Before ... we have a walk out basement, under a narrow deck. The pile of dirt is actually dirt & shale fragments ... dug out from under our house by a groundhog!
Cleaned out all the junk & started construction on coop ... floor approx. 4 ft x 4.5 ft. 36" high.
Coop box nearing completion ... before paint.
Painted inside & out. Inside ... 2 nesting buckets (4 gallon) in a 2x4 frame. Can be extended to 3 buckets if needed (only 4 chickens.) Pop door in back corner with hook latch on outside. Vent window needs chicken wire on it yet.
Roost bar next to window. About an inch of sand on the floor.
Ready for the chicks/pullets (now 4 weeks old) ...
Heat lamp, food, water & some shredded paper for a little scratching fun (spread through the entire coop within about the first hour!) ... They love it 
Now for the run (under and next to it on pop-door side) ... got my work cut out for me - uneven ground!! In the meantime, they will enjoy yard-time in a large dog-crate
UPDATE: Homemade waterer ... Gallon juice jug with a 1/2" hole cut about an inch from the bottom sitting in a 2" deep plant pot base ... water gurgles out as the water level drops. (I block the hole with my finger when filling until I can cap the bottle.)
UPDATE: Homemade feeder ... Oatmeal canister with four large holes cut about a 1/2 inch from the bottom sitting in square a plastic ziploc container (holes face each corner) ... all of that sitting on an upside-down cup holder, on a 4 gallon bucket lid to elevate it and reduce poop in the food (and it works!) Holds 2 pound of feed I think. Made an additional feeder made from large peanut can for outside
Sunshine is happy ... and looking for an escape route from the coop out the "people door!"
Gandie is ready to run, and wondering what all the outside construction noise is about.
Henry (formerly Henrietta), Fluffball & Gandie scratching around in the coop.
Gandie checks out the roost bar in the coop, waiting for a place to run.
All the girls on the bar, Henry on the floor (usually the other way around)
UPDATE: The week prior to Memorial Day weekend. The run is done!! No thanks to the worst built deck on the planet. Every post hit the ground at a different level. But I got it done ... the last of the wire attached in the rain!
Fluffball & Sunshine check out their new run ... took a little while to navigate the ladder, but they've figured it out ... fly down, walk up
Wired in all around. The part under the coop protected from the weather
The girls (including Henry's replacement, Peaches) Check out their new outside digs, and a bucket of treats from the garden! My chooks love cilantro, which is good, cause it self seeded everywhere this year and my family doesn't like it!
I like to throw their treats (fruit, veg, scratch) under the coop and they clear it out every day! They've also figured out how to dust bathe in shale & dirt 4 happy hens. 4 happy owners Now for a hanging feeder & waterer.UPDATE: What I would do differently next time around ...
• Freestanding, moveable coop/run not attached to a deck
• Deep litter method in coop (pine shavings & sprinkling of DE) from the start. BEST METHOD for poop management, odor management, time management (I clean it every 3-4 months now, as opposed to daily with sand!)
• Nipple waterer
• Build it bigger, with room to add more chickens
(currently in the works! - new location)
