Ok, I'll take the leap and show you guys our coop! 
I am incredibly lucky that my father is a very talented carpenter by trade and that I have learned a lot from him over the years. We tackled this project together! We definitely made a lot of mistakes but we learned a lot along the way. Most of our lumber was upcycled and not a single piece was straight or square. It fought us every step of the way 
If I could summarize this whole project into one phrase it would be "Eh, the chickens won't mind". We were originally following plans that I had found on this site but they didn't quite meet my needs so we decided to wing it! My dad was set on making this a moveable coop. That didn't quite happen but it helps to explain some of our material choices 
Here is our coop build ❤
Day One:
Gotta start somewhere! The frame base is made of ground contact treated 2x2 lumber that we ripped ourselves out of 2x4 lumber. Almost all of our 2x2's we ripped with a table saw. The base measures 46"x96". If we would have made it 48"x96" the roof would have had no overlap on the sides as OSB comes in 4'x8' sheets (I didn't make that connection at first but it made sense later!).
Here is a quick photo of what will be the base of the coop ie "mistake #1" (sigh) but more on that in a minute. The coop floor will be approximately 42"x48" with 3 outside nesting boxes. This will be raised up off the ground approximately 24".
We use 2x4's for the corners of the coop. We cut the tops of the 2x4's with a 4/12 pitch for the roof before installing (alot easier that way
). These 2x4's were sat right on top of the base of the run and were attached with a "toe screw" technique. The base of the coop was raised up 24", set in off the back edge of the coop by 2" (don't do this, I had planned on adding a 2x2 vertically to make the corners L shaped, ie mistake #2), and attached to the 4 corners. For the base we used some left over 1/2" plywood. Unfortunately this meant we had a seam in the middle of the floor once we were done. Since the plywood floor was already attached before I thought too much about it (ie mistake #3) that meant I had to climb underneath the floor and run a board along the seam. Good thing I'm pretty nimble, not! The plywood hangs off the edge of the floor base by 12" for the nesting boxes. In total the plywood floor is approximately 42"x60".
We added the final two 2x4 corners to the base of the run and installed the 2x2's that would be the long portion of the roof supports. Starting to look like something! Here we called it a night.
Day Two!
Didn't take long to realize that we should have made the floor base of the coop to include the nesting boxes (there's mistake #1). Oops
In our defense when we cut and built that part of it we were still trying to follow the plans that we had. Maybe that in itself was the true mistake #1 lol. You can see our temporary support under the nesting box frame. This was removed after the whole frame was assembled. The whole structure was pretty wobbly at this point so we installed one wall panel and several triangle support guys around the base to help stiffen her up. We began framing out the nesting boxes with the same 4/12 pitch as the roof, and framed in/cut out one window which I did not get a photo of for some reason.
We added roof supports along the width, framed out the door, got a panel or 2 on and a top cut for the nesting boxes, did a lot of head scratching and eventually called it a night
Day (night) Three!
We didn't get very far (I work 12 hour shifts) but we did get the dividers in the nesting box. You can see the angled cut on the top back corner of the dividers. This is so they don't hit the lid of the nesting box. You can't see it in the photos but the front board of the nesting boxes is cut short on the end closest to the door. This gives me a spot to slide a board in that will go across the bottom of the door to keep the bedding inside.
Day Four
If you compare this first photo to the previous photo you will see that the wall panel above the nesting boxes was modified. I realized I didn't plan out my ventilation! We cut the length of the wall out about 4" below the roof and added a 2x2 to support it. There's my ventilation! Dad only rolled his eyes a little on that one. Whoops. We got the nesting box roof put on. The roof for the nesting box has two pieces. The smaller piece closest to the coop is secured firmly and does not move. The other side is the lid. Dad designed it this way so that when you open the lid to collect eggs the lid angles towards the coop and will stay open on its own. Thanks Dad! We got the coop and run doors made and temporarily hung and also ran a board horizontally around the run to attach the wire to. Our wire was 36" tall so this was a necessity. If you had 60" wire you wouldn't need to do this. In hindsight we should have ran another board at roof level on the short end of the run to also attach wire to. I wound up doing this at a later time (mistake #???).
The board running horizontally at the peak of the roof was beveled at an angle on both sides to match the roof. I wish I would have gotten a better photo of it, it's really neat.
Day Five!
