Hey chicken lovers and future mini-farmers, here is the breakdown of how my husband, Patrick, and I planned and built our hen house. It's geared towards a 6-8 flock of birds, complete with an enclosed outdoor yard/run for the hens to frolic and forge in if you go out of town or there's a predator around your hood. There are 3 nest boxes for the girls to share, a front door, a run door, 2 glass windows, plus a screened opening in the north wall for extra ventilation, because your birds will want that cross breath of fresh air come summer. They will also want some southern windows to shed light into the house during the winter, so when you plan your coop, try to give them both. You'll need a front door for easy access when you need to replenish supplies and clean, while the hens will want a smaller door, including a ramp, to get out and into the world.
We built the coop with new and recycled materials: the plywood floor and T111 siding was new, along with the many 2"x3" beams that framed the house. The front door and the 2 glass windows were found in our basement. Some of the galvanized hardware cloth we used for the run was found in our shed. If on a budget (who isn't?) use what you find around the house; the coop doesn't have to be the Taj Mahal, just remember that the birds need to be sheltered from draft and varmints. They will adapt to the cold and most else, they love to free range, and the happier they are, the more eggs they will lay.
The nest boxes should be in an area that is somewhat quiet and dark. This may be a little puzzle because you will also want light in the coop for winter days when the amount of sun affects the amount of eggs laid. Try to incorporate the nest boxes in a quiet area for the girls to drop their eggs in peace. They will also need horizontal roosting posts to go to sleep on, and with that, another thing to consider is some type of removable tray under the roosting poles to collect the chicken droppings; this will make cleaning your hen house easier. it's the one thing I didn't plan for in the coop and i've been trying to come up with something ever since. I believe I am going to lay some plastic seed starting trays beneath the hens' roosts for easy pull out and compost delight this spring.
For the roof we used a translucent corrugated plastic, it lets in light and keeps out the rain, the slant of the roof allows for easy snow removal. I just brush it off with a roof rake.
You'll need to supply a feeder and a waterer, that's about it. Oh, and some pine shavings for the floor of the coop, and some straw for the nest boxes.
One site that I referred to constantly was http://www.backyardchickens.com. Tons of good information all across the board.
We bought day old chicks from Agway which arrived around Memorial Day. Those little babes went into a wooden brooder box in our basement (also built by Pat) with a heat lamp. By the time the hen house was finished, the birds were ready to move out into the warmth of summer.
Our 8' x 4' wood chicken coop began with a floor frame of 3/4" plywood and 2"x3" beams.
We framed out each wall according to the first blueprint I ever drew up. Here's the wall containing the north facing ventilation window.
We constructed all the walls in the garage and moved the pieces to the backyard. We set the coop on concrete blocks to elevate it and give the hens a place to dust in the shade while also being protected in their compound. Here is the inside of the coop facing west towards the hatch door/run ramp.
This is an outdoor view of the south facing wall with glass windows and nest boxes.
The east facing front door and translucent corrugated roof.
The southeast and east views. You can see we also added the run, a fenced in area for the chickens to roam outside without getting eaten.
The north side of the coop has only the screened ventilation window.
The fenced-in run was more expensive than we expected. The galvanized hardware cloth we used to make sure that no critters got into the yard cost a bit of money and we used a lot more than what we found in our shed. We buried it about a foot the whole way around, too, so the birds can relax and dust under the coop, because they love that. There is a gate for us and the girls to get inside.
By the time we put the roof on the run, we had run out of hardware cloth, so we used some cheap wire fencing that we had leftover from our vegetable garden. It succeeds in keeping out the juvenile hawks that emerge each spring from the giant nest in the woods north of our house. As you can see, the hawks will perch right on top of the coop and terrify our poor chingies.
The finished coop with a few birds inside exploring their new digs. Note the ramp up to their roosts, the feeder and waterer, and screens on all the windows.
PerfektenSchlag.
