When we (by we I mean my husband) set out to build our coop, there was a lot to consider about where we live. We live in the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California. There is just about every predator known to chickens in our area, coyotes, bob cats, mountain lions, raccoons, hawks, eagles, owls. We needed to build them a safe secure coop.
Our area is also prone to -30* temps in the winter with high winds when storms blow in. We wanted to be sure an insulate the coop and also have the option to turn on a heater when it is really really cold. We chose to build the coop inside our garden because there is extra fencing around the garden to keep creatures out. We also put it right up against the garden shed to help block the cold winds and because the shed has power to plug a heater in.
We also wanted something with a little charm that was suited for our mountainous area.
Our boarder collie, Billie has over seen everything about the chickens. She loves them!
we used 1 x 1's to frame the coop to help keep cost down. We also raised the coop off the ground to give the girls a place under in the day and to also keep them safer.
We used old pallets to make it look extra rustic. We put ceder shingles on the side and corrugated tin on the roof.
The girls got to have an outing to there new coop to see how they liked it. This picture is before we insulated.
Here is the coop from our kitchen window. You can see it in the garden. There is chicken wire all around the garden fence. There is also additional fencing around our whole property. Yes, something can jump over but hopefully these extra fences are a little bit of a deterrent.
The side of the coop swings open for easy cleaning and feeding. The little window up top opens for cross ventilation when needed.
This is after we insulated the coop. We put this bendable, white plastic all around so the chickens wouldn't pick the insulation. It worked better then I thought it would and it was light so the weight of the coop wouldn't be too heavy for those 1 x 1's.
We are so glad we built them a little spot under the coop. They love to be in the shade and roost under there on warm days and get out of the wind on cold days.
The coop is 4' x 5' and the run is 6' x 12' (not including the space below the coop). The nesting box is 1' x 2'. When we built the run, we dug down 12" and put the 1/2" hardware cloth all the way down and all the way around the whole coop so something would have a hard time digging in. Hardware cloth is more difficult to get through then chicken wire. We plan to put a roof on the run and plastic all the way around in the winter to keep the snow and wind out. We might add another window later too. Using recycled pallets, old redwood, old corrugated tin, old plywood, reused hardware and new cedar shingles the cost to build came in around $500.