Now the fun part! I wanted as much of everything painted as I could before we put the roof on. If I would have had it my way I would have painted every single board before assembling but that would have been incredibly time consuming and we definitely did not have much time to spare. I want this little coop to last forever! I enlisted the help of my dear, sweet boyfriend to help me paint. We both hate painting Thank you, dear ❤
But look how good it looks!
Really getting excited now! Got the little pop door framed in and the panels for that wall put on. We did wind up with a seam between those panels so we added another 2x2 to seal it up.
My adorable little niece joined in on all the fun. She built her own little chicken coop! Such a talented girl ❤ Unfortunately I did need to reposess some of my materials, much to her dismay
Got the inside of the coop painted up. Here you can see the brackets my Dad designed for the roost board. This way the roost board is secure but is also easily removed for cleaning.
Floor tiles measured, cut, and installed! Prototype roost board set in place! The roost board is a length of 3/4" plywood.
Unfortunately the only wire I could get my hands on for this project was 1/4" hardware cloth (thanks Covid-19
). In short, I hated working with it. It broke easily even with the air pressure on the pneumatic stapler turned all the way down, it shredded my hands like a bunch of tiny razers, and it was way flimsier than than I thought it would be. I had to make it work for the time being as it was all I had. I would have much preferred 1/2" hardware cloth. Anyways, I installed it on both sides over the ventilation gap before the roof was put on so I could fold it over and the roof would sandwich it.
Got the OSB on! The edge of the OSB was cut at an angle at the peak to make a nice, clean edge.
Go Dad, go! We decided to shingle it. Originally, we had wanted to use tin but with the size of the roof we just did not think we could cut the tin we had in a way to make my little coop look nice. Being an urban coop I definitely wanted it to be visually pleasing. For the same reason, a rubber roof was a no go.
Well... I forgot about the fact that the roofing nails were gonna go right through and poke into my coop and run....
Dremel to the rescue! I used a little dremel tool (and about 20 disks) to cut off every single nail and painted everything all over again. Whoops. Chickens won't mind I also used caulk to seal up every seam, nook, and cranny to prevent mites from taking up residence. And painted it again over the caulk... double whoops.
Here you can see the AWESOME little pop door that my Dad designed. It's hard to see but the bottom edge of the door and the top edge of the door lip are both angled so when the door is closed there is a perfect seal. How cool is that? He had a name for the technique, I think, but I can't remember it. The pop door is opened and closed from the outside using a bit of paracord.
A couple things to see in this photo. The shingles at the peak are raised but with a few warm days they lay down nicely. I was't gonna buy a whole bundle of hip and ridge shingles for 4 feet of roof peak so Dad got creative. My window is an old expandable screen over top of the 1/4" hardware cloth. We also shingled the nesting boxes and added a 6" wide strip of rubber under the hinges to keep the water out of the seam.
We finished painting and got the wire installed. Installing the wire underneath the nesting boxes and under the coop door was a nightmare. There was no board in a convenient location to attach it to. I wound up bending the wire underneath the door at a 90 degree angle and stapling it behind the door. Awful. This was remedied later. The staples we used are 1 1/2". Those puppies don't budge.
Dad beefed up the roost board by running another board the length of it to keep it from flexing. He also added the same tile as the floor to the top it for ease of cleaning. I worried it would be too slippery but this has never been a problem. I sealed up the edges where the tiles meet with caulk. Next time I would definitely use a caulk that dries hard. The stuff I used dried rubbery and everything sticks to it.
I found some cute little shutters and painted them to match for the final touch. With the help of my Dad and brother, we got her loaded up in the trailer to head home!
Day ???
She's home! Here Dad is documenting our build for his personal records
Welcome home girls! They were so happy to get out of their cramped brooder.
Took them no time at all to figure out the awesome little cedar ladder that Dad built for them
NO CHICKENS WERE HARMED IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF THIS COOP
Welllll I probably should have installed the wire under the run on day one but, ya know, better late than never. I also wanted to paint the bottom of the coop. I installed super heavy 12g 2x4 welded wire to keep out larger digging predators. If you have small digging predators you will want to go with something smaller like 1/2" hardware cloth. I may still add that at a later date. Thank you to my sweet boyfriend who tipped it up for me and who tipped it up again a little farther so I could staple the edge that was along the ground.
I also leveled the coop out with some boards under the edge of the run and filled the whole thing with 12 bags of play sand. The sand keeps it so much dryer vs our heavy clay ground. It also fills in our unlevel ground so the girls don't fall through the wire.
