CHICKENS: Coop Carpentry Project… Upgrading our Front Yard Coop
Chicken Coop Rebuild & Covered Run Project
My carpentry skills keep getting better with each iteration of this chicken coop set-up. Learning by doing is definitely my deal! It helps that my dad was a carpenter and we built a lot of stuff together, but doing it on your own is different. He definitely would have done a better job, but this is pretty good considering what we started with.
For our little front yard farm, we’re all about function, though this is quite a facelift from the hot mess we started with. The main coop has been moved to four different houses. First, from the backyard of the friends who built it but were selling their house, then to two of my previous addresses, and now finally to the last place it will be.
The coop itself was very solidly built & insulated, or it wouldn’t have survived being moved this many times… but each time I moved it, I had to make it smaller. Now, we’d completely outgrown it and had a ramshackle lean-to arrangement adding sheltered space for our birds. This eyesore shamble shelter was definitely in need of an upgrade to fit the new flock. This worked, for two birds, but won’t cut it for the new flock. Plus, it’s too redneck even for us? We were long-overdue for an upgrade!
So, we kept the coop body, but elevated it on stilts to add sheltered space underneath, and built a large semi-enclosed covered run over it.
Get ‘er done… I had to work by headlamp to get the roof supports up before some forecasted gale force winds blew through. What, you don’t like working on a roof in the dark? In a windstorm? Where is your sense of adventure? It helps, if the roof is only a few feet from the ground, but still… wheeeeeeeee!
There are a lot more improvements coming, but this is a great start and will help keep our birds comfortable this winter. It’s definitely still a construction zone and a work in progress… but what around here isn’t?
But for now, the girls are enjoying their protected perches under the coop and larger sheltered area out of the wind, rain, and weather. Plus, there’s less mud, and our eggs are cleaner with less wasted bedding.
Most importantly, the new coop structure is solid and safe, even if it’s not perfect, which is what really matters. We passed the snow load test with flying colors… although we did shovel it off after taking this photo just to be safe.
*puts on my dad hat and slaps a corner post of the new coop* “That’s not goin’ anywhere!”
Speaking of safe, if you want to hear about a building project that definitely ISN’T… check out the soundtrack to most of this build, Parkdale Haunt.
This chicken coop brought to you by a bunch of salvaged deck screws, cold cans of Hamms, and spoopy Halloween podcasts… Not necessarily in that order. There are scarier things than ugly wood cuts, my friends.
No affiliation or anything, just an enjoyable spoopy spooky atmospheric horror podcast that starts out being about a remodeling project on an old house that turns into a very different kind of story very quickly. It was a great listen while I hammered away at this chicken coop rebuild, or at least the solo parts.
No matter how frustrating or sketchy things felt while I was figuring this chicken coop rebuild and remodel out, I can console myself that at least it’s probably not haunted? Well, actually, it’s been around a long time, so I guess there might be quite a few chicken ghosts in there… I’m glad I didn’t consider that until just now. Booooo-gawk!
