Update: October 30, 2013
My new kids are growing up and should start laying at any time now. We added on to the coop itself and it is now big enough for old and new. The transition went well, we had made a new section of run that we closed off and had the brooder/coop in it. They got to look at each other for a couple of months before I opened it up and let them roam together for another couple of weeks. I then took out the kids brooder/coop and made them go inside with the big girls.
The egg box came off

New section added

The egg box is now on the big swinging door

New roosting bars added, the far wall opens up for cleaning and the new side with egg box opens up so coop is very easy to clean

Overall the whole thing looks complete now and has been repainted red and white. I love it now it is perfect. We still need to make the poop boards but pellet stove pellets are in place for now.





**********************************************************************************************************************************************************
UPDATE: August 26, 2013
After hatching chicks last spring and giving them to neighbors, I ordered chicks from Murray McMurray. I added a Buff Orpington, a Red Sex link, a Speckled Sussex, a Black Australorp, a Buff Laced Polish, and a Gold Laced Polish. We are going make the coop bigger next. When we do that I'll post new photos of it in progress. We are basically going to add on to the tallest side about 3' so we will have enough room in there for the new girls. I know my coop will hold 9 but will not hold 12, they sleep in it and walk across to the egg box but don't stay inside, they are outside girls
smile.png
. We built a second top for the brooder below and the young ones are now in the new run addition with the brooder as a small coop with a real roof. When we get the addition done I will take the brooder/coop out or at least block the door off so they have to use the big one. I might leave it in for a bit to give the young ones a place to hide from the older ones.
*********************************************************************************************************************************************************************
I have a couple of friends that built chicken coops this year and got chickens. I told my husband that I wanted chickens. We then spent some time online and searched for a coop design as I really only needed 6 chickens at the most. This was in August...
We decided on the design from Purina as it was small and fit all our needs. We did some modifying as Steve put screen on both sides of the windows and built plexiglass windows that open like barn doors for airflow. I have hooks to hold them open and can keep them closed as it gets colder.
I then went looking for chickens. That was fun, it was at the time of year where no one is shipping chicks, no feed stores had them either. I finally got a number from the feed store for Barred Rocks and went out and bought 3, and went back the next day and got 3 more. So much for having an assortment but I decided to do that later when these quit laying. I also picked up 2 Aracauna's and 1 Red Star.

Since these photos we have put in a sliding door for the coop, made the entry from the chicken side a bit taller, and put a feed sack curtain up. They have started laying in the last week and today I got five eggs, I'm so EGGSITED! Even my Red gave me a double yoke egg this week, it is her first. The Aracauna's have not given me any eggs since the first couple of days they were here.
On with the photo's!
This photo is before we built the coop. I already have a fence separating my garden area from the rest of the yard and now the coop will be in that spot. It is close enough that I can watch the coop from the house.

This is the finished photo. The trash cans are feed and pine shavings. It has Christmas lights running around it, you can see name signs and the tube is the feeder, there is a cap on top and we just fill it as needed. I have two old wooden ladders inside for them to get on during the day. The orange bucket in the background is the waterer. They are bowls that have levers that they took to right off. I plan on making the run a bit bigger in the spring. Right now it is 7' wide including under the coop and 10' long. There is plenty of room for them to roost inside the coop with 9 of them but I want to make their play space a bit bigger. I do try to let them out every day to roam.
The view from the other side. On the left under the canoe we have added a seating area for Chicken TV.
Update 11/30/12
I was asked about our feeder so am posting some shots of it. Looking down into the tube, hmm, I just filled this yesterday!


The outside of the feeder, open cap, fill with feed. The corrugated plastic is there to keep the lawn sprinkler and rain from getting the food wet.

Here is a shot of the inside with the feed sack curtains over the egg boxes.

Update May13, 2013
We added on to our run and put a split door on the new area. We left the wall in-between the two runs so when our chicks we have on order come and are big enough to go outside we can separate them older with the coop and young ones in the new small coop. We made the small coop out of wooden bulb racks that home repair stores have. The small coop has a remove-able roof and we made a wire roof for it and closed off the front opening so we could use it for a brooder.

The section to the right is the added addition. It has a section of the top that I can open and toss the girls stuff without them getting out.


A side view showing the little coop that we turned into a brooder in the house and when the chicks are old enough to go out, it will go back inside the run. The wood frame in the run is planted with chicken edible plants.

The brooder in the house ready for chicks and a front view. I hatched out chicks under my Silkie for my neighbor and they are now in my brooder until they are ready for them. It was a learning experience for my grand kids and us for when ours arrive but there is the unknown variable of boy or girl so my neighbor is getting them all.


A couple of shots of our hatched chicks from unknown parents. I was given four fertile eggs from a varied coop and they all hatched.