Building a chicken coop and a whole lot more

Steven in Pennsylvania built this spacious backyard coop using The Garden Loft large walk-in chicken coop plans and optional chicken coop hardware kit. He sent us pictures of his build along with a wonderful note describing the impact the project has had on his life and neighborhood. The rest of this post comes directly from him. . .

I decided to raise chickens as an opportunity to develop skills that I lacked, big time. The skills I wanted to hone included animal husbandry, constructing a secure retaining wall (on a steep hill that is my backyard), carpentry, and other handy building skills, following plans, and more.

First, I learned a lot from The Garden Loft chicken coop plans. I have a better understanding of how roofs, foundations, framing, and general building things work.

Second, I have a real sense of accomplishment. This project took a while for me to complete because I had no idea how to do anything, so everything took me much longer. Your plans made it about as simple as possible. I literally took it one page at a time.

Third, the chicken coop has brought my neighbors together. People from up and down my block started coming over each evening to watch me build and hang out and chat. Once the coop was finished, they kept coming over to watch the chickens, which is neat. I’ve become close with one of my neighbors who started coming by every day to help out. We still hang out a lot and help each other with various projects.

Finally, the coop looks really nice, and it has been easy to maintain. We have a mid-century modern house that my wife loves. She was concerned that a chicken coop would blemish our yard. Instead, she thinks it looks great and adds value to our yard. (I will also add that it’s definitely predator proof. We have a family of foxes that live near our home, and they haven’t been able to penetrate it.)

The Garden Loft plans were exactly what I needed to do this project right — a great-looking coop design and a set of plans that a novice could follow. Without those two things, I might not have endeavored down the path of raising chickens. But I’m glad your plans are there, that I did it, and that I have chickens bringing life to my yard. I now have a lot more knowledge and confidence in my building skills, a great feeling of accomplishment, new friends, and a stronger sense of community among my neighbors. Thank you!

Many thanks to Steven for sharing his story and photos. Amazing that this stunning coop was one of his first DIY projects. If you like what he’s done, please let him know with a comment below. You can learn more about The Garden Loft chicken coop design here.