Coop de Grace: Building a Hen House like my house, step by step

Chicken Coop Project: Start Date – 4/14/2010

In an ironic twist of fate, I am welcoming “Chickens” to my property.

Enduring several seasons of waking to the sound of my neighbor’s rooster perched less than 100 feet from my bedroom window, I had complained a fare share about those birds in this close suburban zoning. When my daughter came home with 6 chicks in a box, what was I supposed to say?

After a healthy review of backyardchickens.com, I’ve begun construction of our Chicken Coop. I’ve decided to document the process for BYC and thought I’d get it right on wkp.us, then paste to backyardchickens.

Construction began without clear definition for the size, aesthetic or methods. I found plenty of coop designs that appealed to me on backyardchickens.com. After reviewing several dozen tabbed pages with family members, we agreed on a walk-in height run area with an elevated coop.

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Day 1: Chose a spot in the yard, atop my tree nursery and last year’s garden, dug up and potted some baby trees, transplanted others and graded the area.

Tuesday (Day 2) after work, I picked up 24 @ 4 In. x 8 In. x 16 In. Heavy Weight Solid Block for $1.29ea and Built a perfectly level foundation, burying the blocks below grade to prevent dig-out and intruders.

Day 3. Early start on the framing. Tools scattered about, our Labrador lying in the morning sun between stacks of lumber and the building site, a loud saw cutting, the first few boards being nailed and suddenly the three of us saw each other at the same time: A beautifully colored, healthy looking Red Fox just 15′ away. The dog bolts, the fox leaps and runs for it Labrador sprinting yards behind it’s bushy tail… quickly into the woods.
Wow! What an ominous start.

10:30am, I stop framing to document: An hour and half after the fox incident I hear the unmistakable hoarse, screaming kee-eeeee-arr of a Red-Tailed Hawk circling overhead. I have my work cut out for me building a secure home for these birds.

Not one for elaborate plans, I concluded on a design; I am going to make the coop a replica of my house. With this in mind, I walked outside, held a stud upright and marked a spot I felt would be the lowest acceptable walk-in height, then I measured it. (I’d like to build a nice coop but keep it relatively unassuming on my property) 5′-6″ plus the plates and a drop in grade make the headroom around 6′. The house will sit higher so it’s gable end will clear the flat roof. I didn’t want the structure much over 7′ tall but it’s going to be.

Day 4: Thursday, after work – ply roof and continue framing.
Day 5: Friday, after work – Paper roof, some fascia, ply coop – still no floor. Some painting done. In shop, made windows from reclaimed tempered glass and 5/4 mahogany scraps, and cutout trim for the half-round vent windows. There are many details, but I want this to look like my house. Today I pulled out a bunch of scraps of clear cedar clapboard leftover from a job a few yrs back. I can’t wait to side this thing but I don’t know what to use for all the 3/4″ trim I need to add since I don’t really want to spend any more $. I’ll use something I have.

Saturday, Day 6: 12:30pm start: Built nesting boxes, framing, nailers, primer and details! 8:30pm finish.
Sunday, Day 7: 1 week of progress and things are looking good. Today, I bought hinges and a few pieces of 1×4, finished coop fascia and soffit, roofing, siding and trim details. Today I fastened 70% of the Hardware Cloth. (An interesting term for wire screen!)

Day 8: I skipped real work to progress the ‘coop’ which is now nicer than most homes. Today, I got a lot done. The hardware cloth installation is complete. I graded the soil away from the coop as it’s on the downside of our yard and water will rush toward it during heavy rains.

My friend bet that I couldn’t make a door in 20 minutes, so please notice the high-quality, 19 minute, door. It’s made from leftover 5/4  fir flooring. It really came out nicely. The rails line up with the wall blocking and the bottom plate of the coop. It was joined and then glued up with Gorilla glue. Once the glue dried and the slab hung I was amazed at the perfect fit. These boards were finished with Sikkens products in 2005. Stored in my shed and in perfect condition, I think I will leave the door stained.

Thanks to Lee for the beautiful asphalt work today. I cut step-flashing from sheet copper and bent the pieces by hand, passing them up to Lee.

Left to do: Build floor system, create nesting box door/front facade, make chicken door, make the large access door, trim 2 sides before siding and possibly another window.

Day 9: Made side door from reclaimed wood, made second door to access nesting boxes, primed interior.

