I spent about a month designing and building this scaled down chicken coop for our quail. I have zero carpentry skills, but after looking at many designs, and even more 2,000 dollar coops for sale, I think I pulled it off!

First we caged off 1/4 of our 16x16 screen house: (we added a framed hardware cloth roof as well)


Added lighting: 4 fixtures, 3 CFL's for us, 1 250 watt sunlamp for the birds, have a timer that tracks dawn to dusk and gives them light when it's light out...


Then construction of the coop:






My construction assistants...



screened vents with closure bars...



It is harder that I thought to build a functional door...





Adding the windows and skylight because, well, the indoor part was just too dark!



Ever try framing plexiglass with furring strips and a nail gun? I do not recommend it. (neither do my fingers which got skewered more than I care to mention)

Result was worth it tho... at least there's natural light in there to keep the feathered ones in rhythm...

Roosting bar and panic platform to get away from pesky males... need to add some ladders as I find that quail don't really roost...


Added a panel heater for them cold winter nights... should provide enough heat for the enclosure above...


Here's the (almost) finished project... need to refine the ladder and entry platform and cage the heater to prevent burns...












Of course, the obligatory supplies...
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