My 1st Coop Build

We are new chicken parents and working on our first coop.  I'm starting this thread to share with others as we go along as well as welcome advice, suggestions or warnings from those more experienced.  So far we have not spent any money on anything except for some nails, we took down an old playhouse that my husband started for my daughter but never finished, and she got frightened by the spiders so agreed to donate the wood to the chicken project for a small price, lol.

First picture is the pile of wood we got from taking it down.

Here is the frame~

Painted and partially sheeted, it got dark before I got it all naile down and one sheet needs a little trimming.  The last pic looks like one of the boards is crooked, but it really isn't, its just an optical illusion. 

I'll continue tomorrow:-)

Managed to get one wall up today after work with the help of a good friend (pictured). Between the heat and having to take occasional dips in the pool, and trying to beat sunset, we didn't get as far as I'd have liked, but progress is progress:-) There will be a nesting box between each set of studs, with access from the ouside back. 

Its 8' x 6 ' , the back wall is 3' feet, and the front will bbe 4' in order for rain or snow to run away from the pen.  The pen will be about 8' x 16' or whatever yard I have left in front of it before getting too close to the kids playground. 

I do agree 6 nesting boxes will be too many,  it could never hold enough chickens to use that many boxes, but my husband wants to argue that point with me but won't join backyard chickens to read for himself, lol.  Maybe I'll try to talk him down to 4, lol. 

Got the front wall up today with the help from number 4 son and his friend (pictured).  Seems to be going slow to me, but after working all day we only have a couple of hours in the evening in what is still 90+ degree temperatures before it gets too dark to see what we are doing.  Plus a lot of our time is spent breaking down the old playhouse walls and removing nails, time consuming but money saving.  So far we have bought 4 new 2x4's, a box of nails and a box of screws, probably around $30 spent, the rest has been recycled (or reclaimed) from what we had around the house. 

The plan here is on the left will be a 12"x18" high chicken door, on the right is a 36"x36" opening that will be covered with barn style doors to allow me access to the coop to clean and tend to the chickens as needed.