I shot this just after opening up The Garden Run to our chickens for the first time last spring, expanding their secure daytime space threefold.
We’ve since added perches, grazing frames, an herb/succulent garden (on top of the half-height module), a small roof, and vining jasmine to the run. Yet even without those features in place, you can see that the hens are very much engaged in the run right from the start, moving from one “room” to another to forage together or separately.
You can configure The Garden Run however you like, building one module or many. As you can see in the video, multiple modules work together to create a variety spaces for your chickens to explore.
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Or in these categories: Chicken Coop Plans, Coop Construction. Posted on January 6th, 2015 | 6 Comments »
Okay, this last-minute gift idea will only work with someone you truly love. Because while it’d be so easy to print out chicken coop plans, put a bow on them, and say “best of luck with that,” it would mean a whole lot more if the plans came with your promise to help in the project. So gift away, but be ready to roll up your sleeves!
Enter discount code ORPINGTON at checkout for $5 OFF plans for The Garden Run – Complete Series, good through December 31, 2014.
The Garden Run is our latest design series, a modular system that connects to any coop to expand your chickens’ yard securely and beautifully. The plans for the complete series of designs are quite beefy, full of illustrations, photos, and detailed instructions — 80 pages in all! And as with all our plans, you can download, print, and gift them right away.
Click here to browse all our chicken coop plans. We wish you happy holidays and a great start to the new year.
Photo courtesy of Karen and family in Maine. You can read about their chicken coop build here.
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Or in these categories: Chicken Coop Plans. Posted on December 20th, 2014 | 1 Comment »
The Garden Run is a series of modular enclosures that attach to your coop and to each other so you can extend or create a beautiful, secure habitat for your backyard chickens, rabbits, ducks, and more.
Take a closer look here. And please help spread the word!
The three core designs include a knee-high hinged-top module, a chest-high garden-top module, and a walk-in pergola. You can build one or link a few (or more) together. They connect neatly to all our chicken coop designs and to any other coop or hutch. And they can be mixed, repeated, stacked, inverted — whatever you want. I’m really excited to see the configurations people come up with.
A big thank you to all of you who’ve shared photos and ideas, read the blog, and generally stayed in touch over the years. It takes a lot to get from an idea to a finished design — and then even more to get to finished plans. It helps me to know that the work will be appreciated. So thank you! I hope you find that these chicken run designs make keeping backyard chickens even more fun.
Read other articles tagged with: Ducks, Green Roof, Herb Garden, Pergola, Rabbits, The Garden Run.
Or in these categories: Chicken Coop Plans, Coop Construction. Posted on November 24th, 2014 | No Comments »
Why did the chicken coop cross the road?
I’d love to hear your punchline in the comments, but first let’s address the fact that sometimes a chicken coop does indeed have to cross a road — sometimes even several roads.
Maybe you’re moving and you want to take it with you. Maybe you sold it to someone in town. Either way, it’s gotta roll. And while that’s easy with a smaller coop, if you built a walk-in coop like The Garden Coop, relocating it takes planning and effort.
In this post, I cover a few things that may help:
- Tips for building The Garden Coop so it’s easier to move later
- How to move The Garden Coop once it’s built and in place
- Alternatives to moving your chicken coop
Stay to the end for a special treat: Chevy’s Big Garden Coop Move — pictures and video of a real-life, cross-town chicken coop move. Portlandia’s got nothing on this action. Read more and discuss »
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Or in these categories: Coop Construction, Make It Your Own. Posted on November 6th, 2014 | 4 Comments »
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: Read more and discuss »
Read other articles tagged with: Chicken Run, Nest Boxes, The Basic Coop, Utah.
Or in these categories: Make It Your Own. Posted on October 25th, 2014 | No Comments »
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. . . Read more and discuss »
Read other articles tagged with: Chicken Run, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Predators, The Basic Coop.
