The chickens were evicted from the brooder box. They stunk and were creating a huge amount of dust. The landlords were a bit nice and let them stay an extra week while their new home was being constructed.

We Joe has been working on the coop a lot trying to get it ready for the quickly growing chickens. Anytime we had any amount of free time, we would be out working on the coop. Because we were using reclaimed wood from the torn down shed, it took longer than it might have otherwise. Using reclaimed wood sounds great from an ecological and budget standpoint, but it also increases the time spent doing wonderful tasks like pulling out nails, discarding yet another board that split, and occasionally playing mini games of tetris to fill in a hole.

To make our coop we used plywood, a few two by fours, and side planking from the old shed. We also had an old door  two old cupboard doors, tar paper and a few other wood pieces lying around. We did buy all the hardware, extra two by fours, the run fencing, paint and shingles for a total coop price of $175. Not bad for a coop that is six feet by four feet.

Both Joe and I designed the coop, a lot of it just as we went. That did means at least one time of pulling off a whole side and re-doing it so it actually functioned. (You can notice the change in the door side in the pictures.) It also meant hastily installing a rain gutter before another rain storm after the freak snow storm revealed that the coop was far from water tight. Now we can collect rain water off of the roof, so the gutter was worth it.

The coop is very roomy for our small flock of four. (And we almost certainly have a rooster. Right now, he is the nicest chicken of the bunch and I wouldn’t mind if one of the hens went broody and I ended up with some free chicks.) We want to get more chickens in the future. I don’t want them so much for the eggs, but for their excellent soil preparation. I have a lot of weeds to get tilled up and I would rather the chickens did it than me.

We still aren’t quite done. We want to make the run more secure, and are almost done with a new feeder and chicken fountain. We also want to make the coop more mobile, which will require wheels. Here’s the chickens enjoying their new home.