Chicken Coop

We recently added chickens to the farm.  As they grew from peeps, we had to build them a home.  

The materials

I found a local family that was getting rid of their old chicken coop in order to upgrade.  That became our starting point.  It needed a little work, so the kids got right to it.

The Work

We got to work painting the chicken coop after we cleaned it.  

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After painting the main coop, we built a run out of the left over lumber from the pallets we used to cover the garage walls.  

Elliot helped attach the wire to keep the critters out and the chickens in.  The design was pretty simple but it works.

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The Final Product

We finished the coop just in time for the chickens to move in.  They got a few ramps, some rocks, and a swing to play on.  It has a big gate on one end that we can flip up to access the water or to clean the coop.  

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In total, the coop cost us less than $200 with the used chicken house, paint, wire, and staples.  Since building it, we added a dinner bell that we ring every time we need to put the chickens away.  They haven’t figured it out yet so we still have to herd them with a pool skimmer.  But, hopefully persistence will pay off.  When we are home, the chickens are typically out roaming the farm.  But, now they have a nice place to hang out when they can’t roam.