Tour the NEW Chicken Coop!
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Recently my husband and I ordered a custom built chicken coop for our backyard. Babysitting our two Goldendoodles every time they had to go outside was getting old. The chickens needed a place to be that is safe! We also wanted a coop big enough to handle more chickens. When we ordered the coop, we had 5 hens. We are egg lovers and they just aren't producing enough for our family of 5. Since then we have added 5 chicks and we can't wait until they grow into their egg laying role.
We found the perfect place in our backyard for the new coop to be built. We worked with a company called Green Chicken Coop to custom build our new coop to fit our precise space. They were incredibly helpful and willing to do what we needed to make it work.
The day came when it was finally delivered to our house. It was shipped on two pallets, in many pieces, with precise instructions on how to put it together. My husband spent one weekend building it and now the chickens have a safe place to live.
It is quite an upgrade from what they had. These chickens have no idea how spoiled they are. I still let them out once a day, in the afternoon, to enjoy the yard. They eat bugs, stretch their wings, and bask in the sun. The reason I let them out in the afternoon is because they will put themselves to bed at dusk. Have you ever tried to corral chickens into their coop? It isn't easy. Even with TREATS!
We have 6 nest boxes now! The added space will come in handy when the new chicks start laying!
Of course, I am still finding all of the eggs in ONE nest box. Old habits die hard I guess.
I love the interior screen doors in the hen house. In the summer it will be necessary for these doors to remain open. Without these, the dogs would have easy access to the chickens and their eggs!
The little door into the hen house can be locked. I choose to leave it open so that they are free to go out into the run. If I had a predator concern, I would definitely lock this up each night. There is plenty of roosting space, too!
This coop can accommodate up to 15 hens. When I first put the hens in this new coop, I found all of them huddled in nest boxes. None were roosting. Now, only one prefers to sleep in a nest box. The others are enjoying the roosting space they have!
The new run has enough space for them to wander around and be chickens. I came across this chicken swing and I had to have it! The videos of chickens swinging were fantastic. If my hens were going to be locked up most of the day, I thought the might like something fun to do! So far I haven't seen any of my hens use it. They will someday. I am sure of it!
Our new coop is perfect. The hens seem happy. They are safe and comfortable. The dogs pace back and forth and spend most of their time trying to figure out how to get to them. Want to hear the funny part? The day after my husband completed building the coop we put an offer on a new house.
Now you can look forward to a post all about how we move 10 chickens to a new home. I may have to include video because the idea of 10 chickens in a car sounds kind of interesting.
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Love the coop! Your chickens are very lucky : ) We have never had a new coop, but we have been fortunate enough to keep moving to houses that already have them. It is easy to move chickens…we just put ours into several large dog crates. They handle it pretty well!
As young kid, my father’s chickens brings joy to my life, like i was busy monitoring them, feeding their chicks, play with the chicks, i find the color yellow very interesting and im always happy with them. We have goats, pings, and i play with the young pigs, young pigs are like so funny they just run around like they have no idea they will be pork chops or steaks someday..
i miss those days when our place used to be like so 1940, grass all around, rice fields everything is so simple… my memories are here again as i saw your chicken photos.. i love them, thanks..
Such a cute coop! One question, what kind of feeder is that in the picture? I have been looking for something like that.
Thanks!!
It is a treadle feeder. Google has lots of info on them, you can even find instructions on how to build your own!
We just rescued 9 hens. So, this is all new. Previously the owner let the hens free range every day out the main coop door and that is the primary ventilation. She also went from 24 girls to 9 in about 6 months. I like that there are few windows for Colorado winters but since they are no longer free ranging, we need to increase the ventilation. I am invisioning a screen door similar to yours. Could you please provide more detail on how it is install and secured. This would be perfect for what I am wanting to do. Your coop is lovely and you should be so proud of the work you’ve done!!!
We actually used a company called The Green Chicken Coop to build it for us.
Love the coop.. very nice..
what I have learned in keeping chickens for 12 yrs.
1 . chickens will Roost at the highest point.. be it rafters or the top of *laying * boxes. they rarely do more then lay eggs in the boxes. so unless you close off the area above the boxes.. they will sleep there & poop there 🙂
my niece put in quite a few boxes.. thinking they each needed their own to sleep (:)
& she left the ladder inside , leaning against the wall.. yep you guessed it.. in the morning they were found up as high as they could get on the ladder 🙂
2. also to roost they do better on a flat board.. a round one requires them to hang on all night. they like to roost with their feet under them cuz mice will try to nibble their feet at night. EVERY coop will have their share of mice.. no getting around it.
3. chicken wire does nothing more then keep the ckens in.. it does not keep predators out .
a neighbor dog or a wild coon will try to get to them..
4.. rarely feed ckens corn during warm weather.. it raises their temp. Which is great in winter
Hope others will share what they have learned.. I love learning from those in the trenches.. or the coop 🙂