My wife has been saying for some time that she wanted to raise chickens. We tried our hand at it when we were house sitting a couple years ago. At the time we were on a five-month house sit which included, among other things, an abandoned chicken coop. With the owner’s permission, we cleaned up the coop and adopted three cochin chickens. Since the chickens were already mature, they began laying about a month after we picked them up. (It takes them a little while to adjust to a new situation.) This experience gave us the confidence that one day we could try it fully on our own.

We continued house sitting and traveling for some time after we left that sit, so we weren’t able to get started on anything right away. But that day has finally come. We now have our own rural, 5-acre property. One of the first projects I took on was building a coop for our future chickens. Here’s the story in pictures…

The first thing to do was select a place for the coop. We wanted spot that was not super close to the house, yet still convenient enough to walk over to it multiple times per day. We have a lot of dead trees and undergrowth, so the first step was clearing some space.

Once the dead trees were cleared, we had to decide on the actual spot. My wife wanted a place under the trees that would provide shade and protection, especially during our hot summers. We found this spot between two trees that were just over nine feet apart. (I’ll explain the digging out of this area further below.)

You’ll note there are already chickens in the photo. We got a little ahead of ourselves and rescued eight hens from a friend. The same friend gave us an old coop that we were able to use to temporarily house them. They seemed to know from the beginning this was going to be their spot, and they loved to be near me when I was working on the coop.

Next we had to purchase materials to build the coop. All we have is a minivan, but it has proven to be remarkably versatile. The longer boards in this photo are 16 feet long. We were able to fit 4×8 sheets of plywood flat on the floor inside the van. Everything we needed was brought up in the van.

In the next photo you can see why I dug out the whole floor area of the coop. We have a major problem with ground-burrowing rodents of some sort – not sure if they are gophers, moles, voles, or what, but they are everywhere on our property. We wanted to keep them out of the coop, not knowing if they would try to get at the chicken feed or who knows what.

So I dug out the area to about 10 inches, the depth of the support piers. I laid ½-inch hardware cloth across the bottom, wrapped it up the outside of the piers, and fastened it to the underside of the 4” x 4” foundation boards.

I then threw the dirt back in, up to the bottom of the foundation boards.

Next I built the walls of the coop. I built them on the ground and then stood them up once they were all completed and could support each other. You’ll see in the background of this photo a flock of 20+ wild turkeys. They don’t often get this close to me, but they do visit frequently. They chickens and turkeys visit some of the same spots but they seem to ignore each other.

The chickens are always interested in checking out the progress on their future home.

Here you’ll see the four walls standing up. It is eight feet tall on the right and six feet on the left. It doesn’t need to be so tall, but since the boards come in eight-foot lengths, I figured, why not? You can also see that I have begun fastening hardware cloth to the 2×4’s. From what I read, this should be sufficient to keep out all but the largest predators, such as bears. There is the possibility of a bear visiting us here, but for the most part they remain at higher elevations than where we’re located. Behind the coop you’ll see a partial frame laying on the ground. That is going to be the floor for the enclosed portion of the coop.

In this photo you can see that most of the screening material has been completed. You can also see that the coop floor mentioned in the previous photo has now been installed. I installed this base with a slight slope. It is one inch higher on the left side than on the right. The idea is that when we clean out the coop, any water will easily drain.

We decided to go with a full roof rather than something like corrugated steel. It seemed like the temperature variability might be less dramatic, since steel sheets radiate so much heat. The laddering structure on the ends is something I saw recommended online. I’m a hobbyist, not a roofer, but it looked like a good idea so I went with it. I used 2×6’s for the rafters; they’re 10 feet long, and the unsupported span is a little over eight feet.

I topped the rafters with ½-inch, exterior grade plywood, roofing felt, and then asphalt shingles. Here it is, mostly complete, except for the last row. I needed to purchase another piece of edge flashing before I could finish it.

Moving on to the enclosed coop portion… Earlier I mentioned the frame for the coop floor. Here the frame has been covered with plywood, and I have added an extension for the nesting boxes. Once again the chickens are eager to explore.

Here’s a top view, looking down into the nesting boxes. There are three boxes, which should be sufficient for the number of chickens we expect to have. The partitions are removable as is the piece of wood that spans across the three boxes, to make it easier to clean.

I covered the floor of the coop with a single piece of vinyl linoleum, again to make it easier to clean and maintain.

This photo is from the same angle as the previous one. Here you can see I built a divider, to provide a separate space for storage. The lower portion of the divider is removable.

Here’s the storage side in use, after painting…

And here is the chicken side of the coop, painted with some leftover paint I had. I installed manzanita branches for them to roost on.

I couldn’t resist sharing this photo of one of our most curious chickens, peeking through the gap in the divider.

I haven’t shown any photos from the rear. Here you can see a nearly complete coop, with the roof on, the doors on, the nesting boxes, and a “window”. We had salvaged some old shutters from our old house, and finally found a use for one of them. I think the coop has plenty of ventilation since the upper portion (the triangular section) is completely open, but this gives them a little more along with adding some visual interest.

Here’s a nearly complete view from the front. You can see the enclosed coop part in the back, along with the screen door I built with 1×3’s and hardware cloth.

Here is the front after adding a rain gutter and painting the exterior.

This is a side view of the tall side. Spring has brought tall grass and lots of flowers!

Finally, this was the finishing touch I added for my wife – a little shelf to put her coffee on, her phone, iPad, or other items. I learned a lot on this project. And now the learning will continue as we populate the coop and go about raising chickens!