Hen Hideout

Nice concept, well-executed and explained very clearly. I appreciate all the updates to see how it worked over time. It appears you don't have predator issues in your area, I'd still be concerned about that with this design.

I loved reading your whole story and think your plan is ingenious! We also live in a town that doesn’t allow chickens (so stupid) but hope to move before long and I will use many of your ideas to start my own coop. Bless you for sharing.

Our hens love it, and so do we. My daughter did all the planning, measuring, and painting, and I did all the table saw work and dangerous stuff.

The coop end is quite heavy, probably most women and kids won't be able to lift it. I tig welded some aluminum 1" square tube to make ergonomic handles on the coop end, which has worked extremely well.

The tractor feature is great. Unlike the original designer, we move it all the time (twice a day when I'm not at work, and once a day when I am). That way the poop gets evenly dispersed around the yard, and the hens have new grass to play in all the time.

It's so much better than our previous coop with regards to the laying box, because the hens only use the laying box for laying, and the eggs are very clean as a result. It has been a month and we still haven't needed to change out the nesting material.


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Genius move to build a hen hideout! Love it and all the details that went into the build. Thanks for all the updates as the years have passed. Loving it!