After having had chickens, then having to give them up, i have really been excited that we are finally in a place where we can keep them. We ordered our chickens from the great folks at Irish Trails who are also owners of some great St Croix Sheep. So last weekend I decided to tackle building a chicken coop that would accommodate the 12 or so leghorns we will be getting. A buddy of mine decided he was brave enough to assist, so he came over for a few hours on both Saturday & Sunday to help. He happens to be a business owner of a company the provides coupons for restaurants. The following is a material list i used for my chicken coop design and a few helpful hints. My coop is 8X10 ft and about 7 1/2ft high in the back and 6 1/2 ft in the front. A pretty good lean to angle that should ensure good rain run off.
Now some of the material used to complete your chicken coop design can come from material you have left over from other projects, which can help hold down the cost. I had 20 cinder blocks that i used to keep it off the ground & the 2″ x 6″ wood for the base.
20 cinder blocks
9 2x6x8
2 2x6x10
40 2x4x8
2 2x4x10
12 sheets of 4×8 1/2″ plywood
6 sheets red corrugated roof panels
In total for all material if you had to buy all of it would be about $575 & would give you a pretty sturdy structure.
I 1st decided i need four rows of five blocks up. Place a block at each corner, rows are about 2 1/2 feet apart. I built the base with 2×6’s the 10 foot on the longest sides with 8 foot along the other. It took 9 2x6x8’s to fill in the base with 16″ between the rows. I used 2 1/2 sheets of plywood for the floor, then built the walls using the 2×4’s again 16 inches on center. It takes 6 for each of the chicken coop sides, and 8 for the walls running along the front and back. Plus the ones that are used to anchor to the floor. I used one 2x4x8 and ran it at the angle from front to back this gave me the angle i wanted and it served as part of the roof structure. The 2x4x10’s fan along the front and back of the chicken coop to help support the roof, then we used 6 more 2x4x8’s to frame in the roof. These ran fron to back along the chicken coop and we used 4 more plywood pieces for the roof. We used the remainder of the plywood for the sides and a door which i made from the plywood & extra 2×6’s i had. The red corrugated roof panels went on very easy, although i will say they generally need longer screws than you might think, about 2-2 1/2″. Now when you are building a chicken coop design, remember it is for chickens. So you don’t need to worry as much about the little details but of course your hoping it will stand the test of time or weather. The rest is up to you, windows, perch, & hen boxes which can be put in just about any spot. What i chose suited best for my application.
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