Hello everyone! I just wanted to share the coop that TWS made for our Japanese bantams. 
TWS has been wanting chickens for years, but in AK, it was too cold, too dark, too everything. So we decided to have them when we retired. We had planned to build one big coop when we moved here, but we have not found the time, etc. I REALLY wanted TWS to have his "show chickens", even if we could not get the egg and meat chickens yet, so I suggested that he use the space between the barn and the garden to build a small coop for a few chickens until we could build the big coop. He has the mind of an engineer and a wife who has discovered her inner child (who apparently adores shiny and pink) and here is the result:
The coop from the front. That is a functional cupola with a bathroom vent in it to keep the humidity down inside. People lettuce is planted in the front bed. To the right is a gate to walk to the back side of the coop and inside the runs. The coop was built with three things in mind: health and comfort for the chickens, low cost, and prettiness. The coop is on a concrete slab, and the runs are built with sunk wire and frames and net covering. We have few raccoons close to the house, but the coyotes were almost on my sleeping porch a month or so ago, and we do have hawks.
We got a great deal of the building materials on sale, etc. The door is from HfH resale store. The window was marked down to about 1/5th the price, etc. It looks super expensive, but actually was amazingly cost effective.
When you go in the door, you walk into the working area. The nesting boxes jut into the working area and have catches so you can open each box and look for eggs. To the right (not in this pic) is the counter with the feed, meds, etc under it. There is a screen door to your immediate left to get into the coop.
Again, with the inner girl. I am an emergency management professional by trade. I shoot, hunt, fish, and even was state champ in archery. But I cannot resist the call of shiny, pretty, sparkly stuff.
Plus ALLL chickens need chandeliers
(actually it was very inexpensive, we needed light anyway, and it is pretty!).
The walls are mahogany. No kidding, it was the cheapest plywood at lowes!
The roost...
The nesting boxes with vintage linen curtains for privacy (again, cheap find at a local antique store )
The inside waterer. You can see the counter behind the screen.
This is right under the window--food and grit. They kick everything onto the ground anyway though.
To the left is their door. It opens and closes automatically with the sun rise/set. To the right is a vent. In the winter, it is blocked by an insulated insert.
The cleanout for the coop. If you are facing the coop on the outside, it is on the left end. There is a little door where everything can be shoveled out. The bottom of the coop is a non-gassing something or other, the name of which I have forgotten. But it is slick and easy to clean and goes up the sides about 5 inches.
Looking from inside the chicken part to the tool wall.
Under the counter, food, meds, etc.
A better pic of the nest box backs and the counter.
That was the inside....hopefully I can load some more outside pics
TWS has been wanting chickens for years, but in AK, it was too cold, too dark, too everything. So we decided to have them when we retired. We had planned to build one big coop when we moved here, but we have not found the time, etc. I REALLY wanted TWS to have his "show chickens", even if we could not get the egg and meat chickens yet, so I suggested that he use the space between the barn and the garden to build a small coop for a few chickens until we could build the big coop. He has the mind of an engineer and a wife who has discovered her inner child (who apparently adores shiny and pink) and here is the result:
The coop from the front. That is a functional cupola with a bathroom vent in it to keep the humidity down inside. People lettuce is planted in the front bed. To the right is a gate to walk to the back side of the coop and inside the runs. The coop was built with three things in mind: health and comfort for the chickens, low cost, and prettiness. The coop is on a concrete slab, and the runs are built with sunk wire and frames and net covering. We have few raccoons close to the house, but the coyotes were almost on my sleeping porch a month or so ago, and we do have hawks.
We got a great deal of the building materials on sale, etc. The door is from HfH resale store. The window was marked down to about 1/5th the price, etc. It looks super expensive, but actually was amazingly cost effective.
When you go in the door, you walk into the working area. The nesting boxes jut into the working area and have catches so you can open each box and look for eggs. To the right (not in this pic) is the counter with the feed, meds, etc under it. There is a screen door to your immediate left to get into the coop.
Again, with the inner girl. I am an emergency management professional by trade. I shoot, hunt, fish, and even was state champ in archery. But I cannot resist the call of shiny, pretty, sparkly stuff.
Plus ALLL chickens need chandeliers
(actually it was very inexpensive, we needed light anyway, and it is pretty!).The walls are mahogany. No kidding, it was the cheapest plywood at lowes!
The roost...
The nesting boxes with vintage linen curtains for privacy (again, cheap find at a local antique store
)The inside waterer. You can see the counter behind the screen.
This is right under the window--food and grit. They kick everything onto the ground anyway though.
To the left is their door. It opens and closes automatically with the sun rise/set. To the right is a vent. In the winter, it is blocked by an insulated insert.
The cleanout for the coop. If you are facing the coop on the outside, it is on the left end. There is a little door where everything can be shoveled out. The bottom of the coop is a non-gassing something or other, the name of which I have forgotten. But it is slick and easy to clean and goes up the sides about 5 inches.
Looking from inside the chicken part to the tool wall.
Under the counter, food, meds, etc.
A better pic of the nest box backs and the counter.
That was the inside....hopefully I can load some more outside pics
