Coop Aesthetics

 

 

Make It Your Own: Colin and Faye’s Australian Garden Coop

Saturday, February 4th, 2012

Colin and Faye in Mirboo North, Australia, used The Garden Coop chicken coop plans to build this backyard chook house.

Colin and Faye sent in this inspiring story along with pictures of their beautiful, rustic Garden Coop build and tips for other chicken coop builders in Australia. The rest of this post comes from them. . . .

Our Garden Coop build

We have finished our chicken coop and our six eight-week-old chickens took up residence last Saturday. Thank you for such easy-to-understand plans. For my husband Colin and I, this was our first venture in building anything, and we are very pleased with the outcome.

Giving the chicken coop a rustic Australian look

Corrugated metal siding on chicken coopWe used corrugated iron on the left and back walls of the hen house. We had it left over from making some garden beds, and along with the second-hand fence palings on the other two walls, it makes our coop very rustic and Australian looking.

We put the ladder on the side wall and added a door so that our chickens are safely locked away from the many foxes around here at night.

Some tips for fellow Australian coop builders

Inside view of Australian Garden Coop chicken coop

  • With the timber, the 90 x 38 mm boards converted to 90 x 35 mm available here. That may be helpful for others here in Australia to keep in mind. Other measurements in the plans were just right.
  • We were able to get the SunTuf polycarbonate roofing here as well.
  • At first I could not work out what “hardware cloth” was, but then realized it was wire mesh. The size of the wire mesh is the same here in Australia.
  • It was not hard to work out equivalents or substitutes, so thank you for the metric conversion.

A great DIY project, at any age

Attractive chook pen chicken house in Australia from chicken coop plansThis has been a terrific project for us, we are in our early sixties. I have learnt so many new skills, and I am so proud of my husband who has Parkinson’s disease, with what he was able to accomplish.

Now we have the pleasure of watching our chickens, which is so relaxing, and look forward to when they start to lay!

—Faye and Colin, Mirboo North, Australia

Thanks to Faye and Colin for sharing their story, tips, and coop pictures! Like what they’ve done? Leave a quick comment to let us know. And feel free to subscribe to Coop Thoughts to get first notice of the latest posts by email. It’s free, ad-free, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Tags: Australia, Hardware Cloth, Materials, Metric, Predators, The Garden Coop
Posted in Coop Aesthetics, Make It Your Own | 2 Comments »

How to wrap your chicken coop for the winter

Friday, November 25th, 2011

The Garden Coop chicken coop design wrapped in plastic for the rainy winter seasonFor the past few winters, I’ve wrapped our Garden Coop in plastic sheeting to keep driving rain and snow (mostly rain here in the Pacific Northwest) out of the run area.

I’d love to say I do this for artistic reasons, à la Christo, but it’s really all about practicality. Plastic film is inexpensive, easy to put up, and keeps your hens dry and happy. And in the spring, you can just take it down, roll it up, and store it out of the way.

There are other solutions, of course — sheet siding, acrylic panels, canvas, landscape fabric. Let me know in the comments what has worked for you. (more…)

Tags: Chicken run, Materials, Plastic Sheeting, Seasons, The Garden Ark, Winter
Posted in Coop Aesthetics, Coop Construction, Health and Safety | 2 Comments »

Make It Your Own: Merri-Lynn’s Colorful Garden Coop, Kingston Springs, Tennessee

Tuesday, July 5th, 2011

Merri-Lynn and her daughter built this colorful chicken coop with plans from TheGardenCoop.com.
Merri-Lynn sent in this picture of her Garden Coop build in Tennessee. She worked on it with her daughter, who, as a big Hannah Montana fan, insisted on a bright color scheme. Merri-Lynn wrote:

We couldn’t be more proud of the way it turned out. It took a number of weekends to complete as we had to wait for additional hands for a few of the steps, but for the most part we completed it ourselves. The directions were easy to follow, and I would recommend that anyone can take on this project. Our chickens love their new home — color and all!

