Our goal for the coop was to incorporate it into the neighborhood. We live in the historic district in town and there is not a whole lot of room for us to work with. I wanted the coop to look like it belongs with the barn - which is now a garage. Our house is 130 yrs old.
The coop was designed to make good use of our limited available space. I'm kind of a "junk" collector, so the windows and door and other architectural pieces that I already had also determined the size and design of the coop.
After receiving my permit from the village, it was time to start framing. We're allowed only 4 hens and we've never owned birds of any kind. I figured if the chickens didn't work out, the little house would make a nice garden/planting shed. I've build a few things in my day, but never anything this large.
I started the framing mid October and luckily that year we had a mild winter, because the following winter was brutal!
A lot of time went into research here on BYC, so I pretty much new what I wanted to build into the coop. I also viewed a number of how-to videos on YouTube to make sure my framing and roofing was correct.
Winter is here!
Over the winter I was able to start on the inside and even designed and begin the storage cabinet build. I angled the front door so that the birds would no be able to roost on it and poop all over it as well. The cabinet comes in real handy.
Early spring I was able to continue work on the inside and also made a couple of planter boxes.
Summer is finally here and it's time to start painting inside and out and start installing the siding. This project is getting much bigger than anticipated, but I need to stay on course! We have our 4 chicks now in a back room of the house. We've had them for a couple of weeks, so it's time to get moving! I believe my neighbors think I'm "nuts".
Have to start work on the run. Looking back, I would have made this a bit larger. I do let the girls out to run around in the yard as well.
The run is completed. Much of the wood used was scavenged from a local store front renovation. Still not too old to Dumpster Dive!
Some fun details... I used and old explosives box to line the inside of the 2 nesting boxes.
Inside walls painted, window screens and screen door completed with hardware cloth.
Roosting board with poop tray.
I needed to hide a seem in the ceiling so I developed this decorative treatment, which was designed to resemble chicken feet.
Completed storage cabinet.
Marsala is laying an egg for us!
Happy chickens!
It's starting to get cold as winter is approaching again. Unfortunately, I don't have a main front door yet.
I disassembled this old storm door to build the coop door.
It's snowing again!
Spring is approaching again and the coop door is complete.
The girls had a visitor in the spring. Nice Try!!
Everyone is happy now!
