My turn for a new coop build - 8'x9' overall

[Becks Chicks]

Very nice!

 

[My Very First 6 Chickens]

Ok...watching my girls grow quickly, I realized I needed to build them a real coop. I had gotten the "Orpington Lodge" from The Chicken Coop Company before I received the chicks. I only ordered 4 chicks so I figured it would be okay. Two things happened:

1) The pre-made coop was not NEARLY big enough for 4 birds, let alone the 6 they claimed would fit (as many of the knowledgeable people on here suggested)
and...
2) I received 5 chicks and they all survived, so the coop was even less capable of housing the girls than I feared.

So, my own nesting instinct kicked in and I draw up some plans for my own coop. It went through many different iterations, some during the actual construction, but this is the one I decided on.

The main coop is a 4'x8' lean-to design. It has ventilation at the top of both long walls between every stud, two 14x21" shed windows (one on each long wall) and two 8"x8" plastic vents I had left over from my shed build. There is one door on the short "front wall" for me to access the coop. There will be 3 nesting boxes eventually built into the taller long wall. The roosting bar is temporary for now, 5' long and mounted 18" off the ground with a slide out poop tray underneath. Funny thing is they sleep all bunched up in the farthest 2 ft of the bar, lol. I'll mount it higher when I put in the nesting boxes, maybe give them 2 levels to choose from.

(You can see The Orpington Lodge in the background)
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There is some room inside just to the left of the front door where I plan to keep their feed and shaving containers.

The lower height of the coop floor joists are 18" off the ground, so they have 32 sq ft of run space underneath it and a good shady area they seem to really like.

The run is 5'x8' with one full-sized entry door. They get 40 sq ft there + the 32 sq ft underneath the coop = 62 sq ft total..which still looks small to me. They also have an automatic Chicken Guard door (a GOD SEND!!!) and a semi-opaque polycarbonate roof to let some light through (about 35% of sunlight comes through).
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I had to complete most of it before I went on vacation last week, so on the "to do" list now are:
- shingle the main roof
- cut out opening for and build the 3 nesting boxes (outside of the coop)
- possibly install another 14x21 window on the taller long wall
- build more "fun" roosting bars for them to play on outside
- make them a dust bath (probably put it under the ramp)
- put smaller blocks for them to get to the ramp to free up a little floor space, though they seem to get a kick out of the bigger ones.
- they'll get a new Rent-A-Coop feeder soon, but I want them to get a little bigger before I introduce it.

They will have some time outside the coop when I finish the main yard fence (this weekend) and get the new pool fence up (couple of weeks out), but they seem really happy in there. They go bed peacefully, no fighting over roosting spots like in the smaller one.

Yea! Now your talkin'! I have heard those prefabs referred to as chicken coffins! I love your upgrades and i hope your flock thrives always!

 

[Melissa93063]

Side note, they were not afraid of anything I did right next to them...

circular saws
framing nailers
cursing at the metal cloth
impact drivers
NOTHING!! This breed is indeed very adaptive to noises around them.

And they loved to watch me work on it. I swear they know it was for them.
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Looks great! Thanks for posting. I'm in the middle of a similar coop build with a similar reason (flock bigger than expected, purchased coop not nearly big enough) and am happy to see your pictures - validates what I am doing myself.

 

[Dakar2009]

You NEVER need validation when it comes to making your girls happy

 

[dawntreader]

Side note, they were not afraid of anything I did right next to them...

circular saws
framing nailers
cursing at the metal cloth
impact drivers
NOTHING!! This breed is indeed very adaptive to noises around them.

And they loved to watch me work on it. I swear they know it was for them.
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I had the same experience while we built our coop - they were interested in what we were doing and seemed happy to see the progress on their home as we worked alongside them! Nice work on the coop- you definitely made a good decision to upgrade to your own skills of building a coop!

 

[Dakar2009]

It's adorable. I love how they just chill next to me while I work. They get excited when they see me setting up my tools, and seem to enjoy the music I put on. It makes me want to work out there more often so we can keep bonding.

I have turned into crazy chicken man...

 

[Becks Chicks]

It's adorable. I love how they just chill next to me while I work. They get excited when they see me setting up my tools, and seem to enjoy the music I put on. It makes me want to work out there more often so we can keep bonding.

I have turned into crazy chicken man...

Haha. My husband didn’t even like chickens before we built the coop, but the chickens seem to love him. They followed him around and now he’s quite attached. They went from “my” chickens to “our” chickens.

 

[Dakar2009]

Well, mostly finished. Did the roof and nesting boxes over the last 2 weekends. So they are all set to start giving me some Omega-3 butt nuggets!

Painted it to match my house (with the red door) - and yes, I did fix that gap in the neighbor's fence this weekend, too

Nesting boxes: (3 boxes, 12"W x 14"D)

Nesting box door (waiting on a hinged hasp latch to keep it secure):

And gave them a new ramp so I can take those stones out. Need to put a dirt bath in that spot:

Primrose is circled. She is my absolute favorite and has taken a real shining to me. She is always under my feet or laying right in front of where I'm working outside the coop. Even goes up on the ramp to stare at me when I'm playing with the feeder. She's a doll. The one moving to her right is Yoko Oh-no...and is a REAL P.I.A, lol

I also built a small door-ed storage area just inside the main door to keep their feed container in. Made sure to put a slanted roof over it so they couldn't roost (and poop) on it.