Bryan in Atlanta sent in photos of his finished Garden Coop, which he expanded so that he could keep bees and chickens together. I found the idea fascinating, so I asked him to explain how his plan to incorporate a bee hive informed his chicken coop build. The rest of this post comes directly from him. . . . (more…)
In this third ride of the Krewe of Coops, we feature The Garden Ark mobile chicken coop design, with several examples from around the U.S. Enjoy the parade!
Michelle built this adorable North Carolina chicken coop using The Basic Coop plans and hardware kit. Her four chicks moved in in the fall, and she wrote recently to say that they made it through the cold, snowy winter with no issues — and no added light or heat (or lava lamps). (more…)
Sandra and John used The Basic Coop stand-alone chicken coop plans to build this home for their mixed flock of standard and bantam hens in Utah. They made a few modifications to suit their needs: (more…)
Rebecca from just outside Philadelphia sent in a couple pictures of her new Basic Coop stand-alone chicken coop and attached run. I’m impressed by the height modification she made, her choice of siding and color, and the way she thought through the whole process to build a coop that would suit her needs. What’s even more impressive is that this is one of her first-ever building projects. The rest of the post comes directly from her. . . (more…)
Bill and Chris in Southeastern Massachusetts built a beautiful chicken coop using The Garden Coop plans. They sent us some nice pictures and a detailed description of all they did to make it their own. The rest of the post comes directly from Chris. . . . (more…)
In the urban or suburban garden, limited space, pests, wary neighbors, and the like can make the idea of keeping chickens seem like more hassle than it’s worth. But by designing and building the right kind of coop, you can quickly get past these hurdles and add a whole new dimension to your garden.
Here are seven tips to put your coop project on the right path. . . .
A well-ventilated chicken coop helps keep your hens from suffering and your neighbors from complaining. Of course, you do need to stay ahead of any odors, making sure you balance out their poop with plenty of high-carbon bedding like straw, wood shavings, leaves, or shredded paper. We use the deep-litter method and continue to add straw as the chickens add droppings. This mixture begins to compost in place, and the volume builds only slowly. From time to time we move it all to a compost bin to finish doing its thing, then incorporate the rich fertilizer into the garden.
NOTE: The pictures in this post feature coops built by us and by customers of our chicken coop plans. Click on them to learn more about each DIY chicken coop build.
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Dale sent us pictures of his amazing garden and chicken coop he built using The Garden Coop plans. Among many other additions, he built the henhouse walls to the ground on three sides, attached attractive outboard nesting boxes, and added rectangular windows to the henhouse. The rest of the post is from Dale. . . (more…)
Breanna in Sacramento, California, built this roomy chicken coop using The Garden Coop plans. She extended the run by twelve feet and added external nesting boxes to the hen house just left of the walk-in door. White paint and a well-placed tarp help keep her chickens cooler in the summer months.
Thanks to Breanna for sharing a picture of her chicken coop. If you like what she’s created, please let her know with a note below. And if you want to receive email notifications of future posts, subscribe to Coop Thoughts.
Christey built this modified version of The Garden Coop just outside of Chicago, using her existing Eglu chicken coop as the henhouse and adding the Eglu run to the other side as additional space for her hens. She writes: (more…)
Susan at Gum Tree Farm in Tennessee already had a small mobile chicken coop, but was looking for a larger, more secure space to complete her chicken habitat. So she cleverly used The Garden Coop chicken coop plans to build a custom enclosure into which she installed her existing A-frame chicken coop for use as a henhouse.
Allowing your chickens to graze on fresh grass is a good thing — not just for them, but for you as well. The nutrients in green vegetation enhances the quality of their eggs and meat. And since fresh greens can make up about 20-30% of a chicken’s diet, providing them for your chickens can save you on feed costs.
But keeping your chickens supplied with fresh greens can be a challenge. When chickens have plenty of room to roam, they will graze a little off the top, then move on. When forage space is limited, however, as in a small urban or suburban backyard, chickens will continue to graze and scratch in the same spot until the vegetation is torn down to the roots.
An easy solution? Grazing frames! (more…)
For 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…)
This is the second in a four-part series on preparing your backyard chickens and coop for cold weather.
Most standard laying hens are quite cold hardy (check this handy breed chart). Just look at their names: Plymouth Rock, Rhode Island Red, New Hampshire Red. . . . These girls were bred to withstand cold climates well before the advent of electric heat. So how do they manage to withstand temperatures that send us scampering for the nearest cup of cocoa? (more…)
This Garden Ark in Atlanta’s West End neighborhood is a good example of how anyone can use our chicken coop design plans to create something wonderful. According to Mary, “I did it all by myself with no help. . . I had never used a circular saw before this project!”
Not only did the plans help Mary build the coop herself, they also gave her the skills and confidence to take the design even further. Her adaptations include:
One of the features that adds a personal touch to her chicken coop is the old wooden fruit crate Mary transformed into outboard nesting boxes. “I removed the top two of three slats on the side facing the henhouse and covered it in plywood,” she says. “I made a shelf with some extra 2×6 lumber and two corner braces to attach the boxes. I’m not sure the shelf was necessary, but it is nice to put things down on.”
Mary also added a modular run that attaches to her Garden Ark with carriage bolts. “The run is twenty square feet, so it increases the girls’ total space from fifteen to thirty-five square feet,” she says. “Although they didn’t seem to be crowded in just the ark, I think they’ll be pretty happy with the run.”
“The instructions were very good,” Mary says. “There was nothing frustrating about them. And as I have said, I have practically no building experience. I didn’t even know what a corner clamp was. (Very useful, the corner clamp!) I am very happy with the way it turned out.”
Thank you, Mary, for sharing your pictures and tips. If you’ve built a coop using one of our design plans and have ideas or photos to share, leave a comment here or send us an email.
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