Once I decided to get chickens and my neighbor promised me some hens it was time for my husband to get started on designing a coop. One of my sisters was kind enough to volunteer an old dog run that was leaning against her garage. I dug out some old paint we'd used on an outhouse for our cabin (an entirely different story) and soon we had the coop under construction.
Here is the coop before we filled it with hay and chickens. This shows the front panel open. I can slide out dirty hay and poop easily.
This picture shows the back panel open. I can easily reach in to retrieve eggs from the laying boxes.
View through one of the side windows showing the four laying boxes and roosting bar. The bottom of the coop is covered with thick plastic of the type used under showers. It keeps the bottom dry and is easy to clean.
I have four laying boxes and my three hens typically use only one or two. We probably could have made do with less but scratch my husband, find an overachiever!
In addition to the two side windows and the chicken door, there are a couple of cheap metal vents at the highest part of the coop to allow for ventilation. The coop is in a shady area of the yard and I haven't had any problems with the chickens being overheated. In winter, I put hard clean plastic panels over the side windows and hang a cloth over their entrance door. The coldest night we had last winter was 11 degrees and they came through just fine without my needing to string up a lamp or anything for warmth.
Here is the completed coop from a distance. We didn't have the run up yet at this point.
This is a front view of the completed coop. The chickens managed to find their way in that first night just fine!
The yard is an old dog pen and we covered it with chicken wire on the lower half of the sides and covered the entire top to keep out predators. The wire is bent where it touches the ground and lays on the ground about 6" from the sides of the coop. We did this to keep anything from digging its way in to the coop. I debated sinking the wire into the ground but worried that it would rust and chose this method instead. It seems to be working just fine. We haven't had any problem at all with predators.
This is the back of the completed coop with the egg door shut. I use hay for bedding on the bottom of the coop and in the laying boxes. I cover the ground in their run with cut up leaves (running over them with the lawnmower works great) and replace them once a month or so with a fresh pile. They get the added bonus of finding any earthworms that were in the leaf pile.
These are the girls: Henny, Penny and Cobina.
And this is our, initially, very curious Lab mix, Lady, checking out the chickens from safely outside the run.
We've had the chickens and been using the coop and run for almost a year now and I'm very pleased with it. The only change I've made is to add a roosting bar outside in the run, diagonally across one corner. They sit there occasionally and will fly up to it to beg for "treats". I throw a tarp over the top of the run when we expect rainy weather to keep the run from turning muddy. I don't know that the chickens mind the mud but I do.
I let them out of the run to free range every afternoon that it isn't raining. They love the yard but after an hour or so meander back to their run on their own, even when it isn't anywhere near sunset.
It isn't one of the fanciest or prettiest coops but it works well and we're getting two to three eggs a day (one or two in the winter) from our chickens.
Here is the coop before we filled it with hay and chickens. This shows the front panel open. I can slide out dirty hay and poop easily.
This picture shows the back panel open. I can easily reach in to retrieve eggs from the laying boxes.
View through one of the side windows showing the four laying boxes and roosting bar. The bottom of the coop is covered with thick plastic of the type used under showers. It keeps the bottom dry and is easy to clean.
I have four laying boxes and my three hens typically use only one or two. We probably could have made do with less but scratch my husband, find an overachiever!
In addition to the two side windows and the chicken door, there are a couple of cheap metal vents at the highest part of the coop to allow for ventilation. The coop is in a shady area of the yard and I haven't had any problems with the chickens being overheated. In winter, I put hard clean plastic panels over the side windows and hang a cloth over their entrance door. The coldest night we had last winter was 11 degrees and they came through just fine without my needing to string up a lamp or anything for warmth.
Here is the completed coop from a distance. We didn't have the run up yet at this point.
This is a front view of the completed coop. The chickens managed to find their way in that first night just fine!
The yard is an old dog pen and we covered it with chicken wire on the lower half of the sides and covered the entire top to keep out predators. The wire is bent where it touches the ground and lays on the ground about 6" from the sides of the coop. We did this to keep anything from digging its way in to the coop. I debated sinking the wire into the ground but worried that it would rust and chose this method instead. It seems to be working just fine. We haven't had any problem at all with predators.
This is the back of the completed coop with the egg door shut. I use hay for bedding on the bottom of the coop and in the laying boxes. I cover the ground in their run with cut up leaves (running over them with the lawnmower works great) and replace them once a month or so with a fresh pile. They get the added bonus of finding any earthworms that were in the leaf pile.
These are the girls: Henny, Penny and Cobina.
And this is our, initially, very curious Lab mix, Lady, checking out the chickens from safely outside the run.
We've had the chickens and been using the coop and run for almost a year now and I'm very pleased with it. The only change I've made is to add a roosting bar outside in the run, diagonally across one corner. They sit there occasionally and will fly up to it to beg for "treats". I throw a tarp over the top of the run when we expect rainy weather to keep the run from turning muddy. I don't know that the chickens mind the mud but I do.
I let them out of the run to free range every afternoon that it isn't raining. They love the yard but after an hour or so meander back to their run on their own, even when it isn't anywhere near sunset.
It isn't one of the fanciest or prettiest coops but it works well and we're getting two to three eggs a day (one or two in the winter) from our chickens.