I decided that I hated my screen windows so I ripped them both off and stapled on some heavy 1"x2" cage wire, that we had leftover from building our garden. I put this over the hardware cloth.
I used the same 1"x2" wire to reinforce our ventilation on both sides inside of the coop. I had to switch to shorter 1/2" staples for the ceiling so they wouldn't shoot through the shingles.
I will never use 1/4" hardware cloth again. Junk!
With my boyfriend's help we installed the 12g 2x4 wire over every bit of the 1/4" hardware cloth. You can see in this picture the board I installed under the door to give us a good surface to staple the wire to. I did the same thing under the nesting boxes, and on the short end of the run at roof level. No coons are getting into this coop! We took no chances. At this point our little coop is 99% staples
The angled parts of the coop were the hardest to work with but we got it under control! Added a thin board over the exposed wire for a cleaner appearance and for some extra support.
And here she is! The dirt area behind the coop will be a matching 8x8 run. That is currently in the works. While not shown, the windows get covered with heavy curtains to keep rain and wind out while still allowing for ventilation.
Started winterizing today! 10/23 I used these: https://www.menards.com/main/buildi...351/p-1539153017945-c-5819.htm?tid=-1&ipos=10
Sweet boyfriend and I cut them to fit with the circular saw, taped up the open ends to prevent moisture getting inside, and installed them with screws. They are able to be reused every winter
Installed this window cover in a way so that the top and bottom have a 1" gap. This allows for ventilation but prevents wind from blowing straight through the coop. (Thank you aart for the idea).
If they can hurt themselves they will!
Today I noticed something off about little Thyme. Sure enough she had managed to tear her earlobe and had blood all over her. This photo was taken after I cleaned her up. I searched around and it seemed that even though I had painted over the sharp edges of the 1/4 hardware cloth in the coop they were still very capable of causing harm. Gosh darn evil razor blade wire...
Thankfully Dad was awesome enough to rip me some little boards and delivered them pronto so I could cover up the exposed wire ❤ It looks nicer too
I was able to finish winterizing today 10/25. Loaded the coop and run up with fresh leaves and the last of the greens from the garden, just in time for it to start snowing
A heated waterer is also in the works. Just waiting for my materials to arrive
This post will be updated with plans once I get them drawn up! Taking the measurements after the coop has been assembled is a bit of a pain
I am incredibly lucky that my father is a very talented carpenter by trade and that I have learned a lot from him over the years. We tackled this project together! We definitely made a lot of mistakes but we learned a lot along the way. Most of our lumber was upcycled and not a single piece was straight or square. It fought us every step of the way If I could summarize this whole project into one phrase it would be "Eh, the chickens won't mind". We were originally following plans that I had found on this site but they didn't quite meet my needs so we decided to wing it! My dad was set on making this a moveable coop. That didn't quite happen but it helps to explain some of our material choices Here is our coop build ❤Day One:
Gotta start somewhere! The frame base is made of ground contact treated 2x2 lumber that we ripped ourselves out of 2x4 lumber. Almost all of our 2x2's we ripped with a table saw. The base measures 46"x96". If we would have made it 48"x96" the roof would have had no overlap on the sides as OSB comes in 4'x8' sheets (I didn't make that connection at first but it made sense later!).
Here is a quick photo of what will be the base of the coop ie "mistake #1" (sigh) but more on that in a minute. The coop floor will be approximately 42"x48" with 3 outside nesting boxes. This will be raised up off the ground approximately 24".
We use 2x4's for the corners of the coop. We cut the tops of the 2x4's with a 4/12 pitch for the roof before installing (alot easier that way
). These 2x4's were sat right on top of the base of the run and were attached with a "toe screw" technique. The base of the coop was raised up 24", set in off the back edge of the coop by 2" (don't do this, I had planned on adding a 2x2 vertically to make the corners L shaped, ie mistake #2), and attached to the 4 corners. For the base we used some left over 1/2" plywood. Unfortunately this meant we had a seam in the middle of the floor once we were done. Since the plywood floor was already attached before I thought too much about it (ie mistake #3) that meant I had to climb underneath the floor and run a board along the seam. Good thing I'm pretty nimble, not! The plywood hangs off the edge of the floor base by 12" for the nesting boxes. In total the plywood floor is approximately 42"x60".
We added the final two 2x4 corners to the base of the run and installed the 2x2's that would be the long portion of the roof supports. Starting to look like something! Here we called it a night.
Day Two!
