My family previously had a coop, but it was a small beginners coop. I'm embarrassed by our previous coop & was determined to do better this time. This coop is 1.2m x 2.4m x 1.2m. We have 6 shavers (New Zealand's egg machine) and may add a couple of other birds to get some interesting eggs for the kids.

After 2 years away, and countless hours on the internet, I have designed my simple but pretty, in my opinion, back yard coop.



Most New Zealand coops are for farms/lifestyle blocks and are not aesthetically adequate for our urban back yard. We can see our coop from our kitchen and it couldn't detract from our yard.

I've borrowed ideas from Carolina Coops (Raised DLM coop), and many designs through the BYC coop index (including the roll-away nest box our girls won't enter, yet). Credit for it goes to Opa

My design is based on standard ply sheets (½ front and back, full floor, full sides), and was constructed so if we ever move it deconstructs into roof, four walls and the "foundation"

We raised the coop to allow extra run











Here you can see the 300mm internal skirt that allows the DLM. The floor is treated ply which is then sealed with epoxy wood sealant. The partially completed nest box, which is disappointingly unpopular. It is completed with a roof to stop roosting.



Our hardest decision was colour, it has 7 coats of paint (3 different shades of blue). The door at the back is access to the back of the coop, and to the roosts incase we need to grab a lady for something.

This was fun to build, and get the kids involved. I'm not a builder, or even a tradesman, so get up put pen to paper and buildit.


We've since added a "stock gate" and Chunnel (chicken tunnel) that greatly increases the lady's scope of range into our other vegetable areas. The gate means we can "break feed" and let the garden recover before opening it up again.





Our birds spend all day outside messing amongst the beehive (They've eaten all the flowers off my hive pot) and perching in apricot trees. So we've not added windows, but we may yet.



If there is interest I do have my drawings on PDF.