Update: It's been YEARS now since I got these, my original chicks. And I've added several new ones to the flock including some Marans, an Ameraucana and some F2 Olive Eggers!
It's here. The Coop.
4 months ago my boyfriend presented me with a cardboard box full of baby chicks.
3 months ago I started to build a chicken coop for them. 2 weeks ago, I finished it.
I normally do a lot of talking and funny story telling at this point in my posts, but not today. Today, I'm just going straight to the pictures.
Not 'cause I don't have a lot of funny stories to tell. I do. Lots of em.
It's just that I have the feeling you're gonna skip past all of the writing and go straight to the pictures anyway. So why waste the funny? Funny is a horrible thing to waste.
It is my honour to introduce you to ...
The box attached to the left side of the coop houses the exterior nesting box on top (which the chickens have access to from inside the coop) as well as storage in the larger door below.
Both of the doors have double security features. You can't be too cautious with a neighbourhood full of cats, hawks, raccoons, skunks, neighbours and other egg loving monsters. Each door has a series of small Rare Earth Magnets, PLUS strips of wood that pivot and lock the door in place. That was the fella's idea. It's completely functional and brilliant.
The lower storage compartment holds feed, treats, the egg basket and pine shavings.
The nesting box holds ... well ... eggs eventually. I hope. Oh my God, what if they never lay an egg?
I built a sliding piece of wood into the nesting box to make sure no eggs accidentally roll out. Plus I can slide it up for easy cleaning of the box.
I know what you're going to be thinking when you see this next picture. You're gonna be thinking ... there's EGGS! No. There are no eggs. Those are fake eggs which we put in the nesting box to encourage the chickens to lay their eggs in there, as opposed to some random spot in the coop or run.
This is the door going into the nesting box as seen from inside the coop.
Like my gates, all the coop doors close with Rare Earth Magnets. Definitely predator proof.
To help the coop air out and to give us a better view of all the girls during the day I made pull out screens for both the upper and lower doors. The coop is directly across from my dining room window, so when we're sitting down to dinner we can watch the girls put themselves to bed at 7:30 every night. I love the screens. They're one of those things I didn't intend to make, but ended up whipping up right at the end of the project.
I cannot tell you what the coop cost to build, because I have no idea. Like so many other coop builders before us, we stopped counting when it got scary. Of course, I saved when I could.
Guess you're curious about the ring. It's my pride and joy.
It leads to a little door inside the coop.
The rope runs through a configuration of pulleys and eye hooks.
So to open up the door to the run all we have to do is pull the ring and the door slides open effortlessly. The ring then slides onto the hook below to keep it open. To close it we just remove the ring from the hook and the screen door spring at the top of the door, pulls the door shut automatically. Thanks to Heather Bullard and her coop for inspiring this particular aspect of my henhouse.
The galvanized tub is filled with dirt. The hens LOVE to jump in it and give themselves dust baths. The tub is from my mother's house. When I was teeny tiny she used to use it as a pool for me.
In honour of little Lucky who died early on. Thanks to LeeAnne Bloye who kindly made the little gravemarker and sent it to me.
Looking down into the run from the door inside the coop.
I spent an hour or two at the cottage earlier this year searching for the perfect piece of driftwood to act as a perch in the run. This was the piece I deemed perfect.
Every morning all 4 chickens relax in the sun on the perch.
A skylight. Yes. I installed a skylight made from a sturdy piece of Plexiglass to allow more light into the coop. My house does not have a skylight.
At 7:30 every night like clockwork, the girls head themselves up the ladder to the coop and jump up on their perch to roost for the night.
Bedtime.
And to all a good night.
That's it for now. If you're interested, here's another post with a few more details about the coop experience including shots of me building.
And I'm sorry, but I do not have any building plans for the coop. I made it up as a I went with inspiration from both Heather Bullard's Chez Poulet and Mitchell Snyder's Modern Coop which was featured in Dwell online.
3 months, 2 major injuries and a huge learning curve later the coop is complete. And I couldn't be happier with it.
