The "Reds" House

In anticipation of getting some very high quality Rhode Island Reds from none other than the president of the Rhode Island Red Club of America, I built a 12' x 16' coop for the upcoming breeding season. I thought it would be big enough for the number of birds I'd raise the first season, but I missed it by half. Oh well, on with the show... these are thumbnails, so click the pictures to view full-size.

I started by setting 4 corner posts (4" x 4" x 10' treated).


Since I would be doing 99.5% of the work by myself and I knew it was going to take some time to finish, so I decided to put the roof on first.


Once the roof was on, it was time to start on the floor. 2" x 6" floor joists support the 3/4" Sturdi-Flor panels. Since there would be no shade from mid-morning until sunset, and rather than waste the space underneath the coop, I chose to elevate it so the birds could enjoy the shade it provided.


I added a few more posts all the way around to create additional support for the floor and walls.


Then came the wall studs.




Besides setting the corner posts, I also used an extra pair of hands to hold the side panels in place long enough to get a couple of screws in to hold them in place. After installing all the panels, I finished screwing them down securely.


I found five vinyl single-pane windows on sale at Lowe's.


Of course, no elevated coop would be complete without an observation deck... so I added one to it. This also created additional shade for these brutal southern summers.


This is how it looks today.



This video is a brief walk-through of the semi-completed coop. While I like the outside of the coop, I'm even happier with the inside.