6/23/2010

Backyard chickens: The finished coop

I haven't been posting about this as dilligently as I should.  Although the idea and the building plans were mine, Shayne did nearly everything for this project.  Basically I provided design consultation, but all of the labor was his.  I would have liked to help a lot more, but we are almost never home at the same time anymore.  And when we were, I watched the baby so he could work on the coop. 
And he did a wonderful job.


You can see the girls through the coop window...  They're waiting impatiently for me to come let them range the yard.   The window will soon have a real casement window that will open upwards (is that still a casement?) to allow airflow without letting in the rain.  We're using vintage windows that my mom happened to have in her garage, but we need to reglaze them.

The little door in the back is the egg door.  Once the girls start laying, we'll have nest boxes right inside that door so that we can retrieve eggs without entering the run. 

The access door for humans is on the far right.

And you can see the chicken ladder inside the run that the hens use to get into the coop.

I'll add a more detailed post soon with more pictures, design features, and construction details.  It was too buggy outside this morning to get more pictures.

7 comments:

AllisontheImp said...

Awesome job on the coop. Made me check your archives on chickens. We had chickens but when I had a baby it was too much for us to handle so we gave them up for a little while. This year we got them again. Yeah! I love that they are eating the pests. But I had that they now have a taste for tomatoes. Also, on your raised beds. We've got those too. Roundup around them or make you sure cut the glass close at all times or you'll have weeds. Good luck!

AllisontheImp said...

Oh, and we have an 80 year old four square we're renovating too. Weird or what?

Unknown said...

If it opens out its called an awning window. :)

check out www.bluebaluster.com

Air Conditioning Dallas said...

Awesome blog and good job on the Chicken coop.

Shannon @ River City Reading said...

How cool! Makes me wish I had space for a coop :)

Amy Pools said...

The coop looks like it belongs in your backyard, almost nature-born with its green color and glass walls.

Home Improvements said...

Nice post!..How many chickens do you have? I suggest you to have at least 10 because I know you know how to care for them(chicken!).