Thanks to Merri-Lynn for her picture and comments. If you like what you see, let her know with a reply below. And tell us, what colors are your chicken coop?

Tags: Paint, Tennessee, The Garden Coop
Posted in Coop Aesthetics, Make It Your Own | No Comments »

How to build external nest boxes for your chicken coop

Thursday, March 10th, 2011

Instructions to add external nesting boxes to your chicken coopWhether you’re building The Garden Coop, The Garden Ark, or pretty much any other chicken coop, the instructions that follow will show you in detail how to add external nesting boxes to your coop.

First, a little background. I designed The Garden Coop and The Garden Ark to make efficient use of space, be easy to build, and to have everything under one roof — including the nesting boxes. Personally, I prefer the simplicity of having the boxes in the henhouse, and it has worked well for us and many others for years.

So if you’re new to chicken keeping or coop building, please do not feel as though you have to add exterior nest boxes to your coop.

That said, there’s something about external nesting boxes that just captures the fancy of backyard chicken keepers. . . . (more…)

Tags: Add-ons, Materials, Nest Boxes, Paint, The Garden Ark, The Garden Coop, Wood
Posted in Coop Aesthetics, Coop Construction | 20 Comments »

Make It Your Own: Cheris’s Garden Ark, Austin, Texas

Tuesday, October 26th, 2010

“I have never had so much fun totally ignoring my children.” So begins Cheris’s blog post about building her own chicken coop with The Garden Ark mobile chicken coop plans. Of course, once your coop is built, it’s often the kids that will enjoy it most. . .

The Garden Ark Mobile Chicken Coop Plans helped Cheris in Austin build this chicken tractor!
(more…)

Tags: Austin, Handles, Materials, Paint, Roofing, Suntuf, Texas, The Garden Ark
Posted in Coop Aesthetics, Coop Construction, Make It Your Own | 2 Comments »

Make It Your Own: Lila K.’s Texas Garden Coop

Tuesday, September 21st, 2010

Texas Chicken House Built With The Garden Coop Plans

Lila K. and her husband live on the Gulf Coastal Plain of Texas. This is their chicken coop, built using The Garden Coop chicken coop design plans. It’s remarkable, not only for what you can see, but also for what you can’t. At least, not unless you’re looking for it.

Lila used 4x4 posts for additional anchoring for the chicken coop frame

The Garden Coop chicken coop design plan calls for a pier-on-grade foundation that works well just about anywhere. But if you need to adapt the design to suit local building codes or seasonal weather events, it’s quite flexible. Lila chose to modify the design by setting 4×4 posts at each corner of the coop and securing the frame to those.

Her primary reason for adapting the design was to give even more stability to their chicken coop, anchoring it firmly should it be buffeted by treacherous Gulf Coast weather. Aesthetically, Lila also liked the beefier look the posts gave to the frame.

She paid great attention to other details as well. She added a small window on the front, and she painted the trim, door stops, and roof structure a light green color that stands out against the natural wood tone of the frame. By doing this, she created really nice outlines that give her chicken coop a smart, finished look.

(more…)

Tags: Foundation, Materials, Paint, Seasons, Texas, The Garden Coop, Wood
Posted in Coop Aesthetics, Coop Construction, Make It Your Own | 2 Comments »

Make It Your Own: Lubosh Cech’s Hen Temple

Monday, August 30th, 2010

When Portland designer, filmmaker, and photographer Lubosh Cech was ready to build his own chicken coop, he wanted it to be a work of art. The Garden Coop chicken coop plans turned out to be the perfect place to start. Lubosh told us recently about the modifications he made to the design and how he gave his backyard coop an artful, personal touch:

Thank you for the plans! This was a fun project, and it successfully distracted me from my work for most of the month.

Because of the space limitations, I had to shorten the design and push the structure all the way to the corner of the yard. In addition to buying new lumber, I reused wood and other materials that cluttered my basement shop. Half of the paint I used is 100% recycled latex from Metro.

To make the structure more fun, I painted the Buddha on the front panel of the henhouse and decorated the roof with the Tibetan prayer flags. The Buddha is holding a golden egg over the nesting box access door.

Coincidentally, my three chicks moved in on July 6th, the Dalai Lama’s 75th birthday!

Here are a few more pictures of the Hen Temple. (more…)

Tags: Art, Location, Lubosh Cech, Paint, Portland, The Garden Coop
Posted in Coop Aesthetics, Make It Your Own | 4 Comments »

5 Innovative Portland Chicken Coops – Neighborhood Notes Article

Tuesday, April 13th, 2010

Modern Chicken Coop Designs - Portland, OregonChicken coop design is the focus of today’s feature story over at Neighborhood Notes, a cool website focusing on hyper-local news in Portland. The Garden Coop is featured along with four other local designs. There’s a nice slideshow at the end with more pictures and ideas.

There’s a lot happening in Portland, for sure, and it’s nice to be included in such good company.

Tags: Articles, Media, Portland, The Garden Ark, The Garden Coop
Posted in Architecture, Coop Aesthetics, Coop Plans, Just for Fun | No Comments »

Why did the chicken cross the pond?

Sunday, January 3rd, 2010

Fresh Eggs From London GardenI came across this feature on keeping chickens in the city — it’s a 5-minute interview with an urban chicken keeper in England. I like watching pieces like this that give an honest glimpse into people’s food and lifestyle choices. This guy (er, bloke) may be on the other side of the planet, but it’s a small planet. His family, mine, and many others are keeping chickens for much the same reasons. 

You’ll notice that his coop is one of those prefab Eglus. I like the modern style of those coops, and he’s integrated his well into his garden. (The cost of an Eglu is a different issue, and he talks about that in the video.)

Notice that he ended up building out his own covered run to increase his chooks’ space for ranging. It’s a good reminder that, even if you start off with an out-of-the-box chicken coop, some DIY skills will come in handy as you modify your coop to suit the needs of your flock and your space.

Tags: Videos
Posted in Coop Aesthetics, Just for Fun | No Comments »

Living on the edge

Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009

I’ve been thinking more about the Bjarke Ingels talk I posted about last month. You know, I almost can’t believe this now, but when we were building our first coop, I wanted to tuck it out of the way in a far corner of our yard.

Luckily, a friend of mine who’s into permaculture happened to come by at the right time and suggested that we move it closer to the center instead. He explained that one of the principles of permaculture is that life happens on the edges. When you create edges, as with a garden bed or structure, it opens up new possibilities for viewing, using, and organizing the space.

So don’t hide your coop. Show it off, and see where it leads you next. Think about things like vining plants, flowers, edibles, rainwater catchment, compost bin, tool rack, hammock or sitting area, clothesline, or even housing for other animals. Have any edgy ideas to share?

Tags: Location, Permaculture, The Garden Coop
Posted in Coop Aesthetics, Gardening | 2 Comments »

Looks matter

Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009

If you’re thinking about building a chicken coop, you’re probably most concerned about things like predators, space, location, and cost. But you might want to add appearance to your list, as it can affect every one of the other considerations.

Where we live, four neighboring homes have views over the fence into our yard. Our first impulse was to build a coop quickly and cheaply, and, out of respect for the neighbors, keep it low and out of sight. But then we remembered who’d be staring at the coop most often: us.

Focusing on making the coop look nice actually helped us arrive at a more functional, low-maintenence, and inexpensive design. In the end, the chickens may not notice the difference, but our neighbors do. And so do we.

Tags: Neighbors
Posted in Coop Aesthetics | No Comments »

Chicken TV

Wednesday, January 28th, 2009

The neighbors’ new cat roams into our yard. She’s done this a couple times already as she’s been getting to know her surroundings. Our chickens are locked safe in their yard, well protected from much more vicious predators than this kitten. Yet while I know that, they don’t. Kitty edges closer. (more…)

Tags: Location, Visibility
Posted in Coop Aesthetics | No Comments »