Built this custom chicken coop for my blind hen!

[CrazyBirdLadyUSA]

One of my hens sustained really bad injuries to her eyes from being attacked by another hen. She is almost totally blind -- one eye is 100% blind and the other I belive she can see movement and light and dark.

I wasn't sure if she'd ever fully recover, but after living in my house for about 2 months and a lot of care, she did! I thought long and hard about her future with us and I thought the best idea would be to build her her own space, and eventually add a silkie or 2 for companionship. I made a youtube video start to finish about how exactly I built everything step-by-step.

So far she is loving life and so much happier to be out of my basement and in the fresh air! She managed to find her food and water very quickly. I placed it in the middle of the pen and she kept bumping into it, then pecked at it a bit and discovered what it was.

 

[TaylorGlade]

One of my hens sustained really bad injuries to her eyes from being attacked by another hen. She is almost totally blind -- one eye is 100% blind and the other I belive she can see movement and light and dark.

I wasn't sure if she'd ever fully recover, but after living in my house for about 2 months and a lot of care, she did! I thought long and hard about her future with us and I thought the best idea would be to build her her own space, and eventually add a silkie or 2 for companionship. I made a youtube video start to finish about how exactly I built everything step-by-step.

So far she is loving life and so much happier to be out of my basement and in the fresh air! She managed to find her food and water very quickly. I placed it in the middle of the pen and she kept bumping into it, then pecked at it a bit and discovered what it was.

Bookmarking to read later. I love a good rescue story.

 

[triciayoung]

One of my hens sustained really bad injuries to her eyes from being attacked by another hen. She is almost totally blind -- one eye is 100% blind and the other I belive she can see movement and light and dark.

I wasn't sure if she'd ever fully recover, but after living in my house for about 2 months and a lot of care, she did! I thought long and hard about her future with us and I thought the best idea would be to build her her own space, and eventually add a silkie or 2 for companionship. I made a youtube video start to finish about how exactly I built everything step-by-step.

So far she is loving life and so much happier to be out of my basement and in the fresh air! She managed to find her food and water very quickly. I placed it in the middle of the pen and she kept bumping into it, then pecked at it a bit and discovered what it was.

Outstanding and helpful. I have two disabled hens. @janiedoe

I have just one thing I think is necessary - especially with a disabled chicken - that is you need a predator apron made of 1/2 hardware cloth.

 

[CrazyBirdLadyUSA]

Outstanding and helpful. I have two disabled hens. @janiedoe

I have just one thing I think is necessary - especially with a disabled chicken - that is you need a predator apron made of 1/2 hardware cloth.

I totally agree on the predator apron!

 

[triciayoung]

I totally agree on the predator apron!

I am sorry, but one more thing so that the Youtube chicken police do not beat you up - you need some ventilation in the coop area up high - just two holes covered securely with 1/2 inch hardware cloth. Otherwise, it is great. You are really talented - how did you learn how to build?

 

[Debbie292d]

One of my hens sustained really bad injuries to her eyes from being attacked by another hen. She is almost totally blind -- one eye is 100% blind and the other I belive she can see movement and light and dark.

I wasn't sure if she'd ever fully recover, but after living in my house for about 2 months and a lot of care, she did! I thought long and hard about her future with us and I thought the best idea would be to build her her own space, and eventually add a silkie or 2 for companionship. I made a youtube video start to finish about how exactly I built everything step-by-step.

So far she is loving life and so much happier to be out of my basement and in the fresh air! She managed to find her food and water very quickly. I placed it in the middle of the pen and she kept bumping into it, then pecked at it a bit and discovered what it was.

You have done an excellent job showing how to build this so someone else could do it for themselves. You should consider posting your video and any narrating you want to add to the Small Coops forum for others.

If you do that, then there's a Coop contest you can enter!

 

[CrazyBirdLadyUSA]

I am sorry, but one more thing so that the Youtube chicken police do not beat you up - you need some ventilation in the coop area up high - just two holes covered securely with 1/2 inch hardware cloth. Otherwise, it is great. You are really talented - how did you learn how to build?

There is ventilation that actually can’t be seen along the entire roof line I have learned to completely ignore the YouTube “police” lol. I didn’t include it in the video bc it was getting too long as it was and so many details I just couldn’t get into for the sake of time.

And thank you! I’ve been involved in woodworking for over a decade, mostly smaller projects but I’ve done a couple of large builds like this too!

 

[CrazyBirdLadyUSA]

You have done an excellent job showing how to build this so someone else could do it for themselves. You should consider posting your video and any narrating you want to add to the Small Coops forum for others.

If you do that, then there's a Coop contest you can enter!

That is awesome!! I will do that for sure! Thank you

 

[sourland]

Well done !