Our coop and chicken yard while still under construction.


We purchased the wire and a few pieces of hardware, all the rest is recycled or left over from other projects. Running old floor joists through the table saw made for nice strait 2x2's that were much nicer to work with than the banana corkscrew wood they sell at the home improvement store. I strapped together a sacrificial base out of old 4x6's to protect the wood from rotting where it contacts the soil.
An important feature is the roof design which allows for the large vent at the very top for maximum "chimney effect" during our hot Central Oregon summers.

The nesting box is mounted on drawer slides (not yet installed in this image) to allow for easy cleaning. In the upper left corner of the pic you can see an s-hook on a cord that draws the ramp closed.

The pic above was taken this morning, 02/02/14. You may be able to see that i added some corrugated plastic under the coop for a wind break and also over the run to keep the rain out (should we ever get any). We've had good results so far and are averaging 3 eggs a day with our four hens even with highs in the 40's and night time lows dropping into the teens.