Chicken coop upgrade in a day using all leftover materials we had.

[countryladyNH]

As others have noted, they tend to leak at the hinge.

Additionally, the prop can fail/be knocked away and let the lid fall on your head or slam down on your fingers.

We have retaining boards on the nests to keep the bedding in where it belongs when the door is open. The one on the Little Monitor Coop is held horizontal by a chain. The ones on Neuchickenstein drop down onto a wooden support.

We put a chain inside our front nestbox door as you can see in photo. Keeps it from banging all the way down. LOL, we can't use straw in the nest boxes---our girls don't like it and they kick it all out all over the floor in the coop! We got some of those thick faux turf pads over a year ago, and they LOVE them. Nice and soft, and washable too.

We covered the floor of the new exterior nest boxes with remnant of sheet vinyl we had left over from another coop we built.

In the photo below, you can see a bit of the nest box pads I was talking about. They really are great and provide a bit of insulation as well.

 

[Sammster]

Very nice!

 

[Great_Strides]

Beautiful coop!!
I love that the inside is painted with a pop of color, too!

 

[rayrose]

Don't be surprised, if after a while, they all start using
just one nest box, and start fighting over it. I have a similar
set up with 5 nest boxes, and they only use 2 of them.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Lavender? Our old house is natural cedar shingles with very dark brown trim.

I think it was a reply to me but wasn't specifically addressed to me, as I have a purple coop.

 

[countryladyNH]

Beautiful coop!!
I love that the inside is painted with a pop of color, too!

Thanks so much! I think the hens like that too!

 

[Foxinthehenhouse]

I envy you with such an early house, love the shakes.

You did a wonderful job on the coop, love the exterior touches. My only question is possible snow load on roof of nesting box, might you need two supporting legs?

 

[countryladyNH]

I envy you with such an early house, love the shakes.

You did a wonderful job on the coop, love the exterior touches. My only question is possible snow load on roof of nesting box, might you need two supporting legs?

Thank you so much for the compliments! The house was a DIY 23 year labor of love to restore it on a budget. You can see the inside and outside here:

https://www.thecountryladyantiques.com/tour.php

Here in NH we always clear snow off everything. The 2x3's are screwed to the framing of the coop. We built it so solidly that a person could sit on it and it would not sag!

 

[Chickie Girls]

Love your coop upgrade! Great job!

 

[Great_Strides]

Thanks so much! I think the hens like that too!

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I love everything about it. Banner, color… and that cool old window! You’ve given me some inspiration for our new coop