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. . . . (more…)
Posts tagged with ‘Materials’
Make It Your Own: Rob and Tansy’s Veggie Garden and Chicken Coop, Bendigo, Victoria (Australia)
Friday, August 29th, 20147 tips for building a garden-friendly chicken coop
Tuesday, July 15th, 2014In 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.
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Make It Your Own: The Swifts’ North Carolina Garden Coop
Thursday, June 13th, 2013
Caity and family used The Garden Coop walk-in chicken coop plans to build and customize the perfect coop for their North Carolina home. Take a look at the details they added, including the painted chicken art, and read on for her notes on all they did to make the coop their own. The rest of this post comes straight from her. . . . (more…)
How to build raised garden beds to fit The Garden Ark mobile chicken tractor
Tuesday, April 9th, 2013
One of the nice things about The Garden Ark mobile chicken coop is that you can move it around your yard or garden to focus your chickens’ grazing activity where you want it — just roll it across your lawn or place it atop your vegetable rows.
But what if you prefer to garden in raised beds? How can you incorporate The Garden Ark into your garden rotation so that your hens can graze, till, and help fertilize your garden before or after harvest?
In this tutorial, I show you how to build a raised vegetable bed that fits The Garden Ark design perfectly. (more…)
Make It Your Own: Marty’s Expanded Garden Coop, Texas
Friday, February 22nd, 2013
Marty and his son Corbin in Texas used The Garden Coop chicken coop plans as a starting point to build a beautiful backyard chicken coop — one that’s a good 60% larger than the original Garden Coop design. Marty was kind enough to share some photos and details, so if you’re looking to build a larger Garden Coop, here’s one way to go about it. (more…)
Make It Your Own: Deb and Donovan’s Flower Box Garden Coop, Kirkland, Washington
Saturday, January 12th, 2013
Deb and Donovan from near Seattle sent in several views of their backyard chicken coop build. Look at that flower box and window! They were kind enough to share some thoughts on their experience finding and building the right coop for their needs. The rest of this post comes from them. . . (more…)
NEW: Quick Kits for The Garden Coop and The Garden Ark chicken coops
Wednesday, November 14th, 2012
They’re here! Our new chicken coop hardware Quick Kits for The Garden Coop and The Garden Ark let you build your backyard chicken coop even easier and faster.
In one box you get all the screws, staples, nuts, bolts, washers, nails, roofing screws, latches, hinges, braces, and more that you need to build your coop. All that’s left for you to shop for are the bulky items: wood, roofing, hardware cloth, pier blocks (Garden Coop), and stain/paint. (more…)
Make It Your Own: Christine and Andrew’s Garden Coop, Nelson, New Zealand
Tuesday, August 21st, 2012Christine and Andrew used our metric chicken coop plans to build this stunning Garden Coop in New Zealand.
We used orange Perspex, mainly because it looks cool, but also to see if it will encourage the hens to lay throughout the winter because it bathes them in a warm orange light (or drives them nuts. . . time will tell!). We changed the roof to solid Colorsteel because the light here is pretty harsh, and it gets hot in summer.
We have 6 hens: 3 Chinese Silkies, 1 Rhode Island Red, 1 Silver Spangled Hamburg, and a Plymouth Rock. They have access to free range, but if we are away for the weekend they have plenty of space to stay secure. Next will be to attach a little water tank which will give them free water!
Like what Andrew and Christine have done? Leave a comment, and let us know where in the world you’re keeping backyard chickens.
Make It Your Own: Tom’s Garden Coop, Santa Cruz, California
Friday, August 3rd, 2012Tom in Santa Cruz sent in these photos and notes about his Garden Coop build. Enjoy!
We followed your plans pretty closely, yet made a few small changes: (more…)
NEW: Chicken coop hardware Quick Kit for The Garden Ark
Wednesday, May 30th, 2012
You can now build The Garden Ark mobile chicken coop easier and faster than ever, thanks to our new chicken coop hardware Quick Kit.
* UPDATE (11/14/12): We now also offer a Quick Kit for The Garden Coop.
In one box you get all the screws, staples, nuts, bolts, washers, nails, roofing screws, latches, hinges, braces, custom-cut tubing, and wheels you need to build this modern mobile tractor design.
All that’s left for you to shop for are the bulky items: wood, roofing, hardware cloth, and stain/paint.
The Quick Kit is the perfect companion to The Garden Ark plans for a number of reasons:
- It’s got just what you need — the right parts in the right amounts. So you can dive right into your project.
- It’s priced at what you’d expect to pay if you bought these items locally.
- It includes only high-quality parts, so you don’t have to settle for what your nearby hardware stores might carry.
I build a Garden Ark or two each year and began thinking of these kits as a way to streamline my own shopping. Now you can enjoy the same efficiencies — I’ll shop, you build!
Learn more and order your chicken coop Quick Kit here.
If you’ve already built The Garden Ark — or The Garden Coop, for that matter — please leave a comment and let me know if something like this would have come in handy for your coop build.
Make It Your Own: The Can Do Man’s Garden Coop, Raleigh, North Carolina
Wednesday, May 2nd, 2012Dan S. and family in Raleigh sent in this exciting example of a backyard coop built with The Garden Coop plans. The time and attention they put into it shows, and you can tell from the pictures that it was truly a family project. Dan was kind enough to share his thoughts on the plans and his notes on the customizations he made. The rest of the post comes from him. Enjoy!
Dan’s review of The Garden Coop plans
I did a lot of research before I built my chicken coop, and this is by far one of the best sets of coop plans out there. I went back and forth on trying to create my own plan until I found your site. The plans are worth every bit of the price (if not a lot more). (more…)
Make It Your Own: Colin and Faye’s Australian Garden Coop
Saturday, February 4th, 2012
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. (more…)
How to wrap your chicken coop for the winter
Friday, November 25th, 2011
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…)
Make It Your Own: Brad’s Garden Coop, Seattle, Washington
Monday, July 18th, 2011
Brad’s Garden Coop build shows off a real attention to detail, especially on the siding around the hen house. It’s got a great color scheme — the green tone contrasting nicely with the natural cedar. Most importantly, it looks like Brad and his family had a lot of fun with the project. The rest of this post and photos come from him. . . (more…)
How to build external nest boxes for your chicken coop
Thursday, March 10th, 2011
Whether you’re building The Garden Coop, The Garden Ark, The Basic Coop, 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, The Garden Ark, and The Basic Coop 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…)
