The chicken coop project is finished! I like to think that we’ve built this like Fort Knox. We have plenty of predators that would love to make a meal of our hens: eagles, hawks, fox, bear, bobcat, weasels, coyotes, racoons, and more that I probably don’t want to know about (Like the rat I recently discovered! Eeeewwww.).
Here are some of the features of this little coop we built.
- 4′ x 8′ footprint – the size of a piece of plywood to make things easy
- the chicken yard is 8′ x 12′ with chicken wire buried 2′ deep to discourage predators from digging under
- deer netting over the top of the chicken run
- a locked outside door for egg collection (and peeking at the girls)
- clean out door
- north facing opening windows covered with chicken wire for added security
- south facing stationary windows to allow a little sun in the winter
- electricity at the coop for an outside motion sensor flood light
- electric receptacle inside for the winter water heating pad
- inside wiring is in steel conduit and steel electrical boxes so the birds cannot peck through the wire insulation
- switches and receptacles have water proof covers
- slanted steel roof to facilitate snow removal (it’s a Maine thing)
- a seasonal water hook-up near the coop (see more on this here).
Click here to download the free plans for this chicken coop, courtesy of Paul!
Click on the thumbnails below to view a slideshow of our project going together.