Our playhouse chicken coop

papschmitty

In the Brooder
9 Years
Dec 21, 2010
36
0
22
**Updates on page 2**

A while back I got this crazy idea that we should get some chickens. I'm always trying to "expand my horizons" and my poor hubby is just along for the ride. After some reading and a lot of time on BYC, we decided to take the plunge. We're planning on 4 chickens, probably Rhode Island Reds or RIR sex linked with Barred Plymouth Rock (I thinks that's the right term). We'll be brooding them inside until they feather out and their new digs are ready. My kids are soooo excited - they tell everyone they see that we're getting chickens. There's no turning back now!
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I scored a cut little 4 x 4 cedar playhouse on Craigslist. It's 6 ft tall at the peak of the roof. It currently has 2 doors, one on the front and one off to the right side. The walls of the left and back side both have openings for windows. There's also a cedar awning that goes over the front porch but DH had already removed it when I took these pictures.


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We're also in the process of tearing down and rebuilding our deck. What a perfect time to build a chicken coop and run!
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We reused a section of the old deck for the floor of the coop. It will eventually have linoleum covering it.
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The base of the run was constructed using more lumber from our old deck. It has 3 panels of cattle fencing which gave us a 12L x 8W x 6H run. We had some extra welded wire in the backyard so DH used that to close in the back of the run. The run will have a plastic roof and welded wire on the sides to keep out predators. The man door to the run will be on the same side as the coop. Seems like more work to me but it was hubby's idea and he's the boss man!
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The coop is elevated off the ground using left over cement blocks, again from the old deck. We'll be covering the gap between the coop and ground with welded wire.
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My handy hubby got all of this done on Sunday! We're planning to have the man door on the side of the coop and use the front door (under where the awning will be) as the space for bumped-out nesting boxes. That's the doorway that our dog is standing in front of in that last pictures (she's an excellent inspector). We're thinking of doing one on top of the other but haven't decided for sure yet. The roost will be along the back wall with a poop try that slides out for cleaning without having to enter the coop. All the windows will be covered in welded wire. My dad just gave us a ton of plexiglass so we're going to make window covers with them prevent drafts in the winter. We live outside of Seattle so wet weather will be our biggest issue. We're still working on the design for the chicken door; we'd like to have it automated.

We're totally new to chickens and are totally making this up as we go along. If you see any fatal flaws, don't hesitate to tell me!
 
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Looks good so far!! I tried the whole playhouse experience but the one I wanted was pretty brittle from cheap material and termites.. I ended up just burning it.

Now I am taking over our old shed on our property.. I need to take pictures!!

Please update more pic's as you go.
 
Love your carrot! Scares me a little tho. You will have a very cute set-up. I agree on the half inch hardware cloth for run and and other openings. Good score on the playhouse.
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Can't wait to see your progress. I just scored a very similar playhouse on CL yesterday, so I am definitely interested in how you put it together.

Here's mine.

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I got it for $200. We probably could have talked the guy down but my husband went to pick it up and he's a terrible haggler. The wood is in great shape. I had big fantasies about making a coop from scratch with all recycled materials but my poor husband has an 800+ square foot deck to build so we just went with the playhouse instead to save time.
 
Mine was $75 but definitely not in the same condition as yours. We'll probably have to reinforce it and waterproof it a bit first. I already have one coop, but we lost a chick that turned into a roo so I got 8 more (hehehehe) - told hubby I would keep a couple and rehome the rest, but now I've convinced him to build me another coop. This one still needs work, but he couldn't stand the though of starting from scratch (our first one took a few months).

I'll be watching your progress! I'll post a pic when I am done. Chicks are babies, so I have a little time.
 

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