Or in these categories: Make It Your Own. Posted on September 30th, 2014 | 3 Comments »
Spring is right around the corner. . . in Australia, anyway, where the season starts the first of September. In honor of that, I’m featuring the gorgeous garden and coop of Rob and Tansy K. of Bendigo, Victoria. They used the metric version of our plans to build The Garden Coop to house their chooks, modifying the size somewhat to fit atop an existing brick raised garden bed and to incorporate found and recycled materials. The result is not only a beautiful backyard chicken coop, but one with character and history right from the start. Read on for more, including a look at a regional magazine feature that showcased their creation. The rest of the post comes directly from Rob. . . . Read more and discuss »
Read other articles tagged with: Australia, Bendigo, Materials, Metric, Raised Beds, Recycled, Smaller, The Garden Coop, Vegetables.
Or in these categories: Coop Construction, Make It Your Own. Posted on August 29th, 2014 | No Comments »
Rob S. and his family in Davis, California, used The Garden Coop plans to build a more spacious coop for their flock of eight backyard chickens when they moved from the city to the outskirts. But chickens aren’t the only creatures in his family’s yard. “We have a mule, a donkey, and two sheep in the front pasture,” Rob says. And out back with the chickens. . . two Nigerian dwarf goats! Read on to see how they all get along. The rest of the story comes directly from Rob. . . . Read more and discuss »
Read other articles tagged with: California, External Nesting Boxes, Goats, Nest Boxes, The Garden Coop, Windows.
Or in these categories: Make It Your Own. Posted on August 26th, 2014 | No Comments »
I’ve been working for some time on a solution to predator-proof the open floor of The Garden Ark mobile chicken tractor. The challenge has been finding a way to secure the floor without closing it off completely or permanently. After all, you need the open floor for mobility, cleaning, and access to grazing. After much trial, I finally came up with an elegant solution (essentially a version of one of these turned upside down) then put it to the test. It works perfectly, and now I’m excited to share it. Read more and discuss »
Read other articles tagged with: Bottom Cap, Foxes, Hardware Cloth, Predators, Raised Beds, The Garden Ark.
Or in these categories: Chicken Coop Plans, Coop Construction, Health and Safety. Posted on August 4th, 2014 | 9 Comments »
Kristopher and his family in Spokane, Washington, built a beautiful chicken coop using our plans as a guide. I love the attention to detail, for instance, in their choice of hinges, ladder construction, dark blue trim, and neatly attached hardware cloth. They also added a nifty PVC feeder they can fill from outside the coop. Read more and discuss »
Read other articles tagged with: Feeder & Waterer, Flooring, Paint, Roost, Spokane, The Garden Coop, Washington.
Or in these categories: Make It Your Own. Posted on August 1st, 2014 | 7 Comments »
Heidi in Portland, Oregon, used our plans for The Garden Ark chicken coop to build a rabbit hutch for her two pet rabbits. While the ark works well for this in both size and functionality, there are some things you’d need to modify to make it work for bunnies. To get the discussion going, here are some tips Heidi sent in for others thinking of doing the same. Read more and discuss »
Read other articles tagged with: Garden Ark, Oregon, Portland, Rabbit Hutch, Rabbits.
Or in these categories: Make It Your Own. Posted on July 24th, 2014 | No Comments »
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. . . . Read more and discuss »
Read other articles tagged with: arbor, Chicken Run, External Nesting Boxes, Massachusetts, Paint, Seasons, Taller, The Garden Coop, Windows, Winter.
Or in these categories: Make It Your Own. Posted on July 16th, 2014 | 5 Comments »
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. . . .
1. Let it breathe.
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.
Read more and discuss »
Read other articles tagged with: Articles, Chicken Run, Hardware Cloth, Henhouse, Materials, Nest Boxes, Paint, Space, TimberPro UV, Ventilation.
Or in these categories: Coop Construction, Organic Gardening. Posted on July 15th, 2014 | No Comments »
Marc in Los Altos, California, built this great-looking chicken coop using The Garden Coop walk-in coop plans. He added some nice touches and sent a lot of pictures to illustrate what he’s built. The rest of the post comes from him. . . . Read more and discuss »
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Or in these categories: Make It Your Own. Posted on May 26th, 2014 | 9 Comments »
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. . . Read more and discuss »
Read other articles tagged with: Chicken Run, Feeder & Waterer, Heat, Henhouse, Light, Oregon, Siding, Windows.
Or in these categories: Feeding and Nutrition, Make It Your Own. Posted on May 20th, 2014 | 15 Comments »