Sarah
I love LOVE this chicken coop. I desire it. We are headed back to town, and we need a coop for our girls. Although I covet this exact coop, I will have to settle for something bought off of Craigslist. I will take a few of your ideas, though!
Beautifully done.
Karen
Sarah - Thanks! Love my coop too, LOL. If you click on the "Chez Poulet" ad on my right hand sidebar, Heather Bullard sells the plans for her chicken coop. Her coop is one of the coops I based mine on. It has a more traditional roofline and colour, but basically very similar. ~ karen!
Sarah Dye
Freakin' Awesome! And beautiful to boot. Changes my whole view on chicken coops. Great job!
Kymmaree
If you paint that wire black (at least on the outside) with enamel paint, you will a much clearer view of your chickens in their palace. Well done!
W. Hannah
Really nice design/construction/use of materials... gave me too darn many ideas.. now I am gonna have to go make trap doors for the chicken house I am making... !!!
Danut Fitiu
Ok, so... That is a coop or a house? :D
Great design, and great colours!
Mandee Wells
This is the most amazing coop I have ever seen! I will be attempting my own coop as soon as we close on our ranch!
Karen
Thanks Mandee. I just added an extra feature over the weekend to it actually. I'll post about it in a couple of weeks. A ranch sounds fantastic! :) ~ karen
April
Hi, I was wondering if you designed that or went by plans? I am thinking of building one and I want something similar to look beautiful in my yard. :)
April
Karen
Hi April - I designed the coop myself and just sort of built it from the ground up. I based it off of a couple of coops I had seen on the Internet, including Heather Bullard from Country Living Magazine's chicken coop. She sells her plans on my site. If you look to the right sidebar where all my small ads are one of them is called Chez Poulet. That's her chicken coop plans for sale. If her plans had been for sale at the time I was building I definitely would have bought them. Building without plans is a bit of a pain! ~ karen
April
Thanks, I will look into her's. :)
trina harrison
You are truly blesses!!! Easy...Breezy...Beautiful
christianne
That is the coolest thing I have ever seen.
Karen
Christianne - Well ... obviously you've never seen this, https://www.theartofdoingstuff.com/how-to-properly-open-a-package-of-spaghetti/ ~ karen
Angie
Wow, oh wow! This is just amazing, and beautiful, as are your chickies. I want a coop, and chickens SO bad. This is the best looking coop I've ever seen, and I love how resourceful you were. Right up my alley. I may use your idea as inspiration and just go ahead and take the plunge. (love the skylight...how thoughtful!) lol
Karen
Angie - Well, chickens are a lot of work at times, but they're totally worth it. Go for it! ~ karen
laura
This is amazing! (It puts my little DIY chicken coop to shame) Very inspiring.
Karen
Thanks Laura! Yeah, I'm happy with how it turned out. And would NEVER do it again. LOL ~ karen
Michelle
Karen,
Delightfully, I have found your non-disgusting version of a "Coop" and am borrowing the idea and running with it!
My hubs thankfully didn't drop chicks in my lap (although he did bring home goats once to mow the lawn~ he is thankfully insane enough to stay married to a loon like me!) He has however begged every spring for the last 10 years for... chickens.
I finally gave in, thanks to your amazingly beautiful coop. I have also linked it on my very sad and shabby blog. Hope you don't mind... but well... your blog is again, delightful & very therapeutic!
Its linked here http://thatsheisme.blogspot.com/2012/03/coop-deville-and-other-fowl-humor.html
Maybe one day my sad attempt at a blog, will grow into something spectacular like yours!
Thanks for the COOP idea!
Much love!
Michelle
Karen
Thanks Michelle! If you're looking for plans, one of the coops I based my coop off of sells their plans. In fact, they're right over on the right hand side bar of my site. "Chez Poulet". The coop belongs to Heather Bullard, a contributing editor to Country Living Magazine. As someone who build the coop with no plans at ALL, it'd probably go a lot smoother if you used them, LOL. I think they're $35. Cheep! ~ karen
Michelle
Karen,
THANKS! Sounds like a great "plan!"
