So last night we were looking at coop designs and my dad stumbled upon Jonny Anvil's coop design https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/jonny-anvils-chicken-coop and we liked it so much we decided to build it! Especially at that price! $320 Canadian, cheaper USD.
I have been thinking I would have to pay but my dad told me he would buy it for my birthday present (My birthday is tomorrow, March 31st).
SO.
Today my brother, dad, and I went to Lowe's and bought all the wood.
My dad wanted to substitute the OSB for 3/4 pressure treated plywood on the floor and I agreed then we also decided to substitute all the OSB for plywood since OSB absorbs moisture which he didn't know. Except I don't know if it's actually technically plywood but I'll call it that. 3/8 pine sheathing instead of 3/8 OSB. It was actually cheaper than the OSB. I know it seems thin but my dad doesn't think just plywood will look good even painted so he plans to cover it with something later on.
We also didn't buy the 1x6 or 1x3 since he says he has them and if not we will buy them later but it's just for the trim anyways so can be done last.
So here is the list my dad made and printed. Wound up being around $244 or so because we didn't buy the 1x3 or 1x6s and the pine sheathing wound up being around $90 instead of $112 but still gives a basic idea. Roof I think he calculated wrong and we will just copy Jonny's roof.
The materials
Their current set up which is way too small.
We plan on making a few modifications to the design such as putting the nextboxes on the side of the coop instead of inside and making more ventilation. possibly adding another window but that may be too difficult to frame in so we'll see. But for ventilation, we will still have the rain guards (or may use gable vents instead) but instead of the 3 small holes behind them we will cut full size vents. Also planning on putting hardware cloth under the eves for more ventilation. Plan on making lower roosts and a poop board too. But besides those minor changes, the coop will be basically exactly the same.
I'm really excited about this and excited to FINALLY get building after many back and forth posts about trying to decide on designs and whether to build or buy, etc. We are FINALLY building. And we actually have the wood this time so it's not like before where I think we are and then we don't.
My dad initially thought 4x8 was big but I've since convinced him with the 4 sq ft rule but my brother still thinks 4x8 is big (haven't explained to him the square footage rules yet) so they both joke around about how it's more a chicken palace, chicken mansion, etc. And "those **** chickens don't know how good they have it." Hence the "aka the chicken palace" bit in the title
I will update more once we start building.
I have been thinking I would have to pay but my dad told me he would buy it for my birthday present (My birthday is tomorrow, March 31st).
SO.
Today my brother, dad, and I went to Lowe's and bought all the wood.
My dad wanted to substitute the OSB for 3/4 pressure treated plywood on the floor and I agreed then we also decided to substitute all the OSB for plywood since OSB absorbs moisture which he didn't know. Except I don't know if it's actually technically plywood but I'll call it that. 3/8 pine sheathing instead of 3/8 OSB. It was actually cheaper than the OSB. I know it seems thin but my dad doesn't think just plywood will look good even painted so he plans to cover it with something later on.
We also didn't buy the 1x6 or 1x3 since he says he has them and if not we will buy them later but it's just for the trim anyways so can be done last.
So here is the list my dad made and printed. Wound up being around $244 or so because we didn't buy the 1x3 or 1x6s and the pine sheathing wound up being around $90 instead of $112 but still gives a basic idea. Roof I think he calculated wrong and we will just copy Jonny's roof.
The materials
Their current set up which is way too small.
We plan on making a few modifications to the design such as putting the nextboxes on the side of the coop instead of inside and making more ventilation. possibly adding another window but that may be too difficult to frame in so we'll see. But for ventilation, we will still have the rain guards (or may use gable vents instead) but instead of the 3 small holes behind them we will cut full size vents. Also planning on putting hardware cloth under the eves for more ventilation. Plan on making lower roosts and a poop board too. But besides those minor changes, the coop will be basically exactly the same.
I'm really excited about this and excited to FINALLY get building after many back and forth posts about trying to decide on designs and whether to build or buy, etc. We are FINALLY building. And we actually have the wood this time so it's not like before where I think we are and then we don't.
My dad initially thought 4x8 was big but I've since convinced him with the 4 sq ft rule but my brother still thinks 4x8 is big (haven't explained to him the square footage rules yet) so they both joke around about how it's more a chicken palace, chicken mansion, etc. And "those **** chickens don't know how good they have it." Hence the "aka the chicken palace" bit in the title
I will update more once we start building.
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I've never built anything before and my dad hasn't really either besides small things but I'm sure we can figure it out 
