Magnolia Acres Farm

Anyhow, here is how I started:​

This is the side view I drew up: Some changes were made along the way but not too far off from my vision!






I began with a 4x8 piece of plywood, and some 2x4's for structure, and I made the floor of the coop:

I knew I wanted this to be about 2ft off the ground, because I wanted to do a dust bath area underneath the actual coop. I used 4x4 fence boards for my legs. I cut them at 3ft, and my husband cemented them 1 foot into the ground. Once dried, we placed the floor of the coop on the legs, and I now had my base to build on:



Next, I started on the frame of the coop.
I was going for a mini-barn look, so I measured and cut the frame, and pieced it together on the floor structure:
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Next, I cut out my 1x4's (these were previously deck boards so already stained and treated), and began on the walls of the coop, then painted them white:
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Obviously, at some point my husband and I added the roof and doors:
I didn't get a picture of that when we did it, this was taken later during the run construction, but you can see-



The roof is a thin piece of plywood, covered with tin from an old horse barn on our property. I placed the plywood underneath, so I would have something to staple the hardware cloth to for my ventilation strip.
The doors are plywood, and I used 1x2's to outline it and make the V for the barn door look.


Next, I added roost bars inside:
(Pic 1 is original, I've added on since this was built (pic 2 is the only picture I have of that), and am about to add on again)



Next up, is construction of the run.
Now, this was done in August, in south Louisiana, on literally the record HOTTEST summer we've ever had, complete with a 4 month drought and all the year we did this. This run was built with my literal blood, sweat and tears!! haha... I absolutely do not have many pictures of this process, because this is the part that made me completely re-think the kind of person I am and the choices I make, IT WAS MISERABLE.

We started off by measuring the area and setting posts.
My husband cemented fence posts 1ft into the ground
We placed 2x6x10 deck boards on the top, bottom, and middle section of the posts.
For the fencing, I used 1/4" hardware cloth.
I secured the hardware cloth to the wood fence frame with a staple gun and utility staples.
Once the staples had the fence good and tight, I hammered poultry staples every couple of inches.
We also used screws with washers on all corners and middle points, and this gave us a nice, tight finish on the fence.




I spy a helper giving Momma moral support!!




Then we began on the roof of the run, using 2x4's and fence boards to frame it. (We do not get heavy snows here so fence boards were plenty support here).
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More moral support:
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Next we added the roof, back wall, and doors for the run:



This is the only picture I got below while building the doors lol.
I'll reiterate, it was MISERABLE this summer!!




Once the doors were added, that completed my coop and run!
I then made 4 cubbies inside the coop, on the opposite side I put the roost bars.
Inside the cubbies I put nesting boxes that I built out of leftover scrap wood.
And I know the ladies like a little privacy while doing their business, so I had to have cute curtains, which I also made myself (sew-free).




I got pre-cut fabric from Wal Mart, and some iron on hemline.
I measured the length I wanted each curtain, and cut an inch bigger all around.
I ironed on the hem, and viola! Simple, cheap coop curtains!
I hung them up with staples, and they easily come down when I need to wash them about once a month!

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I ran a 100ft high velocity extension cord on a GFCI outlet out to my coop. I have a fan and some string lights in there.
Here is the inside of the run, all finished up:
(I ended up doing a kiddie pool for a dust bath, instead of underneath the coop)
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And..... here is the finished product of the outside of my cute cozy little coop:


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It will always be special to me! I even put it on my farm logo for my LLC

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Thanks for taking a peep at my little coop ​