Introduction: Chicken Coop From a Playhouse
My wife and I tried our hand at chickens about 3 years ago. We loved having them, but we made some mistakes in our setup that ended in the termination of our chicken ownership. We mixed aggressive and passive breeds, had a big coop that was built by a rookie, and our run was in a damp area that bred mosquitos. Our poor girls were featherless on their butts from brutal attacks from the other chickens establishing dominance. They would go to sleep at night and get eaten alive by mosquitos since they had no feathers to protect them. In addition, I built the first coop with a chicken cloth bottom to “make cleaning easier”. So, Craigslist helped me offload the chickens and the coop in about 2 hours! Ever since, we’ve missed having them.
We believe in repurposing whatever God gives us. “If it can be used for something else don’t throw it out,” is one of our mottos. For about a year and a half we’ve been watching the price of eggs go up and talking about our girls and how we would do it differently next time. Little did I know that my big opportunity was rotting in my backyard!
After Hurricane Katrina, I bought a 2 decker, wooden swing-set with a slide and playhouse on top. Lately, the kids have been telling me how the boards are bowing and they feel like they’re going to break. The bottom deck was starting to rot and the boards on top were probably at the end of life. I decided to take it down, but noticed that the playhouse on top was still in great condition.
Step 1: Requirements
Below is a list of our requirements for part 2. It’s very dorky, but necessary to make sure we make the coop we want this time. The underlined requirements are our lessons learned from coop #1.
Purpose:
To get farm fresh eggs by creating a healthy, mostly bug free environment (inside the coop) for 6-9 chickens that will also fertilize our raised garden beds.
Doors
Coop will have a chicken door.
Coop will have a human door to run.
Coop will have a human access door to coop.
All doors should have latches.
Chicken door should have a critter-proof latch.
Nesting Boxes
External nesting boxes with doors
2-3 nesting boxes.
Access will not require entering coop.
Easy to clean floor.
Chickens should not be able to poop into nest boxes from perches.
Feeding/Watering
Should be able to feed without entering coop/run.
Watering can be done through human door.
Water needs to be hidden from sunlight.
External access to feeder to feed table scraps.
Transportation
Can be moved by no more than 3 people.
Size
Should be able to fit 6-9 chickens.
Minimal obstructions inside coop.
Coop
Floor must be removable for cleaning and easy access to inside of coop for maintenance.
Floor must support sand/shavings.
Perches must be above nesting boxes
Enough room for 6-9 birds to perch.
Open spaces protected with chicken cloth and screen where possible.
Exterior
At least 2 windows that can be closed/covered during winter.
Windows must be protected with chicken cloth and mesh screen.
Wind blockers can be added to windows during really cold nights.
Coop should be elevated from ground.
I must admit, as time went on, I wanted to deviate from the original plan by cutting corners and making “good enough” modifications to it. However, I kept getting pulled away from this project by football, cheerleadinging, band practice, etc. and I had a lot of time to think about it.
The rest of the Instructable will be a chronological series of pictures with details in the captions. If you have any questions please email me. I could not have made this coop without all the blog posts and advice I read from backyard chicken forums and such.
Step 2: The Drawing Board
Step 3: Raising the Coop
Step 4: Adding Doors in the Wrong Place!
Step 5:
Step 6: Installing Nest Boxes
Step 7: The Inside
Flooring - I used 12 inch strips of 5/8 plywood so I can remove them easier for cleaning. I bought some cheap peel and stick vinyl tiles from Home Depot and fitted them in. This looks really nice now. I’m trying to enjoy how pretty the coop is before I stick the chickens in it. It’s amazing how completely nasty they can make a coop. I’ve actually seen one poop sideways!
Step 8: The Sleds
One of the final pieces of the coop is attaching sleds to the legs. I needed to move the coop about 70 ft to the area where the run will be. I was able to pull it with the lawn tractor, with the additional help from my oldest sons. I still can’t believe this plan actually worked!
I will have to add a better picture because you can't see the sleds at all. I may have spent about $50 total for all of this. I had a lot of materials from previous projects and I went out of my way to reuse as much as possible.
For more details in this coop go to: http://eighthrising.com/chicken-coop-from-a-playhouse/
Step 9: Updates:
Here are some updates on the coop since I added the chickens in September-ish:
- The nesting boxes are working perfectly. They are very easy to manage and the peel and stick vinyl tiles make them a breeze to quickly wipe down for extra clean.
- The vinyl tiles on the coop floor have no fared as well. They are starting to peel off from moisture. I will either glue them down or peel them up entirely. I use a 3" deep sand floor in the coop so I never have a need to clean the floor bottom.
- The screen mesh I installed behind the chicken cloth for the windows is doing wonderfully at keeping mosquitoes out.
- The feeder (featured here: https://www.instructables.com/id/PVC-Chicken-Feeder-with-Meter/ ) is also working well.
- The size is perfect for my 5 chickens. I could fit a few more.
The reason I took the time to build the coop right this time around was due to the poor state of my chickens in my first attempt. This time around I have 4 very healthy and happy hens and (based on all the action in the yard) an extremely satisfied rooster.