My Easy-to-Build Tiny Chicken Coop

My Cheap and Easy Chicken Coop

Like most of the things I build, this coop was pounded together using the “good enough” rule. That rule states that you must sometimes be willing to do things wrong if you want to do them at all. Otherwise, you must hire the work done for you (can’t afford it) or do without.

Yesterday my neighbor looked at my new chicken house and complimented me on my carpentry skills. He was trying to be polite, which was sweet of him. In reality, I have no carpentry skills whatsoever, and can’t measure and cut a board accurately to save my life. But I still ended up with what I hope will be a serviceable chicken coop for my three new chicks.

The coop still needs it’s perch, a nesting box, a board walk to let the birds enter the house from their yard, and more substantial locks. Since the chicks won’t be large enough to go in their house for at least a month, I have plenty of time to finish it. The nesting box will be made from a 5-gallon bucket, which will protrude from the wall of the house under the greenhouse plastic that you can see in the photo above. This will give the birds the full use of the floor in their tiny chicken coop.

Sawhorse Brackets

The A-frame design was created easily with the hardware for a wooden sawhorse. Because I used the brackets, I didn’t need to make any fancy cuts to make the upright 2x4s meet the rafter.

The A-frame design also reduces some of the weight, compared to a standard shed-shaped house. Since I’ll only have three chickens (all that my city allows), the house could be built quite small. With doors on both ends, I can easily reach all the way inside without needing to enter the house myself, and it should be easy to clean. The plywood floor has been painted with marine varnish that I had left over from my garden tortoise project, shown on my other blog. This will help when I clean the floor.

Since I worked on this alone, it was easiest to put the plywood floor and back on the house while it was lying on it’s side. I also attached the roofing while it was in this position.

Adding the Roofing to the Coop

The plywood was left here by the previous owner of my house, along with the roofing material. I purchased the rest of the lumber, the hardware, the plastic greenhouse panel for the front of the coop, and the aluminum roof cap for about $150.00. It seems like a lot of money for three pet chickens – but then I remembered that each of my dogs cost at least that much just taking them home from the pound and getting them “fixed,” their food is way more expensive, and they don’t lay eggs. And my chickens will help me improve the fertility of my garden, and will provide hours of entertainment, so I don’t begrudge the cost of their house. If I was a better carpenter, or more inventive, I probably could have built their coop for much less.

The coop was quite heavy after this stage, and I needed to move it into position myself. This was harder to do than I expected, but with some help from a furniture dolly and a lot of pushing and shoving, I moved it into position. Even with odd stresses coming from all angles during the moving process, the house held up just fine – even though it looks under-built. It should withstand any windstorm in it’s sheltered spot.

Bending the Aluminum Roof Cap for Chicken Coop

The roof cap was probably the most difficult item on the coop. I purchased a 14″ x 10′ roll and cut off a 4′ length to fit the top of the ridge. The aluminum was easy to cut but it wanted to roll back up again, which it does rather aggressively. If it rolls up when you aren’t expecting it, you bleed. It was also much more difficult to bend into shape than I had expected, so I built this make-shift jig on my work table.

I placed the coop under the grape arbor, the only spot in my yard that has good shade. I think the chicks will be happy with it. They’ll be allowed to wander around in the yard once I know for sure that my dogs will leave them alone, and they’ll have full access to the compost pile. The worm bins are also in their yard, but the worms will be covered so I can give them a few worms each day instead of allowing the birds to eat all the worms at once.

As you can see, the doors are covered with hardware cloth. This will allow air to run through the house to cool it and give the chickens fresh air at all times. In the winter I’ll probably need to put plastic over the opening in the eastern door to help the birds stay a little warmer. This type of design is called an “open air chicken house,” promoted by Prince T. Woods (who kept his own home “open air,” too – no word on what his wife thought of that idea…) Since Woods assumed that any rational person would have at least 30 chickens, I was unable to use any of his actual designs, but I decided to use his philosophy.

Chicken Coop Under the Grapes

I ordered Light Brahma chicks, a breed that is supposed to handle extreme weather better than some other breeds. And if it turns out that Dr. Woods was wrong, I can always move them into my garage or garden shed during cold weather.

Will the chickens like their new house? Will it hold up over time? Is it strong enough? Time will tell. Since this “Do Something” experiment will be taking place over three years’ time, we should certainly know by then. In the meantime, if you have any easy-to build (and reasonably cheap) designs of your own, please let us know.