Coop built with reclaimed wood

[Hark]

My husband (the son of an electrician and grandson of a carpenter) is not very handy, but he was pretty proud of the coop he so diligently crafted. He works for a company that trains adults with disabilities and at-risk teens to deconstruct buildings, and then a storefront resells the materials to support the programs. All the lumber and hinges came from the store. We had to add a second layer a finer mesh to the outside after a raccoon reached through and messed up my hen Shirley pretty good (she pulled through, much to the dismay of...everyone). We also added a kick stop to the door on the nesting side, second latches to all the doors, lined the bottom with more mesh and boards, and inserted boards about six inches deep into the ground all around the coop to prevent anything from digging up underneath the coop. After the Shirley fiasco, we decided to preempt further attacks by building a chicken bomb shelter. It's a little small for six full-grown chickens, but it does the job in an tiny urban backyard

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[bryan99705]

Great startup coop! You might want to replace the wire on the door with hardware cloth to keep a coon from ripping thru. Also you want to add some more ventilation. Chickens generate a lot of heat and moisture and having them as comfortable as possible in a tight coop will help cut down on the pecking & fights.