My daughter had been pleading with me to get some chickens. But you need a chicken coop first. I was very happy how this turned out, especially as I had only a very rough plan for the coop. Some of the elements I really wanted were:

• Full height door and interior
• A raised coop that had ventilation but protection from the elements
• An outer door for collecting eggs ¹
• The coop should be (relatively) easy to clean

I made the door from some longer pieces of siding.

As I was making a raised coop for the nesting area, I decided to make the floor a ‘trap door’ that could swing down to let all of the …debris… fall out into the run for (relatively) easier cleanup.

I even had hinges from another project. The part that has the round hole turns to allow the flap to swing out, releasing the door. This hole was also used to hang the pellet & water feeders from, so a win all around.

The trap door open (for future cleaning).

A side view of the floor in its closed position. Ready to add the siding!

I made a wooden latch that spins to hold the egg door on the back of the coop closed.

And turn to open. (It will be awhile before these chicks are ready to lay!)

Inside, the doors to the nesting area open like barn doors for cleaning or general maintenance (or just looking at the chicks).

The doors are normally shut, with a ramp that leads up to a hobbit hole door I made to allow the chickens easy access. Not knowing anything about chickens, I thought they would sleep inside, but they prefer roosting on the outer ramp.

A better view of their hobbit hole with my Pyncheon Bantam, checking out the chicks.

The black mop next to the Pyncheon is a Silkie.

The last task was the roof. We had some leftover roof tiles from when the house was rebuilt (and I never throw anything away).

The finished roof).

The finished coop from the street.

And from the house, showing the door.

Footnotes

1. The coop was built in 2013 and it took ten years before I got chickens that would lay in the coop. The secret was egg boxes! ↩