• Last updated 2/19/12 by operationminifarm

Last year I started an adventure, set in motion by my wife.  She slowly convinced me that I wanted chickens.  She is devious that way.  She convinced me to build this coop.  The process took me about 6 months to complete, and more money than budgeted (when do you ever stay under budget?).  My approximated costs for the coop in total is around $500-$600, +/- $100, not including the chickens and chicken supplies.  This was the largest thing I had ever build, before it came a doll's crib, compost bin, and a book shelf.  The whole process was very rewarding, and I had help... read more

• Last updated 12/4/12 by Tshannon

November 2012 update - we lost two girls over the thanksgiving weekend to a Cooper's Hawk.  He almost killed our Salmon Faverolle (named Sammy of course) but I shooshed him/her away.  The hawk plucked almost all of the hairs off Sammy's neck.  So now the chicken yard is 100% enclosed in chicken wire.  This is a picture of the hawk taken with a zoom lense.  Mean bugger.     The Huhn Hut is a 10' x 8' chicken coop I built for my wife to house 12-15 chickens.  We purchased an old farm in northern Bucks County last summer and wanted our new cooop to blend with our... read more

• Last updated 1/21/12 by Uncle Willard

Willard's Hen House Project   Although there is much debate as to whether the chicken or the egg came first, it is best to actually have a chicken coop before getting any chickens or eggs.  During the last week of March 2011, I jumped the gun and bought five cute chicks.  Our city had just recently made it legal to have up to six hens, no roosters.  Having grown up on an acre and a half out in the county, I had raised chickens, ducks, sheep and a steer.  So now that our city was allowing chickens, I was hoping to give our boys a chicken experience even though we... read more

• Last updated 1/18/12 by curtym

Hi, I finally am taking the time to post my chicken coop construction project I completed in the backyard.  I got the idea from some photos off of this site and basically tailored it to my needs.  I really didn't have any blue prints per say but just generally had an idea of what size I wanted it to be in terms of space due to limits within the back property line.  I use sand as a flooring in the pen area and pine shavings in the roost house. Here are some photos I'd like to share of the... read more

• Last updated 1/19/12 by brambleberries

The Pink Place   I've really needed to build a new coop lately, since we've acquired more hens and it got quite cold for a little while (I know they are fine out there but I just feel bad ), and then lastly, the coop we have now is extremely hard to collect eggs from, unnecessarily hard, actually, and I wanted something that was easier to collect from, easier to clean, and easier on the eye  I found all sorts of different coops that I could buy online that were beautiful and functional but very expensive :/  So my husband, being the Eagle Scout that he is, said,... read more

• Last updated 8/8/12 by ll

Your shed can become a Hen House too!   So we have the chicks, now we need a place for them to live! I started the hunt for free coop supplies on craigslist.org in April of 2011 and found some free "hole-y" plywood as well as hauling home a playhouse for my daughter and telephone poles for our garden. Not enough for a coop though, so then our trips to Home Depot and Lowes began... Mother's Day weekend 2011 - our shed transformation begins, thank you husband!  We're starting with an old unused 8x10 metal shed in the back of our property and some... read more

• Last updated 1/3/12 by jjpiper

Leonard Family Coop ***Update: January 2012.*** Hello. We now have had fresh eggs coming from our shed for 18 months. This is our second winter. We currently have 1 SLW, 1 BSL, 1 Partridge Chantecler, 3 White Chanteclers, and 3 Barred Rocks. Many of which I hatched myself. We also keep meat and pet rabbits. We have Californians, Holland Lops and Lionheads. My daughter has a pony and I have a draft team of Percherons. They live on a farm. It's hard to find other people who fancy poultry and rabbits in our area so I have been reaching out to people to... read more

• Last updated 2/27/12 by CityChook

A Coop Story     Construction began in June, 2008 and took 4 months to complete. That's right - all summer, baby. Neither my husband or I had ever built anything before. But hey, no one died, we're still married and I am happy with the results.   CityChook's Coop Details Foundation: Landscape block (9x16) over an existing cement paver pad. Floor is green treated lumber topped with 3/4 inch plywood. Size: 6x8, 9 ft. tall Features: 1 people door (78x30), 1 chicken door (15x15), 1 large nest box (16x23), 6 ft. roost, antique mason jar feeder and waterer,... read more

• Last updated 12/17/11 by DingleBay

               The "CackleBerry Castle" Project. My plan is to organize this site.  But some info any way.  A 50 Lb bag of layer pellets fits nicely into a 10 gal. galvanizes trash can  (about $22).  I looked for something cheaper but for me nothing worked as well as the galvanized can.  I am thinking I need two more.  One for a 25lb bag of sunflower seeds.  Should fit about right. I also need something for a bag of scratch.  That I have been buying in 25lb bags and would only fill the can about one half.  May be I will just get 50 lbs at a time.  I have the feed in the... read more

• Last updated 12/16/11 by stitch81

Stitch81's Funny Farm Chicken Coop (7ft. x 14ft. Run with 5ft. x 7ft. coop)    A little back story on how we decided to add some chickens to our farm.  I'm a "town" girl.  Born and raised in town and never had the pleasure of living with farm animals.  Well, this town girl married herself a farmer.  And we still didn't have any farm animals.  My younger daughter's class had an incubator in their room this year, and the kids got to hatch some chickens.  My husband casually mentioned one day that maybe we should get some chickens.  I latched onto that idea and ran with... read more