Day 10: A little progress each day! Today I fastened the nesting box door, framed and installed the floor. I screened under the roost area, leaving 1/3 of the floor open. For the floor, I used a cabinet panel leftover from a kitchen install. It’s laminated on both sides with a super-slick surface which should make washing a cinch.

Day 11: A few pieces of siding and corner return calculations

Day 12: Saturday – We’ve had the chicks about 2 weeks now, I’ve lost the ‘period’ key on my keyboard, so the rest of this article should be one long run-on sentence! Today I fashioned corner returns, built a chicken ramp, added soil, a slate landing, nesting box trim and perch and some more 1x exterior trim, Yay!

Day 13: Made and installed chicken door, using a heavy door, pulley and rope to the outside. It’s pretty cool – just pull rope and hook on cleat to open, remove and weighty door falls closed!

Day 14-17: Monday – Thurs., Rain: Uh-oh… All I can say is, I visited the coop and hid from the rain while joking around with a friend about the luxurious accommodations these chicken will have. Left to do; small interior trim and finish siding two exterior faces. Still deciding whether to add a window to South side.

The chicks are bigger and growing feathers by the day. They are handled every day. Our lab is very patient and watches them, as they run around the living room, without leaving her spot on the couch. They follow us. They squawk when initially picked up but relax a bit and will come and jump on a hand or stand willingly on us while we sit with them. They are adorable, like most babies.

Day 18: Friday afternoon added siding and made the nesting bin door handle; a copper-roofed solid mahogany ‘basic’ replica of my life-size front entry.

Day 19: Almost done. Painted more, patched all the nail holes, painted portico details. Made copper corner returns and small copper roof then cut the final siding pieces up to the soffit. Yay!

Day 20: Painted most, Still need to side one face, ready to share pictures online.

The final structure is solid and dry inside. It is fairly high-quality for a few dollars worth of birds but what the heck… hope they like it.

Here’s a picture of the Main house;

The hens spent the weekend in their new home and seemed to move in and out of the house and fly up to the blocking, exploring a few feet off the ground. We took them back inside in the evening and brought them out again in the morning.

Well, that’s it. It’s taken 3 weeks to finish, using a few hours after work each day. I invested a bit of creativity with some salvaged parts to make the most of it. I opted not to use the moldings that fill my shop to cut back on the extravagance level and still it’s thick and richly appointed – for a chicken coop.

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Construction methods and materials:

The walls are 2×3 with 1/2″ plywood, paper, cedar trim and cedar clapboard siding.

The roof is 2×4, 1/2″ ply, paper, aluminum drip and rake edge, copper step flashing and asphalt shingles.

The pen area is 2×3 studs with 1/2″ square hardware cloth. I used a pneumatic brad stapler and fastened the hardware cloth with many 1″ galvanized staples.

Materials purchased or supplied:

• 4x8x16 Heavy-Weight Concrete block, $1.29 ea.
• 2×4 Pressure-Treated sill-plate
• 2×3 wall framing, $2 ea.
• 2×4 roof system, $2.75
• 1/2″ cdx plywood walls and roof sheathing, $17 ea
• 30# roofing felt
• Asphalt roofing shingles, $70 sq.
• Aluminum drip edge, $3 ea.
• Copper step-flashing, (made from scrap copper sheet)
• Pine and Cedar trim – cornerboards, fascia, soffit, casing, etc.
• 1/2 x 6 Cedar siding, clear and FJP
• 1/2″-square Hardware Cloth – expensive!
• 1/8″ and 1/4″ Tempered glass windows
• 3/4″ Ikea panel, used as floor
• 1 5/8″ closet rod, 8′
• Pneumatic staples and nails – LOTS.
• 5/4 T&G Fir flooring
• Misc Hardware; pulley, handles, eye bolts, hasp, latches, etc
• Paint; primer and exterior
• Misc. mahogany boards
• Copper sheet
• TLC

Figuring the costs for this particular structure would be difficult as several supplies came out of my workshop including; approx. - siding $150, cedar $80, fir $50, mahogany $30, tempered glass $50 combined with some know-how became window and door units, etc… I believe total cash spent to purchase what I didn’t part with was around $800 – though I hope to provide a breakdown. Suffice to say material costs exceed $1,000 and labor input exceeded 40 hours. It was purely enjoyable, time well spent. Creating on the fly made the project all the more exciting.

Now I have to rebuild my shed because the Chicken’s Coop is far superior.