Looking through the coop to the east. The roof is going to go up next.
The opening to the coop is just past the nest box area.
We used some OSB for the sides - as long as you paint the outside, it should hold up against the weather. You can see the area at the bottom right of this pic that will eventually be the area for the nest boxes. We also added about 3 branches for roosts that we just used screws to hold up.
DH putting the roof up. We put heavy plastic under the plywood to act as a moisture barrier and to help insulate against the cold.
Looking through the coop to the east. The roof is going to go up next.
We hadn't offset the vents yet, but this is the basic structure of the coop. It's 4 feet wide and 8 feet long. My husband can stand up inside the finished coop and he is 6'4". We used concrete blocks to built the foundation of the coop - we built a frame out of 2x4's with a couple of center pieces as well and then put the plywood floor on top of that.
We decided to put the coop against the north side of our existing barn - to add stability but to also to provide shade from the intense summer sun. I don't think I have a picture of it, but we eventually put a small window in this north facing coop wall, about 3 feet up. It's a window from the back of a camper truck, so half if it slides open. We put wire over the outside of it and have left it open all summer. Note that we put the roof vents up so that they overhang on the west side - this helps to keep the rain from pouring down right over the entrance to the coop.
We began in May with materials we had or had found in the free section of Craigslist. We do have a local place in Missoula called Home Resource - people take materials from deconstruction, etc. and you can get great deals - and we did get a few things there. I think we bought some 2x4s and the roof vents there, we got plywood from somebody doing deconstruction and the rest was free. I would say we spent less than $200 on all the materials, including the chicken wire for the run.
semcat66

Looking through the coop to the east. The roof is going to go up next.

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Florence Chicken Kingdom
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