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.