them on the farm for now. Hence, we needed a place for them to live, and the hoop house was our housing solution.

The hens all settled in

We originally planned on keeping the hens “cooped up” inside the coop for a couple of days after we moved them in. This is a common practice to get the hens to view the new coop as their home, and prompt them to return there nightly. It’s been really hot the past few days, though, so we thought that was a bad idea. Then Harley had the genius idea to attach a cattle panel, reinforced with chicken wire, to the front of the hoop house. This created a little “yard” area for the hens at the front of the hoop house, so they could get fresh air and get out of the hot hoop house, but still keep them contained so they form an attachment to their new home.

For feed, we used a PVC pipe feeder we had already made for our current laying hens.

The chickens eating from the pipe feeder

For water, we setup a bucket waterer

At the back of that last picture, you can see the branches we tied up along the back of the hoop house to function as roosts for the hens.

The hoop house is within our fenced backyard, which is comprised of field fencing and electric wire fencing.  Our farm dog Whiskey is always in the backyard, too, to protect the flock.  As one more level of protection, we strung electric wire with step-in posts around the hoop house, too.  We thought this was a good idea since the hoop house itself doesn’t offer much protection from predators as one could easily get past the tarp.

The finished product

The hens will live in the hoop house over the winter. We have a nesting box setup we will move in soon, after the chickens are used to roosting on the branches and there’s no chance they’ll try roosting in the boxes. We will use the deep litter method in the hoop house, and in the spring we should have rich soil in which to plant! We should have great tomatoes growing early next year between that soil and the hoop house functioning as a greenhouse!