Our Coop

Hi!  Here's our coop, built for 10 chickens almost entirely out of junk materials.  Our design was mostly inspired by the availability of several landscaping timbers we took out of a decommissioned garden bed (for the basic framing), a couple kitchen cabinets (for nesting boxes), and several old doors (for floors and walls).  We went for a raised A-frame to try to keep mice out and provide a larger floorspace (by allowing chickens access to the underside of the coop).

The basic components of our coop were 8' landscaping timbers we pulled out of a garden, several salvaged 4' deck boards, and several old doors.  The "peak" is a 20' metal pole.

Dean painting the inside of the coop.  The nesting boxes are old kitchen cabinets - we put diveders in them and locks on the doors to the outside.  The bottom boxes are level with the floor, which doesn't work well, as we have about 4' of bedding.  The floor is old closet doors.

Outside the coop.  Two little doors for entry in cold weather, the big door will be open in the heat of the summer.

The front is painted and here you can see the big door on the right that will provide ventilation.  There's another, smaller door on the other side.  There's a long skinny window at the bottom (it's one of those windows that go next to the front door of a people house, but laid sideways).

Yay!  All painted up!  And here's the chicken yard.  The birds can also access the underside of the coop, for extra foraging and to stay cool in the summertime.  

This is the other outside wall, with a little access door (from an old pop-up camper) and a hole cut for the waterer.  This also shows the other big horizontal window with a hinged door.  The two big horizontal window openings are about a foot smaller then the doors that cover them, which makes it possible to keep them propped open in the rain without the coop getting wet inside.  The door on the far right is for access to our planned expansion into a "salad bar" that we can plant, allow access too, then close off to re-plant again.

Inside the coop.  Nexting boxes on the left, a trio of roosts (old stair bannisters), and the water pipe on the right. We're trying a mix of straw and shredded paper for bedding.  The floor is a scrap piece of sheet vinyl left over from a kitchen remodel.  We're hoping that will help keep the wood floor from deteriorating.  Overall dimenstions inside are about 6x10.

Opposite the nexting boxes, is the waterer.  It's a cat litter tub with a PVC pipe and chicken nipples drilled in every 4' or so.  The pipe extends the length of the coop, through the wall, all the way down the length of the yard.