Chicken Coop for Four Hens
This is technically the third chicken coop I have ever built, but the first was absolute garbage scrap wood and rotted quick.
The second was a 8x10 shed kit, which worked great, but was hardly "building" nonetheless "woodworking"
So this is coop Number three. Lumber was ordered on 6/14, so about 2.5 months of nights, weekends and free time at work went into this.
The chicken coop door is from https://chickendoors.com/ - it's the second we've had, it works flawlessly, I cannot recommend them enough.
Enjoy!
#chickencoop
Acquire wood
Humble beginings, this was the agreed upon sketch
Begin marking and planning the major support structure. These were half lapped and lagged.
Chicks are about this size in June
Here's the supports as two pieces
Here I am trying to frame them up and figure out placement of the structure in our yard.
Digging out the back support
Added the front and the floor support
Plywood in
Added plywood and it holds a 200lb man OK, so we should be good for a few birds.
Clear shot of the side framing here
Here the roof framing is all but complete!
Chicken nesting box planning
Framing done, side sheathing going on
The help arrived
then left so Dad could keep adding plywood
Highly recommend these
so you can do things like this
Left side box done
Detail on left box lid
Rear coop clean out
July. These hens are getting larger. (this is a rooster, its no longer here, but at a farm!)
And before I make it too claustrophobic, its time to paint the inside with several coats of Kilz!
Here the little support I made in the back to hold the battery for the door
Showing the battery spot and wiring while i have the roof not on
Door installed (was deemed crooked and fixed the following day)
Here you can see I've gotten the construction started and was planning the trim and look of the coop
Finished the front with 2x kilz primer, then slathered it in a dark red.
Here, it's starting to really take it's form.
I ended up doing these twice. I sort of liked leaving the screw heads showing like this. Easy enough to fill and paint later if I decide I don't.
Back side is done. I don't LOVE the barrel locks interrupting that flow, but to the right here is a fence wall, so nobody sees here.
I thought myself clever for this circular saw jig longer than my level. Worked pretty well.
After MUCH deliberation, watching of Youtube videos on roofing, I finally started. I had some scratch and dent brown drip rail but that wasn't going to do. Returned it and got white so it matched up nicer. Felted and added the hardware to the main roof here
annnnnd finish the roof. It didn't take terribly long, some mistakes were made, but for my first ever asphalt roof - I am happy
Another shot from the other side.
Next up the "wing" roofs. I went to a local bike shop and picked up some tubes with holes in them. Found this clever way to break them down with little waste
After felting, measuring a few times, I mounted them like so.
which allows the hatch door to open and close fairly easily (I did reduce the top piece from the above pic later)
And after some tin snip and tar application, the other side is ready to roof as well
Here it's August, and these potential tenants are checking out the new digs. The brown one wanted in, but the yellow one just stood in the doorway like a jerk.
And DONE with roofing. I wouldn't be a very good professional roofer, but I am pretty happy with the end results here.
I didn't snap many pics of making it, but I made the chicken ramp. It's about 34 degrees of inclination.
The ramp attaches via eye hooks so it is removable and easy to replace. Since it will handle chicken feet in muddy season, I added a few coats of spar varnish on top of the paint. The slats will NEVER be that white again.
Some quick detail on the latches for the nesting boxes
Overall shot of the finished coop
Is there anything better than looking back and crossing off every last item on the task list? Nope!