Recently moved back to Oregon from Alaska. Me and my wife wanted a little ranch for her horses. We figured while we now had property we might as well have a few more friends. We knew chickens were great for many things. Breaking down the horse poop, composting material, taking care of bugs, and much more. What we didn't realize is how great the eggs are, and mostly of how entertaining they are..
We were completely new to chickens so I did a lot of reading and looking and reading some more. A lot of research was done on here, and BYC was where I got most of my info and help.. Well onto the coop!!!

This coop is a constant project, always looking for used materials to add to it.. I will update pics as it continues to get better.


Currently it looks like this:

But it hasn't always looked like that, it has taken a few steps of evolution over a year.. I started with a couple 2x4's framed to 4'x8' with plywood attached.. I used to have those pieces as part of a dog kennel that I tore down. I then went to the Habitat for Humanity ReStore and picked up the 2x4s and plywood and a window. The door was from an old ships closet left at the house when we bought it..

For a while I didnt have enough 2x4's to frame the roof, so the plywood just sat on the top..

While the chickens grew fast I didn't know how I was going to fence them all in outside.. I found this metal framed thing and wrapped it in chicken wire and set it on wood blocks.. It worked for a while..


I wasn't ready for them to perch yet so I had to come up with something fast.. I made a quick and easy poop deck for the time being..






They barely eat any store bought food. They have free run of 5 acres and spend all day eating natural food. Talk about Farm Fresh Eggs!!
But when they are hungry and are inside the coop I made this feeder into the wall of the coop. it is slanted in at the bottom. If you look close it is almost completely full and will drop down into the feeding area as they eat. works great and very simple..

The floor was vinyl flooring remnants and makes for easy cleanup.. We live in such a dry environment we are going without anything on the floor..

The interior walls are paneling from a recent remodel of our house when we upgraded to sheetrock.

There is only 2 large nesting boxes with a hatch that opens from the outside.. This works with the amount of laying chickens we have now.. But I am going to have to add more before the babies start laying..


And the greatest part is the siding. Amazingly enough when we bought the 5 acres there was a couple piles of old barn wood. It was painted a few colors.. I dug out the good stuff and cut the warped and moldy stuff off and got the outside that you see in the pictures..






We lost a few cause of predators of some type while we were gone for the weekend. So we grabbed the kennel that the dogs weren't using and now if we go out of town for the day we can leave them all in a bigger and safer area..




In February we added 12 more chicks to the flock and have recently been staying with the older chickens.. I had to add a ladder made from old pallets. It has hinges on the top and a chain on the ceiling it hooks into for full floor access for cleaning..

The chicken door is in metal railing and is attached to a string and a pulley setup so that the string comes out the front of the coop. You can open and close it with a pull of the string from the coops front deck area.




The recently added babies


They are all there.. I said smile for the camera but none did.. weird...




What the future plans are::

Find the rest of the tin to finish the roof. The tarp works ok for now, but I want tin.

I have acquired about a dozen windows and am planning an attached greenhouse to this. Use the chickens to help warm it in the winters and use their carbon dioxide to help the plants grow. In return the chickens will love scratching through the old plants.
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