When my wife and kids wanted to buy 4 hens for eggs i figured i better start making a coop. I found this site and did a ton of research on coop design. This is what i made based on all the things i found here.
coop is a playpen style coop 4' x 16' x 5'8" inside hieght with a 3'6"x4' hen house 2 feet up. I built it in my garage then added the roof assembly when i had it set outside on the site.We used treated 2x4s for the base and regular 2x4s for the rest of the frame and 1/2" plywood for hen house walls and floor. I painted the inside of the nesting boxes black for privacy and my kids colored and decorated the inside. We stained the whole thing and painted the trim to match the metal roof. we added 14inches of hardware cloth in the ground buried all hte way around the coop. the floor is covered with linolium, the roosts are removeable for cleaning as well as polyurethane sealed. we used 1/2 hardware cloth in seperate sections incase a bear tried to push his way in i could just replace that section as opposed to having to replace a bigger strip. the pop door is 11x14 and slides up adn down on a rope so we can open and close it from the outside. we did 3 nesting boxes on the outside for easy egg collecting. the access door has a 2x4 that is removeable for easy cleaning of the coop. we did 2 windows that i made out of 2x2 and plexiglass. there are good vents in the peeks of the roof area that are covered with hardware cloth. we also added eye bolts and eye hooks to the ramp so it can be removed for cleaning. i put in a little shef for a "hand sanatizer station" and up in the roof added a little rack for the rake, kitty litter scooper, plastic dropping pal, and sifter. we used gravel from our dirt road as a base then added a couple inches of play ground sand in the run.
total cost was about 850ish. it was not that hard to make but since i dont have any buiding experience it took me about a week to make as i was taking my time.
material list (pretty close as going from memory):
2 treated 2x4x16 for base
1 treated 2x4x8 cut in half for base
2 2x4x16 for top
about 35 2x4x7 studs
4 sheets of 1/2 plywood
4 sheets 7/16 osb for roof
3 12 foot panels of metal roof
2 10 foot metal roof cap
1 bag roof screws
about 12 1x3 furring boards for trim
1 box 3inch screws
2 12x24 plexiglass pieces
4 2x2x8 for windows
1 roll 24"x50' hardware cloth 1/2inch
1 roll 36" x 50' hardware cloth 1/2 inch
vynl flooring remanent peice for free
total cost about 900.00
extras i bought or had that made the job so much easier:
nail gun kit with compressor and 2 nail guns and stapler (porter cable) from homedepot for 279.00...this nail and stapler kit was hands down the best investment for this job. used about 2000 staples to hold hardwarecloth, aobut 2000 nails for window frames, trim, temporary holds, nesting boxes, etc.
chop (mitter) saw. i had one but it was pretty old and beat up so i used the coop as a excuse to buy a new dewalt saw for 209.00 worked awesome
jig saw to cut roofing and window holes. I didnt have one bought a dewalt one for 99 bucks worked awesome for roofing, windows, etc.
we added a ryobi tech 4 motion sensing alarm from home depot for 35 bucks to warn us and scare predators away.
We LOVE this coop and would not change a thing so far but if i did it again i would pay closer attention to where i put the frame 2x4s so taht i could use standard size hardwarecloth and not have to cut it to fit.
the sand in the bottom of the run is working awesome. chickens love pecking the oyster shell out of it and dust baths. For us its really easy to clean, just like a litter box.
coop is a playpen style coop 4' x 16' x 5'8" inside hieght with a 3'6"x4' hen house 2 feet up. I built it in my garage then added the roof assembly when i had it set outside on the site.We used treated 2x4s for the base and regular 2x4s for the rest of the frame and 1/2" plywood for hen house walls and floor. I painted the inside of the nesting boxes black for privacy and my kids colored and decorated the inside. We stained the whole thing and painted the trim to match the metal roof. we added 14inches of hardware cloth in the ground buried all hte way around the coop. the floor is covered with linolium, the roosts are removeable for cleaning as well as polyurethane sealed. we used 1/2 hardware cloth in seperate sections incase a bear tried to push his way in i could just replace that section as opposed to having to replace a bigger strip. the pop door is 11x14 and slides up adn down on a rope so we can open and close it from the outside. we did 3 nesting boxes on the outside for easy egg collecting. the access door has a 2x4 that is removeable for easy cleaning of the coop. we did 2 windows that i made out of 2x2 and plexiglass. there are good vents in the peeks of the roof area that are covered with hardware cloth. we also added eye bolts and eye hooks to the ramp so it can be removed for cleaning. i put in a little shef for a "hand sanatizer station" and up in the roof added a little rack for the rake, kitty litter scooper, plastic dropping pal, and sifter. we used gravel from our dirt road as a base then added a couple inches of play ground sand in the run.
total cost was about 850ish. it was not that hard to make but since i dont have any buiding experience it took me about a week to make as i was taking my time.
material list (pretty close as going from memory):
2 treated 2x4x16 for base
1 treated 2x4x8 cut in half for base
2 2x4x16 for top
about 35 2x4x7 studs
4 sheets of 1/2 plywood
4 sheets 7/16 osb for roof
3 12 foot panels of metal roof
2 10 foot metal roof cap
1 bag roof screws
about 12 1x3 furring boards for trim
1 box 3inch screws
2 12x24 plexiglass pieces
4 2x2x8 for windows
1 roll 24"x50' hardware cloth 1/2inch
1 roll 36" x 50' hardware cloth 1/2 inch
vynl flooring remanent peice for free
total cost about 900.00
extras i bought or had that made the job so much easier:
nail gun kit with compressor and 2 nail guns and stapler (porter cable) from homedepot for 279.00...this nail and stapler kit was hands down the best investment for this job. used about 2000 staples to hold hardwarecloth, aobut 2000 nails for window frames, trim, temporary holds, nesting boxes, etc.
chop (mitter) saw. i had one but it was pretty old and beat up so i used the coop as a excuse to buy a new dewalt saw for 209.00 worked awesome
jig saw to cut roofing and window holes. I didnt have one bought a dewalt one for 99 bucks worked awesome for roofing, windows, etc.
we added a ryobi tech 4 motion sensing alarm from home depot for 35 bucks to warn us and scare predators away.
We LOVE this coop and would not change a thing so far but if i did it again i would pay closer attention to where i put the frame 2x4s so taht i could use standard size hardwarecloth and not have to cut it to fit.
the sand in the bottom of the run is working awesome. chickens love pecking the oyster shell out of it and dust baths. For us its really easy to clean, just like a litter box.
