The former homeowners left this jungle gym since their kids no longer use it. My wife and I decided we needed to sell it to make room for a pergola or a gazebo as this sits right behind the pool and we thought it would be a good place for a lounge area.
INSPIRATION struck when my wife said what if we turned it into a chicken coop? I was skeptical but the more I thought about it the more I was intrigued and decided to take the challenge! We thought this would be an excellent project to do together.
This is how it started. We removed the swing brace and then the slide and then we were able to move it to the new location in the yard.
We put linoleum down for easy cleaning.
While closing in the sides we decided to make it a two-story coop! We closed in the sides and added cleanout doors.
We put the first cross-brace up for the run...
We realized we better do the chicken doors first! The bottom door opens with a rope pull and the top door has a bar slide.
We started the 10x20 run out of 4x4 frames made with 2x4's to keep it square. Then we added a second row and covered it with chicken wire.
Installed a screen door for easy access.
While trying to figure out how to keep the door closed without using and ugly hook and eye, ingenuity hit. Found an old window latch in a junk parts bag...theres a reason we men keep stuff forever ladies!!!
We installed barndoor X's and trim to hide the hardiboard edges. Our old-man-dog Hank gives it two paws up!
My wife did all the amazing painting!
We put some roosts in for the hens to sleep on...
...and a chick jungle gym for the little ones to practice roosting like big girls!!!
Thank you for looking at our coop. Hopefully we will have more to show later on!
