Hello fellow outdoorsmen. For the last 4 years the misses an I have been wanting to start raising chickens. Me being the over engineerer that I am, kept putting it off until I could build a proper structure. I'm not a fan of big box store coops, nor did I want to just throw something flimsy and unasthetic together in a hurry. For those of a similar disposition I wanted to share my build.

First mistake. We bought these chick's before the coop was built. I figured buying the chicks would encourage me to work faster. It did, but I had to cut a few corners to finish in time. We kept these girls (Lavender Orpingtons, barred rock, and dominiques) in their brooder for around four weeks. By the end, they had outgrown their home and were in much need of more space.

We have 12 chicks. The Dominiques and Barred Rocks were pullets (female) and the lavender orpingtons were straight run only (male and female mixed). We purchased extra to compensate for the inevitable rooster or two. Still, we wanted to make sure we had plenty of space for all 12 and any future additions to our flock in the coming years. I decided on a 6x8 foot print for the coop at 6' tall on the high side and 4' on the low. It's raised about 2 feet off the ground to provide shade in the run for summer as well as somewhere to hide from predators.

Yes you are looking at over $100 in OSB. Baller status confirmed.

We decided on a lean to design because to me, that style, looks like a chicken coop. Also the roof is much easier to Engineer.

After the framing was installed it was time to mount the external nest box. Will make life much easier when it comes to collecting eggs. Just a 3/4 plywood shell with dividers ever 16 inches. The orpingtons need a little extra space as they are a large breed.

Final stage of framing, the roof. There is roughly a 1 foot overhang around the whole structure. I built the roof size to match the length and with of my metal roofing panels so no fabricating would be needed. In hind sight I would have chosen a different metal roof set up, but this one works fine.

I'm not going to say much about the siding other than the current prices are insane ($40/sheet). One flaw to the design was that I ended up with a decent amount of scrap siding due to the height of tall wall. The final dimension was 6X8 so 2 sheets were needed. I also needed an extra sheet on the front and back to make up the extra 2 feet in height.

I used some metal roofing material I found in stocks at my local Stein to clad the roof. In hindsight the pitch was too steep (1:3). It made installing the roofing very difficult and looks a little too steep aesthetically. The idea was to make the tall wall 6' and the short wall 4' so an adult could stand up while working inside the coop. We also added flashing tape and the same roofing material to cover the nest box which can be opened in place.

I added 2 18" square windows to each side. I built these out of acrylic sandwiched between 2 1x2 frames. I then glued some trim to them to make them look nice. The windows are hinged and can open completely for extra summer ventilation. Also the eves of the coop are clad in hardware cloth to keep preditors out but allow for ventilation even with the windows closed.

The girls were excited for their new home. We left them locked in the coop for 2 days before letting them out to roam. It was to train them that this coop was now their home.

Finally a fresh coat of paint and my wallet and weekends could breathe a sigh of relief. And yes the tall side looks like a robot face.

Girls are getting much bigger. Also one of the Dominique turned out to be an Easter egger. Good luck.

This post was edited on 4/23/21 at 2:27 am