Chickens 101: Building a Coop from Scratch

You’ll notice I did not put the words “how to” in the title of my post. I didn’t build our fantastic chicken coop, and I certainly don’t know how my husband did! All I can say is, he wasn’t pleased with the online plans he found and decided to start from scratch (that’s a chicken pun, by the way).

We decided on a non-portable coop because the wind here can be ferocious and the heavier something is, the longer it will last. The coop, which was made to accommodate a flock of 20 birds, measures 78 inches high, 74 inches wide and about 51 inches deep. The nest boxes stick out about another foot on the back side.

My husband assembled the coop in our garage because of the extreme and unpredictable weather in a Midwest spring. He can only work on things in his spare time, so we didn’t want the unfinished coop being exposed to the elements for weeks on end.

Step One: Framing

The opening on the left is for a small door and a vent hole. The openings on the front are for large, double doors. The openings on the right mirror the left, and the openings on the back are for the next boxes.

 

Step Two: Flooring and Roof

Yes, that’s tile on the floors. The roof has a layer of insulation underneath. You may or may not need that, depending on the climate.

 Step Three: Siding

Step Four: Finish Doors and Windows and Siding

The second view shows the nest boxes with a heavy, hinged top.

Step Six: Painting and Transporting

The most difficult thing about this project was getting it out of the garage and into the back yard. It was incredibly heavy and required a lot of male friends and relatives (plied with pizza and beer) to move.

It didn’t cooperate with skids or rollers because of the weight and the uneven terrain, so we had to resort to dragging, lifting and rolling. Good times!

Step Seven: Enjoy!

Here’s an outside view with the attached chicken run in place.

An inside view of the girls in their chicken palace.

Here’s what we like best about the coop:

The egg boxes. Insert hand, pull out breakfast!

The lift-and-lower chicken door. Pull the rope and out come the birds. The rope is wound around a hook to keep the door open.

And here’s the master builder!