Didn't take long to realize that we should have made the floor base of the coop to include the nesting boxes (there's mistake #1). Oops
In our defense when we cut and built that part of it we were still trying to follow the plans that we had. Maybe that in itself was the true mistake #1 lol. You can see our temporary support under the nesting box frame. This was removed after the whole frame was assembled. The whole structure was pretty wobbly at this point so we installed one wall panel and several triangle support guys around the base to help stiffen her up. We began framing out the nesting boxes with the same 4/12 pitch as the roof, and framed in/cut out one window which I did not get a photo of for some reason.
We added roof supports along the width, framed out the door, got a panel or 2 on and a top cut for the nesting boxes, did a lot of head scratching and eventually called it a night
Day (night) Three!
We didn't get very far (I work 12 hour shifts) but we did get the dividers in the nesting box. You can see the angled cut on the top back corner of the dividers. This is so they don't hit the lid of the nesting box. You can't see it in the photos but the front board of the nesting boxes is cut short on the end closest to the door. This gives me a spot to slide a board in that will go across the bottom of the door to keep the bedding inside.
Day Four
If you compare this first photo to the previous photo you will see that the wall panel above the nesting boxes was modified. I realized I didn't plan out my ventilation! We cut the length of the wall out about 4" below the roof and added a 2x2 to support it. There's my ventilation!
Dad only rolled his eyes a little on that one. Whoops. We got the nesting box roof put on. The roof for the nesting box has two pieces. The smaller piece closest to the coop is secured firmly and does not move. The other side is the lid. Dad designed it this way so that when you open the lid to collect eggs the lid angles towards the coop and will stay open on its own. Thanks Dad! We got the coop and run doors made and temporarily hung and also ran a board horizontally around the run to attach the wire to. Our wire was 36" tall so this was a necessity. If you had 60" wire you wouldn't need to do this. In hindsight we should have ran another board at roof level on the short end of the run to also attach wire to. I wound up doing this at a later time (mistake #???).
The board running horizontally at the peak of the roof was beveled at an angle on both sides to match the roof. I wish I would have gotten a better photo of it, it's really neat.
Day Five!
Now the fun part! I wanted as much of everything painted as I could before we put the roof on. If I would have had it my way I would have painted every single board before assembling but that would have been incredibly time consuming and we definitely did not have much time to spare. I want this little coop to last forever! I enlisted the help of my dear, sweet boyfriend to help me paint. We both hate painting
Thank you, dear ❤
But look how good it looks!
Really getting excited now! Got the little pop door framed in and the panels for that wall put on. We did wind up with a seam between those panels so we added another 2x2 to seal it up.
My adorable little niece joined in on all the fun. She built her own little chicken coop! Such a talented girl ❤ Unfortunately I did need to reposess some of my materials, much to her dismay
Got the inside of the coop painted up. Here you can see the brackets my Dad designed for the roost board. This way the roost board is secure but is also easily removed for cleaning.
Floor tiles measured, cut, and installed! Prototype roost board set in place! The roost board is a length of 3/4" plywood.
Unfortunately the only wire I could get my hands on for this project was 1/4" hardware cloth (thanks Covid-19
). In short, I hated working with it. It broke easily even with the air pressure on the pneumatic stapler turned all the way down, it shredded my hands like a bunch of tiny razers, and it was way flimsier than than I thought it would be. I had to make it work for the time being as it was all I had. I would have much preferred 1/2" hardware cloth. Anyways, I installed it on both sides over the ventilation gap before the roof was put on so I could fold it over and the roof would sandwich it.
Got the OSB on! The edge of the OSB was cut at an angle at the peak to make a nice, clean edge.
Go Dad, go!
We decided to shingle it. Originally, we had wanted to use tin but with the size of the roof we just did not think we could cut the tin we had in a way to make my little coop look nice. Being an urban coop I definitely wanted it to be visually pleasing. For the same reason, a rubber roof was a no go.
Well... I forgot about the fact that the roofing nails were gonna go right through and poke into my coop and run....
Dremel to the rescue! I used a little dremel tool (and about 20 disks) to cut off every single nail and painted everything all over again. Whoops. Chickens won't mind
I also used caulk to seal up every seam, nook, and cranny to prevent mites from taking up residence. And painted it again over the caulk... double whoops.
Here you can see the AWESOME little pop door that my Dad designed. It's hard to see but the bottom edge of the door and the top edge of the door lip are both angled so when the door is closed there is a perfect seal. How cool is that? He had a name for the technique, I think, but I can't remember it. The pop door is opened and closed from the outside using a bit of paracord.
