I've been working on a Chicken Coop for nearly 2 months. This was quite a project - significantly more involved than I first thought. I typically will read and plan up quite a bit before a project - however, sometimes, I'll look at a couple pictures and think to myself, "That's a 4-hour job, just wing it and have fun."
As I built, my wife would continue to tell me things it had to have...to which I would reply, "That would have been good to know 3-hours ago."
My biggest problem was self-made. I originally built an 8' high frame with intention of a typical V sloped roof. Right before I started building trusses I talked myself into a sloped roof to "shorten" the job and the cost. This was a huge mistake - it made nearly every cut on the actual coop a specialty cut.
Here are things I found out needed to be done...along the way:
*At least 5 square foot of space per chicken in the coop
*At least 10 square foot of space per chicken in the run
*An Egg Box, external, with lifting lid, large enough for at least 4 chickens at a time and obviously accessible from inside the coop proper
*A large access door (large enough for an adult to enter), but airtight and lockable, to clean out the bedding
*A medium sized door on the coop, but inside the run area, with a smaller door built in for the chickens to enter the run from. Also airtight and lockable (both doors)
*All year ventilation (so they don't die from the fumes of their poo)
*Insulated walls with R19 Fiberglass insulation
*2 water feeders
*Window for sunlight, able to open and close from outside for airflow and sunlight
*4 PVC pipe auto feeders
*2 Roosting Bars (able to hold each chicken, at 10lbs apiece, so able to hold 100 lbs)
*Shingled roof
*Fully predator and nuisance tight (sealed with 1/2" hardware cloth, all sides and internally on the ground to prevent burrowers)
*Elevated at least 30" off ground (additional predator protection)
*A roosting bar in front of egg box (ideally, they'll poop before they enter the egg box)
*An external food supply, but still fully nuisance proof, so attached to outside, but fully encased in hardware cloth
Total Dimensions:
Coop: 5' Across, 10' Deep. 6' High at front, 3.5' High at rear.
Run: 12' Across, 10' Deep, 8.5' High at front, 6' High at rear.
(does not include Egg Box or Feed Bin Enclosure)
I'll be trimming the roof lines and putting up vinyl siding next weekend, but it's good enough to live in now. Interior and Exterior walls complete, all doors airtight and locked. Will post many more "build" pics soon, but here's a few from tonight:
