Andreas Känner’s Garden Coop, Landesbergen, Germany

Several weeks ago, Andreas Känner surprised me with photos and details on his Garden Coop build in Landesbergen, Germany. As far as I know, this is the first Hühnerhaus built in Germany using our metric chicken coop plans. Andreas did an amazing job, and I’m happy to share his photos and commentary here. . .

A chicken coop that’s ready for the cold

You can see that the walls and doors are quite thick on the henhouse. “I modified the design somewhat,” writes Andreas. “The henhouse is completely insulated. I moved the entrance to the henhouse to the side.”

It was his goal to insulate the space to retain as much warmth as possible. It can get rather cold in Landesbergen, which is in northern Germany. Andreas said temperatures in there dipped below -15º C for a week or so this past winter.

Rooster in dem Haus

Andreas is also dealing with another challenge that many backyard chicken keepers either choose to — or, in many cases, are legally required to — avoid. He has a rooster.

Because we have a rooster, I no longer have a transparent roof over the sleeping box. So the rooster sleeps a little bit longer. But I think that is okay because they are in our garden the whole day and only use the box to sleep.

Also because of the rooster, Andreas worked to devise a way to retain ventilation in the henhouse while dampening the sound of the crowing that periodically goes on inside.

He offset a board both in front of the vent on the outside of the coop, and another behind the vent on the inside. The photo to the right shows the exterior board. There is another board positioned similarly on the inside of the hen house (see photo).

These boards serve to quiet the crowing. And they have the added advantage of blocking the wind from blowing directly into the hen house.

Lachshühner – German Salmon Faverolles

It’s also been interesting to learn about the breed of chicken that Andreas has chosen: Lachshühner. They’re good-looking birds, though the breed is not commonly available in the U.S.

Lachshühner are characterized by their salmon-colored plumage (on the hens), five-toed feet, and feathery cheeks. The roosters can be quite colorful. Andreas says he chose Lachshühner “because they don’t fly much — and they’re very trusting and cute.” You can find out more about the breed here (in German).

A few other notes

• You may notice a slight difference in size between the two-by-fours Andreas used and the standard size available in the United States. Lumber is milled differently around the world, and our metric chicken coop plans have flexibility built in so that builders can account for these differences easily. On this point, Andreas said he was thankful to be working from a plan. “It is well written and shows how to build the coop in a clear way.”
• Andreas made the ladder removable for those times he may want more elbow room to work at the cleanout door.
• I asked Andreas about they type of bedding material he used, since I wasn’t familiar with it. “These are straw pellets,” he wrote. “I clean the box every day just by picking up the dirt. I pick up some pellets too, but not so much, so I don’t have to replace them very often.”

You can read all about Andreas’s decision to keep backyard chickens, find out why he chose The Garden Coop chicken coop plans, and see how his project went at his website (in German). Vielen Dank zu Andreas for sharing his pictures and thoughts with us!

Now that we offer The Garden Coop and The Garden Ark chicken coop plans in metric, there’s no limit to where you might come across one of our designs. Customers have built our coops in Canada, Australia, Ireland, the UK — and now Germany and beyond. If you’ve built The Garden Coop or The Garden Ark outside of the U.S., let us know! Add a comment below, or send us a photo.

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