Wikis related to medium-coops

    After nine months of having three chickens in a tractor, we've recently finished building a permanent structure. As we're in Virginia, we are trying to take both our hot, humid summers and our sometimes bitter winter spells into consideration as we build. The last nine months has taught us a lot - mostly about what we'd do differently when we built a permanent coop! I posed a question to BYC members via the thread "Coop Builders - What would you have changed or done differently?" that yielded a lot of wonderful ideas and information that we're incorporating into the new coop....

                       Welcome From  Hilltop Farm We live on top of a hill, hence the name "Hilltop Farm". Many people think of Florida as flat land, but we do actually have parts that are rather hilly.    (This page has not been updated in quite awhile.) Now for my story. My husband had been telling me he wanted some chickens. He brought home the first batch of three day old pullet chicks in a small box and a small bag of chick feed, I thought OMG. We had nothing to keep them in. We were not prepared. Well we went out and bought a brooder and everything that goes with it. When the...

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 1780 farmhouse and 1800...

Steadfast's Chicken Coop Condo!   Total project cost: $1000.00 Made by modifying my teen-age daughter's outgrown Wooden "Swing-N-Slide" swing set... The entries for this construction are posted in REAL CONSTRUCTION TIME! -Enjoy! From This: To This: Here is a Tour Video of the finished Coop:   Here is the tour after I installed the solar and Wind turbine power. yes, this coop got all kinds of ridiculous oppulant!!!     And now, How I built it all: To begin with, Yah Gotta have a PLAN! Here is a copy of my Chicken Coop's, "Chicken Run", floor plans... Scaled...

Our Backyard Coop(s)   We live in Southern Maine with our 1 remaining hen, See Yau (Barred Rock).  We lost Squeak (Golden Comet) in November 2010 due to an impacted crop, Kung Pao (Buff Orpington) in October 2011, either Rhoda or Galena (Rhode Island Reds - they look alike) in September 2012 for unknown reasons and Bubble (Golden Comet) and the other Rhode Island Red in the winter of 2012/2013.  We got them as newly hatched chicks in April 2010 and have been living in the coop since mid-June 2010.  Our coop is an original design and we borrowed the cattle panel idea from this site....

Cost so far, as of March 7th:   $124.50 for shed, incl delivery $68.39 for brooder supplies $93.07 for extra building supplies and chicken run lumber $20.00 for gas   Update, March 14th:   Oh lordy.. now we're starting to get into the big bucks.     $32.60 for some more pieces of lumber. $164.75 for stinkin' chicken wire and a gate door.   Update, March 29th: $72.00 for more chicken wire.   April something: Returned some unused supplies and got $85 back. Used $85 to buy some more lumber and various chicken supplies.   $75 for one more roll of wire, some different...

Wichita Cabin Coop - Boise Adaptation Many thanks to the Baldessari Clan for posting the photos of their Wichita Cabin Coop.   We took their idea and ran it with a very few minor changes to account for my lower level of DIY expertise. You can find their original coop design here.   UPDATE 30 MARCH 2012:  I've had several people ask me for plans and estimates on cost. The cost ran about $1,400 (I'm guessing) but I paid for some mistakes I made. I don't, sadly, have plans. However, if you want to view more of the images from the building so you can get more ideas, you can find those...

Board and Batten Coop on 4x4 Runners   My wife and I recently moved from the city to nice secluded 12-acre wooded lot.  It hasn't even been a year yet and she decides that she wants to get some chickens (and alpacas, but we'll save that story for another day).   So.. after looking on Craigslist for a few weeks and finding a bunch of really rough looking chicken coops, we decide to look at buying a new coop.  The prices on new 6'x8' coops are more than I wanted to spend to house 12 little chickens so I decided to draw something up.   I spent a little bit of time doing some research on...

My interest in housing chickens started after receiving a chicken coop building book as a gift.  I chose the "How the Chicken Crossed the Road" coop design, and began assembling it in my garage.  My coop is mostly identical to the design presented in the text, but with a few modifications and additions.  I added raised wooden anchors to the window coverings, and "Fresh Eggs" lettering to the nest box access.  I also added a nice weathervane to the roof.   Following construction I caulked the inside of the coop before priming and painting (inside and out).  I selected Heritage Red (main)...

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 live in a suburban...

  A "Garden Coop"/Wichita Coop Modification Built February, 2012   I had been wanting chickens for many years now but have not been able to convince THR (the Head Rooster) that it was a good idea. In mid Feb. the itch struck again and I came home from the store with a "Grit Guide to Chickens". I left it on the counter to read later. THR saw it there and asked me if I wanted to get chickens this spring. I told him that I would love to get chickens. He volunteered that he thought it would be a great idea for me and the kids. I already knew the local ordinances which allow chickens but...

  OUR "RECYCLED"COOP   After moving to a country place this past April, my wife started to talk about having a chicken coop.  We had always lived in suburban neighborhoods (Track Homes) so the idea of having chickens seemed like fun.  After estimating the cost of building from all new materials, beeing as cheap (cheep!) as I am, I decided to experiment with building the coop from as much recycled and secondhand material I could find.   My wife had already brought home a sizeable amount of scrap posts and 2x4's from a friend's fence that was torn down a few years prior, so that got us...

  Dark Dozens - The Coop   Building the coop: The coop is 5 by 6 feet. The run is 5 by 16 feet. It was built to house 8 Buff Orpingtons. The design was inspired by a coop I saw outside the local farming supply store, pictures I found on backyardchickens.com, and a shed that I built in 2009. I used pressure treated lumber for framing the floor and for framing the run. Everything else is framed with standard 2 x 4's The siding is T1-11. The floor and roof are exterior grade plywood. Asphalt shingles and drip edge were used for the roof. It is insulated with fiberglass...

  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This page was created in 2007 when we lived in Abilene, TX.  Since then we have moved back to near my hometown in Southwest Wisconsin where we now have two flocks with 2500 organic layer hens in each flock and sell about 120,000 dozen eggs per year through an organic farmers' cooperative.  Please see my other pages for photos of our Wisconsin...

Jan 1, 2012 Hello everyone!  I'm new to the backyard chicken world and can't wait to get started! I have a greenhouse (8'x6') that will be located in the northeast corner of my back yard. It will be constructed as such that I'm going to convert the back 2/3rds as a chicken coop.   (not my actual greenhouse, just a pic - it's still in the box - waiting for the hubby to help me build it! LOL)     I am planning on replacing a few of the polycarb panels with wood, so I can create a chicken door and more ventilation.  I will also be lining a couple walls with hay bales to provide for more...

Country Charm By: The Sproull's         About Us      We are a young family, with four children, living in the small town of Springville in beautiful Southern Indiana where there are more cows than there are people.  Anyways, the thought of raising chickens and eating fresh eggs has always been intriguing to me.  So a few years ago I began feeding my spark of curiosity by researching the subject (Thanks, BYC, for being such a huge resource).  The more I learned about chickens the more I wanted try it for myself.  Our journey began when a box with the 2 dozen fertilized eggs I...

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, "Just get me some...

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...

UNDER CONSTRUCTION FOR UPDATES 03/26/12GREEN ACRE FARM "Our home, Our min-farm, Our way of life"     Welcome to our page about our "Green Acre Farm" It is named this because we now have an actual full acre after a purchase of neighboring 1/4 acre. Green Acre also seemed appropriate because we are truly like the 1970's show Green Acre, city folk learning to farm. I am always learning new skills still 6 years after beginning. I went from business suits and high heels to mud boots and sweatpants, and love every minute of it. We are only missing Wilbur the pig, although my husband has...

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 from some good...