- Aug 19, 2014
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Here is a coop that we finished building this summer 
Here is the frame. The base is actually an old bed-frame we found that was going to get thrown out. We also found the drawer (on the right) which will serve as the nesting box.
Then we finished building the nesting box. The top opens up and is held on by hinges.
Here is an inside view of the nesting box. We put a piece of wood in the middle because we were afraid there was too much room and the chickens would squeeze in together and sleep there. This made it so that only one of them can fit in there (sometimes two if they really tried).
For the door, we thought a sliding door would work best. Basically, we screwed those two pieces of plastic on, leaving a gap in between and the door will slide in that gap. There's also another piece of wood that makes sure the door doesn't tip over. For the door itself we actually used an extra barbecue grill we had. A piece of wood wouldn't work well because wood rubbing against wood is too much friction, but metal and wood would be much smoother.
Finally, we nailed on the wood for the walls and just placed planks in for the floor. We didn't nail the planks on for the floor in case we ever needed to take them out to clean, it would just be more convenient. We made sure the planks fit snugly so they didn't shift around.
There's also a roost inside the coop. Here we cut a groove into a piece of wood which would hold a thick wooden rod we found that will act as the roost. (There's another piece on the opposite side).
The coop is basically done at this point but we decided to paint it, to protect the wood. In addition, we nailed on some shingles for extra protection. Finally, we moved it into the backyard. We set up a fence around the coop and that enclosure is the run. There's also a net on top so that no animals can jump in. We don't like to let the chickens out in the summer because we have a lot of vegetables growing in our backyard. In the fall we let them out more often.
For the lock, we used a bent piece of metal and a hinge. The hinge is nailed to the coop, and you run the metal through the a bar in the grill and a hole in the hinge. Since the piece of metal is so severely bent, it is actually very difficult to put on/take off, thus keeping the animals out. But it is easy for us after a little practice. It was more convenient than an actual lock and we didn't have one that could fit, so this is what we came up with
We put it on bricks so that the wood wouldn't be in direct contact with wet grass (after it rained) for a prolonged period of time.
After a couple weeks we realized a little problem with our coop. Using the grill as a door didn't provide enough protection. In addition, the light from our house was disrupting the chickens at night, so we nailed on some wood.
For ventilation we left a little gap underneath the roof. If you look at the frame, there are two planks of wood that form the shape of the roof. We nailed the roof onto those two planks, and by doing so the roof did not line up with the wall. We could have added another piece of wood to cover this gap but we thought it was good for ventilation. In addition, there's not too much exposure because there's the roof to block any wind, rain, etc.
Here are some that I quickly drew up to give you guys an idea of what we did in case the pictures weren't clear enough
Here is the frame. The base is actually an old bed-frame we found that was going to get thrown out. We also found the drawer (on the right) which will serve as the nesting box.
Then we finished building the nesting box. The top opens up and is held on by hinges.
Here is an inside view of the nesting box. We put a piece of wood in the middle because we were afraid there was too much room and the chickens would squeeze in together and sleep there. This made it so that only one of them can fit in there (sometimes two if they really tried).
For the door, we thought a sliding door would work best. Basically, we screwed those two pieces of plastic on, leaving a gap in between and the door will slide in that gap. There's also another piece of wood that makes sure the door doesn't tip over. For the door itself we actually used an extra barbecue grill we had. A piece of wood wouldn't work well because wood rubbing against wood is too much friction, but metal and wood would be much smoother.
Finally, we nailed on the wood for the walls and just placed planks in for the floor. We didn't nail the planks on for the floor in case we ever needed to take them out to clean, it would just be more convenient. We made sure the planks fit snugly so they didn't shift around.
There's also a roost inside the coop. Here we cut a groove into a piece of wood which would hold a thick wooden rod we found that will act as the roost. (There's another piece on the opposite side).
The coop is basically done at this point but we decided to paint it, to protect the wood. In addition, we nailed on some shingles for extra protection. Finally, we moved it into the backyard. We set up a fence around the coop and that enclosure is the run. There's also a net on top so that no animals can jump in. We don't like to let the chickens out in the summer because we have a lot of vegetables growing in our backyard. In the fall we let them out more often.
For the lock, we used a bent piece of metal and a hinge. The hinge is nailed to the coop, and you run the metal through the a bar in the grill and a hole in the hinge. Since the piece of metal is so severely bent, it is actually very difficult to put on/take off, thus keeping the animals out. But it is easy for us after a little practice. It was more convenient than an actual lock and we didn't have one that could fit, so this is what we came up with
We put it on bricks so that the wood wouldn't be in direct contact with wet grass (after it rained) for a prolonged period of time.
After a couple weeks we realized a little problem with our coop. Using the grill as a door didn't provide enough protection. In addition, the light from our house was disrupting the chickens at night, so we nailed on some wood.
For ventilation we left a little gap underneath the roof. If you look at the frame, there are two planks of wood that form the shape of the roof. We nailed the roof onto those two planks, and by doing so the roof did not line up with the wall. We could have added another piece of wood to cover this gap but we thought it was good for ventilation. In addition, there's not too much exposure because there's the roof to block any wind, rain, etc.
Here are some that I quickly drew up to give you guys an idea of what we did in case the pictures weren't clear enough
