Little Richard's Palace of Love

We recently bought a house, and after several years, and lots of chickens, I had to make some big decisions about our flock. Ultimately, since we were going to have far less land, I decided to was time to downgrade our flock from 25 to 6 chickens. Our neighbors bought the majority of the flock, and I narrowed it down to our favorite rooster, Little Richard, a spunky long-tailed phoenix, and an assortment of 5 hens.

Then it was time to get to work. For the new coop, my goal was efficiency, style, and easy cleaning. I decided on a footprint of 8 x 10, to reduce the amount of cutting involved.

First step, measuring out the spot, and squaring it off, using a little Pythagorean Theorem, and some help from my daughter .


Next, I dug up and leveled the area.
Then, I built a foundation of treated 2 x 4s, and put a layer of hardware cloth underneath, which I later covered in a deep layer of large river rocks and sand to assist drainage. Our yard is very spongy.
Next up, framing the walls and raising them with the help of some neighbors. Frame is 8 feet tall in the front, 7 feet tall in the back.

Next I built the frame for the box, and added the roof cross bars.
Then we added the roof, definitely the most challenging part of the entire process! I opted for the clear panels to provide more light. They are fairly flimsy though, so climbing along the top of the frame and securing them was not easy.
Now it was time to finish the box. I used 3/8 inch treated plywood. I put down a layer of stick-on vinyl tiles to make cleaning easy. I have to say I really love the plastic nesting boxes I picked up from Tractor Supply. The hens seem to like having a totally closed in area to lay, and they are very easy to clean.
Lastly, I added a ladder, and their swing (they love their swing), and built a door.
All finished!