Chicken Coup

by ncross1

5.8K1458

Intro: Chicken Coup

This is a chicken coup I made a few years ago. As a guide, my son Alex who is in some of the photos is now 13.

The chicken coup is still going strong with a few repairs and changes.

STEP 1: Plan and Quick Guide

The following plans are a rough guide to building the basic shell of a chicken coup. You will need to use your imagination to add all the fixtures and fittings :-) . All measurements are in centimetres.

Four different sizes of wood are used:

  • 2cm by 4cm presure treated beams (red)
  • 4cm by 4cm presure treated beams (green)
  • 20 cm presure treated lap boards (blue)
  • 1.5 cm Marine Ply (yellow)

The frame is held together with nails. You will need the following tools:

  • A wood saw
  • A hammer
  • A tape measure
  • A Jig Saw

Please do offer up all parts as you construct this as I could have made mistakes. I can take no responsibility for any errors in these plans :-)

STEP 2: See Plan ​Fig 1

Cut four lengths of 4x4 at 75cmCut four lengths of 4x4 at 45cm

Cut five lengths of 4x2 at 190cmCut four lengths of 4x2 at 115cm

Get your hammer out and construct the basic frame.

STEP 3: See Plan ​Fig 2

Cut one length of 4x4 at 190cm (The roof ridge)Cut four lengths of 4x2 at 60cm

Cut four lengths of 4x2 at 120cm

Cut one end of each 4x2 lengths at 45 degrees

STEP 4: See Plan ​Fig 3

Cut 90 degree notches into all the 4x2 lengths in Fig 2 at 4cm from the 45 degree cut ends. (Make sure you cut them on the correct, shorter side. See Fig 3). These will be used to attach the roof beams on to the frame in Fig 1

Lay out one 60cm and one 120cm length at 90 degrees

Cut a piece of 4x2 to make a cross member as shown in the figure.

Nail the cross member to the two roof beamsRepeat this for four pairs of roof beams.

Nail the roof ridge to the roof beams and the frame from Fig 1. You may need to borrow some extra hands to do this.

STEP 5: See Plan ​Fig 4

Cut and add the 4x2 pieces shown in the figure and fix them to the frame

STEP 6: See Plan ​Fig 5

This is a plan of the front of the coup

Cut two 67cm lengths of 4x2

Cut two 47cm lengths of 4x2

Cut two 55cm lengths of 4x2

Lay out the two 47cm and 67cm pieces to make a rectangle

Nail the two 55cm pieces over the 47cm pieces and to the 67cm pieces to make a door

Cut and add the 4x2 pieces shown in the figure to the front of the coup frame leaving a space that exactly fits the door

STEP 7: See Plan ​Fig 6

These parts are constructed from marine ply

Finally add the lap board to the frame as shown.

You now have a coup frame.

All that is left is to add the doors to the frames using hinges.

STEP 8: Done

8 Comments

ncross1 3 years ago

My son, who is in the last picture, is now seventeen and this chicken coup is still going strong. Different chickens, new roof, doors and floor, but still going strong :-) (See: Triggers Broom https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUl6PooveJE)

gm280 7 years ago

Nice layout. A mile or two away a family has a large chicken coup and even in the very hot days, the chickens are inside of it. While they are not in the sun, it seem the coup would get really hot inside. But they seem to go in when it is hot. I like your setup and being how you are still using it, that speaks for the longetivity of your built efforts as well. Thumbs up!

madwheels37 7 years ago

Ive jyst recebtly read a few books about chickens and eggs and feed and care. There's nothing in there about making coups. Looks great thanks for coming here to post. Cool drawings man; that's how it's done.

peabody1929 7 years ago

Question on lumber dimensions: a 4x4 is 4cm x 4cm not 4" x 4", correct? The 4x2 looks like a 1"x2" which would be about the same size.

ncross1 7 years ago

Yes, all measurements are in cm but a 4 cm x 4 cm could be replaced with a 2" x 2" and 4 cm x 2 cm by a 4" x 4". I'm not a joiner whats a few mm between friends ?