4 x 6 coop from scratch in Oregon

[70-K5]

Had no clue where to start... I was reading a lot of articles online and hopefully I've come up with something that the ladies will love.

Started by clearing off a long neglected concrete pat on the side of our new house.



We're starting with five chickens so I see that calls for between 10 and 20 sq/ft per the standard recommendations... I went a little larger for expanding the population since that seems to be a theme... so a 4x6 floor will give me 24 sq/ft, enough room but not too much.

2x4 frame covered with 1/2" plywood and standing on pressure treated 4x4's.
Started building the house structure out of 2x2. Framing in windows and doors.





I've got two windows on the front on either side of the door and one window on the side. the back wall I decided not to have any windows as it is a little hard to get to the back. I covered the windows with hardware cloth before putting on the T01-11 siding. I figured it would lead to a cleaner finished wall and more protection for the ladies.




Little siding on the front along with roof trusses are now on. You can see the front windows on either side of the door, haven't quite designed the door mechanism yet but I'm thinking of a guillotine with weights on it so I can open and close from outside the enclosure. On the end there is a window and below that is going to be a door that I can use to scrap the floor and clean it out.



Instead of framing in the trusses I blocked it out with more hardware cloth. It is secured between the framing and the siding then it secured between the trusses and will be stapled to the roof, you can see clearly while the roof is half installed.







I made an external laying box, basically 36" wide and 12" deep and 12" tall at the back, It is elevated about 4" off the floor and will have a 1x4 piece to keep the bedding in the box and keep the eggs from rolling out.




Just in case I need to get in the coop there is a large enough door at the back corner. I'll have the roost on this end of the coop as well, that's another thing I need to figure out how to build...




Seems to be coming along nicely. the pieces I cut out of the walls fit back in the holes very well so I'll add some hinges and locks for sealing them up when i need to, finish the roof and put up the panels for the run and I'm done with the first coop. I'm pretty sure I'll build another, I seem to learn on the first one and make improvements on the second and third versions. I can't do too many as I'm into this one probably close to $300 already. Soo much for free chickens!

 

[OwensChickens]

Looks great! So does the K5!

 

[70-K5]

Well just about done. Doors are all on, sturdy locking latches on all entry points. I ended up using hardware fabric on the coop base to allow them to hang out under the coop if they choose. In hindsight I may not have painted the lower section white... Took $15 of shakey can's to turn the coop red, I'm liking that decision. Run is attached, I plan to cover the top with chicken wire temporarily, hopefully they'll survive for a few days while I get that done.






Luckily I found some roofing materials in the crawl space under our house so the roof is good for 15-20 years
The dogs will be getting their kennel panels back though, so I'll be building a new run sometime this summer.

 

[Our Own Meadow]

WOW! I AM IMPRESSED THAT YOU MAKE IT LOOK SO EASY1

QUESTION???
Did you have 'blue prints' to look at? or did you design it on paper yourself?
How did you determine the measurements? Do you have construction back ground? What type of tools did you have?
*tools like table saw, circular saw, nail gun, sawzaw...?

 

[70-K5]

Thank you for your kind words.

In response to your questions I did not have any blueprints to speak of to build my coop. I started by reading a ton of information, and was again and again guided by Google back to BYC.com to find answers to my questions. I was armed with sq/ft per chicken, the apparent need to increase flock size, ventilation, cleaning, security and all the rest of the formula for a good coop and I just started measuring and cutting.

Basic bill of materials that I used:

Three 4x8 sheets of T01-11 siding
Three 4x8 5/8" plywood for the floor, laying boxes and roof
One 8' pressure treated 4x4 for the coop legs
Probably sixteen or so 2x2's for framing windows and walls.
Eight 2x4's for framing the floor access door and roof trusses
One 8' 2x8 for the plank
One 1x2 cut into strips for the plank
Half a roll of hardware cloth, I think it was a 50' roll
Short roll of tar paper for the roof, only used 12'
Two bundles of roof shingles
A pound of 2" outdoor deck screws
Two pounds of 1 1/4" outdoor screws
Pound and a half of 3/4" truss head screws to attach the hardware fabric

I used basic Homedepot hinges which could probably be bought a little cheaper, along with hasp that I can lock securely if I need to. One hook is used to keep the door up when the ladies are out for the day.

I've got a full woodshop with table saws, router tables as well as mechanics tools but this was a relatively simple build. Three different saws depending on what wood I was cutting and then screws, lots of screws... Probably would have cut half the time off the build if I had an air compressor and some nail guns but no air for me at this time.

Circular saw
10" chop saw
Battery operated reciprocating saw
Jig saw
Tin snips for trimming hardware fabric
Staple gun only used to attach tar paper to roof
pocket square
tape measure
pencil
chalk line for marking the roof so I know where the centers of the trusses are when I go to screw the plywood down...
8 beers

 

[70-K5]

Made a quick roost for the ladies.











I didn't know exactly what they would prefer so I made a few options, I'll see what they use then I'll replace the ones that they don't like.

Here they are, happy as can be scratching up a storm.





One's a leghorn, three are rhode island reds and the third is a big buff, not exactly sure what breed...



Took a little while but they found the coop and eventually all came in and huddled in the corner, actually sitting on top of each other, we had to look a few times to make sure we had all five in there!