The Chicken Coop

Chickens have few needs. That’s one of the nice things about them. My wife went to the local co-op and picked up our little chicks and brought them home to our guest bath. She made a little cardboard house complete with a heating lamp to keep them warm and cozy. It wasn’t too long and those girls were getting big.

My wife talked about the need of building a coop but I kind of just let it slide for a while. As the chicks grew it became a big job for my wife to take care of them. The chicks needed more room and it was growing into a bigger mess and it was getting a little smelly. It was the smell that drove me to action.

I had some lumber laying around the house so I didn’t need to much in the way of materials to get started. Had some deck blocks that I used to get the coop off the ground. And purchased the metal roofing and some hinges for the doors.

I had decided to build a simple shed roof design. I wanted a roof over the chicken run so that it wouldn’t get muddy (we get appx. 47 inches of rain per year). The coop was 32 square feet and the run was about 64 square feet.

Trying hard to keep the costs down, I used OSB sheathing for the coop and chicken wire for the run. I painted the OSB to match our shed and to protect it from the elements.

The day our chicks moved into their new coop was the happiest day of their lives. I was pretty happy about the move too. My wife was tickled because now her workload had been cut way down.

Remember rule Number 1: Don’t put off getting your coop ready. Whether you decide to build your own or purchase a ready-made coop, don’t make the mistake I did. Have your coop setup before you need it.