Cedar Chicken Coop Condo

Intro: Cedar Chicken Coop Condo

For years I read and watched as my neighbors built coops. Being a tall person, I thought how horrible it would be to clean and interact with the birds in such a small and confined space. After I visited about 20 other coops around the neighborhood and beyond, I sketched out this coop.

It took longer than expected to build and cost more than we planned. But according to our county inspector, it's the nicest coop they have ever seen. They even took a picture.

The coop has electricy with lights and heating lamps on timers as well as an old fashioned porch light for the front. We had a webcam, but with all the traffic, it made our internet access horrible, so we took it down. Oh, and yes, the coop has cat-5 cable. The best part of this coop is that our chickens love to lay eggs. And we get at least an egg a day from each of the girls.

Comments

[BobetteT]

Cedar is toxic to chickens.

[jeanetteneagu]

Love the coop. Do please give me an estimate of cost. Plans would be very welcome

[jeanetteneagu]

Can you tell me how many chickens it will hold and the cost of materials? I love it.

[fw 190D]

That is so good, you could live in it yourself.

Having built the ultimate environment for productive egg laying, you have done your bit, now it is up to the hens to do theirs.

If they don't respond with eggs, do the hens understand simple words like, "broil", "roast","baste","grill" ........

[camp6ell]

so, eh, where's the instructable? this belongs on flickr... since you're clearly averse to giving out ANY actual useful building information, despite many questions asking for such.

[frenchkitchen]

Wow, you must really want to build a chicken coop. No i'm definately not adverse, just not an architect, so I wouldn't know how to provide any useful plans. And last time I checked instructables had three types of items you can share. A photo of what you've built, a step-by-step instruction or a video.

I chose to show a photo of something cool I built. Sorry that it isn't a step-by-step instruction -- but not being an architect or licensed contractor, I didn't feel comfortable providing plans of my little creation. Liability wise, it's not something I feel comfortable with.

As my project was custom for my location -- I had to dig drenches between the coop and my house for electricity, etc. I was a bit worried about me not being a licensed electrician giving others advice on installing electrical service in their coop.

Thanks again for checking out my project! The one project you posted is great with step-by-step instructions.

[djlucas48]

You are very diplomatic!

[Lectric Wizard]

A Poultry Palace !! Beautiful Job. Thanks for sharing it.

[JKPieGuy]

This is a very nice chicken coop and very well designed, so well that I'd even consider living in it! I've got to show this to my Grandfather, he'd get a kick out of it because he loves chickens and chicken coops and also small home projects n' such. I also saw that you used " 12-2 Non-Metallic Cable" for the wiring in the ceiling and such. If you don't mind me suggesting I'd recommend you using "Armored Cable" or "Metal Conduit Pipe" to encase the wires in to prevent anything from tampering with it or to weatherproof it. Also if you have any outlets you should use a "GFI Outlet" to prevent shocks or shorts.

[danhanmapa]

Please do let us know when you have those plans available... I have my husband convinced that we need chickens, but now we have to build the coop.
This one looks amazing and I agree... much nicer than stooping down to clean!

[redgilnc]

You have done an EXCELLENT job. I appreciate the time and effort it took for you to share your work. Thank You!

[eiannuccilli]

I would appreciate it if you could give the exterior dimensions of the solid structure and then the interior ground(walk around) area dimensions. I appreciate the sturdiness of the structure. I would use rabbit wire, as we live in an area with possibility of snakes. Beautiful chicken condo (too nice to be a coop ;0)

[Roy Pruitt]

I am extremely impressed by your ingenuity on building this coop. I succumbed to my crazy wife's idea and purchased an 8x10 utility building kit and am not that pleased with the end result. I would also like to have the plans for this, plus I would like to find out more about the construction of the nesting boxes that you installed. Anyway, Great, no, Fantastic job !

[leaveletters]

I live in a cold region and am wondering if it is necessary to cover screens with plexi glass or plastic during winter. I don't have chickens yet but I am trying to convince my husband of the benefits. Thanks for showing your ultimate coop. I am inspired to do more, not less for these remarkable birds.

[www.microbike.ie]

Great! it is in my Faves!

[kari1052]

hi, i love that you call your chickens "your girls" too! what a beautiful house, i'd love to give my girls a wonderful house that that too. and it is true.........the best eggs come from happy girls! thanks for posting the pictures. let us know if you decide to go into depth how you actually made it.

[frenchkitchen]

Wow, I'm so flatered that so many people want to see plans for the coop. I literally just sketched it on a napkin then polished it with Adobe Illustrator. I really don't have any architectual plans -- maybe I should get an architect to take my sketches and drawings to make real plans out of them.

[GailC]

I think you should make real plans from them! This is a brilliant chicken coop. Sadly I can't keep chickens in the city I'm in. Oh well!

I know, people have said this before, but excellent job!

[frenchkitchen]

Thank you for your kind words. Working on the plans. Will update everyone once they are available. Not all cities are like chickens. Our mayor has a couple, so I guess that's why it's ok.

[GailC]

Did you ever put together an "instructable" with instructions for this? :)