Summer Whitford
You are an inspiration. I am amazed the incredible talented women there are on the web building beautiful nests for themselves and their chickens, taking exquisite photographs, and designing wonderful things.
Your work should be on TV and in books.
When we finish with our house reno my dream is to have a chicken coop. Thanks to your gorgeous inspiration, I will put my crafty skills to the test too.
Keep up the fantastic work.
Karen
Thanks Summer! Good luck with your Coop Dreams. ~ karen
shan
omg you should so sell the plans i want one...better yet i want you to come to australia and build it for me :P
Karen
Oh dear. What a thought! (building another coop ... not the Australia part. I'd *love* to go to Australia) If you click on "Chez Poulet"on the right side bar, you can buy plans for Heather Bullard's coop, which was one of my inspiration coops. ~ karen!
Helene
This is absolutely the most lovely hens house I have seen.
I hope it´s ok I blog about it and link to you?!
I´ll be back :-)
Karen
Hi Helene - Thanks ... yup ... link away to me and my coop. :) ~ karen!
Sherri
Coming in very late on this topic, but my excuse is (and I'm sticking to it!) I've just recently found your website. Must admit I have spent much of my day making so many amazing discoveries here!
Wanted to say I LOVE your coop, and love the idea of having one!! You did an amazing job of it, with so many smart little extras thrown in.
Just awesome, kudos!!
Karen
Thanks Sherri! Now that I've lived with it for a bit there are a couple of alterations I'll make in the spring but for the most part ... it's done me and the chickens well. ;) ~ karen
Linda
Hello...I just discovered your blog and fell absolutely in love with your chicken coop and the hens. I know you started some time ago but are the chickens laying eggs and still doing well? Your writing style is charming and very informative. Please keep that great information and pictures coming our way!!
Karen
Thank Linda! Yes the "girls" are laying like crazy now. I've never had so much fun in my life. They're hilarious. You should watch my chicken videos under my video category. They're highly entertaining. ~ karen!
Meg
STUNNING! I'm obviously late to the party in noticing this. Did you have plans that you worked off of or just wing it? (har har).
I'm going to build one this summer and this is my inspiration!
Thank you for any info you have!
--Meghan
Karen
Meghan - As you so aptly pointed out ... I winged it. :) I knew the space I had to work with (around 11 long by 3 1/2' wide) and just started framing. It's around 7' high. I wanted it to be level with my fence or an inch below once the roof was on so you can't see it from the other side. The only help I can offer you is to make your run as big as possible. You'll want to let your chickens run around your yard for the first while and then you'll realize that the yard becomes a complete mess and chickens like to eat every SINGLE plant you own. So ... chances are you'll want to keep them in their run. :) ~ karen
Jill Williams
I LOVE this chicken coop. It makes me want chickens.
Karen
Thanks Jill. I just took a peek out at the girls. They're all nesting comfortably on their driftwood under the heat lamp. ~ karen!
Lori R.
Holy mother of chicken scratch! I've kept chickens for many, many years, and have NEVER seen a chicken mansion like yours. Mine live in an old steel shed. They would think they died and went to heaven if this appeared in their yard, They would miss is the 30 x 50 foot enclosure they get to wander in every day. Also all the homegrown lettuce, cabbage, and other vegetables.
With regard to maintenance, you have made it incredibly easy for yourself to clean and maintain. AND gorgeous. I've seen a lot of coops, but this is definitely the winner. And you're a NOVICE? Well played, City Woman!
And if you all think chicken butts are cute, wait until you see the first eggs out of the chute!
Karen
Lori R. - Thanks! Yup. I'm only part city slicker. I guess that accounts for the chicken coop success. This is an older post of mine, so the chicks have been laying eggs for months now. There's a video of it on here somewhere if you look in my videos. Please. No more mention of your 30 x 50 foot enclosure. My gals don't need to know about things like that. >___< ~ karen!