My husband & I thought we would try raising 6 hens in our backyard. We have zero experience with chickens, so this will be an adventure :) We ordered 6 started pullets that will arrive early next month -3 buff Orpingtons & 3 golden buffs :)
Trying to decide how many chickens to get was the hard part. Since we live in a small neighborhood we couldn't let the chicken math get out of hand ;) We did TONS of research on this site & found some awesome ideas & tips!
This is the coop we built.
Our coop is 4x6x7 feet tall (tallest part of angled roof) Other than the free wood for the run we started with nothing. We made ALOT of trips to Lowes and spent a total of $500 (does not include the price of the birds)

We used plywood, 2x4s & 2x3s & screwed everything together
I splurged on the paint at lowes-got their Reserve paint & primer in one
The floor inside the coop is linoleum


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We started building the coop in our garage, since the weather was very cold & the ground frozen. Although I sketched out some rough designs we didn't have any official blueprints.
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My husband built 3 nesting boxes that are attached to the back of the coop. The roof hinges for easy access to the eggs.
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Side picture

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Picture of the roost inside the coop. The top board is removable for easy cleaning.,
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Picture of front before the paint
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After the paint:)
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Picture of our PVC feeder

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My father-in-law gave us some old deck boards & my hubby was able to build the entire run out of them!
Since our property is next to some woods & predators are a concern, we decided to put concrete slabs down & bury the chicken wire underground. We also covered the top of the run with chicken wire.

It's hard to see in this photo, but my hubby installed a neat pulley system door for the chickens. We can open the little door from outside the run.
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Our neighbor gave us her little chicken that she bought her son this past Easter. I have no idea the breed, sex or age, but we felt sorry for the little bird. My neighbor just wanted rid of it. The birds right leg was injured from a baby bunny it was living with (according to my neighbor) The bird is also missing a back toe & limps because of this. I am hoping with a MUCH bigger space to move around it will get better. Our youngest son has named it Chick-e-poo :)

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