A couple things to see in this photo. The shingles at the peak are raised but with a few warm days they lay down nicely. I was't gonna buy a whole bundle of hip and ridge shingles for 4 feet of roof peak so Dad got creative. My window is an old expandable screen over top of the 1/4" hardware cloth. We also shingled the nesting boxes and added a 6" wide strip of rubber under the hinges to keep the water out of the seam.
We finished painting and got the wire installed. Installing the wire underneath the nesting boxes and under the coop door was a nightmare. There was no board in a convenient location to attach it to. I wound up bending the wire underneath the door at a 90 degree angle and stapling it behind the door. Awful. This was remedied later. The staples we used are 1 1/2". Those puppies don't budge.
Dad beefed up the roost board by running another board the length of it to keep it from flexing. He also added the same tile as the floor to the top it for ease of cleaning. I worried it would be too slippery but this has never been a problem. I sealed up the edges where the tiles meet with caulk. Next time I would definitely use a caulk that dries hard. The stuff I used dried rubbery and everything sticks to it.
I found some cute little shutters and painted them to match for the final touch. With the help of my Dad and brother, we got her loaded up in the trailer to head home!
Day ???
She's home! Here Dad is documenting our build for his personal records
Welcome home girls! They were so happy to get out of their cramped brooder.
Took them no time at all to figure out the awesome little cedar ladder that Dad built for them
NO CHICKENS WERE HARMED IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF THIS COOP
Welllll I probably should have installed the wire under the run on day one but, ya know, better late than never. I also wanted to paint the bottom of the coop. I installed super heavy 12g 2x4 welded wire to keep out larger digging predators. If you have small digging predators you will want to go with something smaller like 1/2" hardware cloth. I may still add that at a later date. Thank you to my sweet boyfriend who tipped it up for me and who tipped it up again a little farther so I could staple the edge that was along the ground.
I also leveled the coop out with some boards under the edge of the run and filled the whole thing with 12 bags of play sand. The sand keeps it so much dryer vs our heavy clay ground. It also fills in our unlevel ground so the girls don't fall through the wire.
I decided that I hated my screen windows so I ripped them both off and stapled on some heavy 1"x2" cage wire, that we had leftover from building our garden. I put this over the hardware cloth.
I used the same 1"x2" wire to reinforce our ventilation on both sides inside of the coop. I had to switch to shorter 1/2" staples for the ceiling so they wouldn't shoot through the shingles.
I will never use 1/4" hardware cloth again. Junk!
With my boyfriend's help we installed the 12g 2x4 wire over every bit of the 1/4" hardware cloth. You can see in this picture the board I installed under the door to give us a good surface to staple the wire to. I did the same thing under the nesting boxes, and on the short end of the run at roof level. No coons are getting into this coop! We took no chances. At this point our little coop is 99% staples
The angled parts of the coop were the hardest to work with but we got it under control! Added a thin board over the exposed wire for a cleaner appearance and for some extra support.
And here she is! The dirt area behind the coop will be a matching 8x8 run. That is currently in the works. While not shown, the windows get covered with heavy curtains to keep rain and wind out while still allowing for ventilation.
Started winterizing today! 10/23 I used these: https://www.menards.com/main/buildi...351/p-1539153017945-c-5819.htm?tid=-1&ipos=10
Sweet boyfriend and I cut them to fit with the circular saw, taped up the open ends to prevent moisture getting inside, and installed them with screws. They are able to be reused every winter
Installed this window cover in a way so that the top and bottom have a 1" gap. This allows for ventilation but prevents wind from blowing straight through the coop. (Thank you aart for the idea).
If they can hurt themselves they will!
Today I noticed something off about little Thyme. Sure enough she had managed to tear her earlobe and had blood all over her. This photo was taken after I cleaned her up. I searched around and it seemed that even though I had painted over the sharp edges of the 1/4 hardware cloth in the coop they were still very capable of causing harm. Gosh darn evil razor blade wire...
Thankfully Dad was awesome enough to rip me some little boards and delivered them pronto so I could cover up the exposed wire ❤ It looks nicer too
I was able to finish winterizing today 10/25. Loaded the coop and run up with fresh leaves and the last of the greens from the garden, just in time for it to start snowing
A heated waterer is also in the works. Just waiting for my materials to arrive
This post will be updated with plans once I get them drawn up! Taking the measurements after the coop has been assembled is a bit of a pain
