Little Tykes Playhouse Coop

While my chickens are still babies and in their brooder in the living room I'm constructing them a new coop. I saw a cute idea online and I've decided to make them a due to the bad weather we've had this week. Here's my checklist of things I'm going to do....

- Construct a run (16ft long, 4 ft wide, and 4 1/2 ft tall) and attach it to front of the coop.
- Spray foam insulation between the walls and caulking to the joints.
- Replace the red door with wood, I may actually cover that whole opening and make a small door at the bottom that will lead into their run
- Add wheels for easy mobility
- Construct shutters to the windows for when it rains/predators (in winter the chickens will be moving into the barn)

If anybody has any ideas I would love to hear them!!

These are so cute! I saw one and wanted to do the same, but when I started adding up the chickens I had ALREADY bought, I realized I would need more room. So we are converting some leftovers from a wooden playhouse that will be more along the lines of 5x6. BUT, if I decided to make a separate pen for any reason, maybe for next years flock I will snag the house for the next one. Looking good so far! I think my 4yo is kind of glad I left his house alone too.

Chicken wire will not keep predators out. You will need to use hardware cloth if you want the coop to serve as protection from predators. Other than that it is really cute!

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Thanks . The playhouse was for my nieces when they came to visit the farm but they never played in it, I guess I don't blame them. It's probably the last thing I'd want to do on a farm with a bunch of critters running around! It's enough room for my 6 girls, especially with the big run but if I get more hens I'll have to figure something else out I suppose... maybe I'll turn it into a village

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The chicken wire is just for daytime, I'm going to add wooden shutters to every window that I will shut and secure every single night.

If you ever plan to cover your run (a very good idea) you would want it more than 4.5 feet tall so you can stand up to do cleaning chores. Bending down is hard on the back and you'll be thrilled NOT to need doing it.

I believe others have written about their experiences making a playhouse into a functional coop, especially in re: insulation. I'm sure you could find it thru the search function.

The Little Tikes Playhouse will work great as a chicken coop. I used my daughter's Little Tikes Playhouse for our coop and the old snap together baby gates for the run. The playhouse windows and door windows were covered with hardware cloth and spring loaded hook and eyes were used for the shutters. A piece of used plywood was attached for the floor of the coop. A wooden dowel was used as a roosting bar inside the playhouse. The baby gates were connected and then zip tied together to make a two baby gate high run. Connected baby gates were used for the run roof too. The roof pieces were zip tied to the side pieces. I screwed the baby gate run to the sides of the playhouse. Then I added the wood frame for the gate. I attached hardware cloth to the front peak of the baby gates and attached the bottom of the peak hardware cloth to the top door frame. I also attached hardware cloth to the back peak and screwed it into the coop roof. Any holes or gaps were covered with hardware cloth. The run gate has a locking spring loaded hook and eye on both the top and bottom. There is a gate latch in the middle of the gate - one of those with a string so you can get in or out. The run measures about 5 ft x 5 ft. I can stand up in the peaked area of the run but I am short (about 5ft 2in). I laid rocks around the outside of the run and coop. The coop was secure and initially I locked the chicks in at night. The run was not as secure as I would like but then we added plywood flooring in the run. This was after a pesky coyote kept coming on our property. I also caulked the edges of the playhouse so that the rain wouldn't get in the coop. The only other modification I have made was to cover the run roof area with plastic to protect the chickens during our winter rains. The wind ripped off my first attempt. The second time I zip tied and taped with duck tape and used bungee cords to anchor the plastic in place. That worked and the plastic stayed put throughout our winter rains. Oh yes, I have tried several nesting containers for the chickens but the chickens prefer to lay their eggs in one corner of the coop so I gave up on the nesting box for the time being. The only disadvantage is clean-out of the coop is somewhat of a pain. The coop and run don't accomodate a shovel so I use a trowel and a bucket for cleanouts. This was suppose to be a temporary coop but it working so well that I am considering hunting down some more baby gates and expanding the run. My husband still wants to build the real chicken coop and run but he over-engineers and plans extensively so I figure it will take him 2 or 3 years to do it. In the meantime, I have a functional secure chicken coop and run which I made myself.

I would love to see pics of your progress as you develop this! it looks great so far

I was on here researching converting these playhouses because a friend just gave me this exact playhouse today and I'm going to use as a grow out coop for my new polish chicks .

Since we are working with the same playhouse Id love to pick your brain about what you came up with.

Some ideas I'm having are to elevate it onto a platform wrapped in hardware cloth, put the pop hole in the floor and attach a larger roofed run off the side to give them run space under the coop OR perhaps, turn it into a chicken tractor! put it on skids with a smallish attached run on wheels so I can move it around the yard. it seems small and light enough that it could work for that
So many possibilities!

The chickens will peck out and eat spray-on insulation. It is made of toxic chemicals.

Cute idea for the playhouse..

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