Building a 4x6 chicken coop from scratch - General

So me and my Dad decided we wanted some chickens, and since I'm studying to become an architect I wanted to design it myself. I did some rough drawings but a lot of the design process was done while we were actually building it. [B]Day 1[/B] [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/Pa37C.jpg[/IMG] Starting the rough framing for the back wall [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/uiAvj.jpg[/IMG] Holding the back wall up in the holes we dug for the 4x4's [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/zKrFa.jpg[/IMG] Other wall was built and put into place [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/DdaGn.jpg[/IMG] We attached 2x6's to the front wall posts [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/HfqDs.jpg[/IMG] The one side is attached [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/HI3Kj.jpg[/IMG] Added 2x6's to the top of the structure [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/6EbAH.jpg[/IMG] Added sill plates for the wall studs [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/Glwfp.jpg[/IMG] Added top plates and trimmed the structure [B]Day 2[/B] [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/uBuW5.jpg[/IMG] Put the floor joists in, we used 2x4's [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/31nRu.jpg[/IMG] Adding studs for the back wall After we framed the back wall out, we went and bought some old windows for $10 a piece [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/GQ3qv.jpg[/IMG] Yeah, that's probably leaded paint and most definitely leaded glass. These things are awesome, and you can't beat $10 a piece [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/PcnQP.jpg[/IMG] Fitting the wndow [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/yJsHa.jpg[/IMG] Window's framed [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/A0KLL.jpg[/IMG] Framed the other walls out, added decking for the floor to allow some of the chicken poop to fall through and also allow air flow. [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/yULxa.jpg[/IMG] Walls completely framed out, put the window in to check the fit. Just need to put sheathing on, frame the roof and put a roof on. [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/uT36Y.jpg[/IMG] My dog decided to go in We will probably finish it up later in the week, will post photos and stuff as we go. [B]Update 05/07/2011[/B] Day 3 [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/rumhU.jpg[/IMG] Framing and finishing the bottom of the nesting boxes [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/ShhqM.jpg[/IMG] Finished framing the bottom of the nesting box, the walls have bracing to support the door that we will be putting behind the nesting boxes [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/cyhU9.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/bWgMB.jpg[/IMG] Detail of the studs we had to move in [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/Lcgy1.jpg[/IMG] Sizing the plywood and outlining the edges of the door [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/rzOJ2.jpg[/IMG] Trimmed up [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/eqin6.jpg[/IMG] Attached the sheathing to the coop [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/8J7zR.jpg[/IMG] Inside view [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/btM6Z.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/oyCfo.jpg[/IMG]

Looks good so far! Make sure you have a raised area inside for the Chickens to perch on and lay eggs

I'v wanted a Chicken farm, instead of a field of cows, it would be chickens running around.

Nice! You could probably sell chicken meat and eggs from backyard (at least before the FDA cracks down on you).

Nice work so far. My friend recently built a chicken coop and bought 6 chickens, yours looks a bit more substantial though. His chickens started laying really fast as well: the day after he bought them he had 3 eggs, and 4 the next two days. How many are you thinking of getting? That looks like you could house quite a lot

Looks very nice.

[QUOTE=st0rmforce;29572307]Nice work so far. My friend recently built a chicken coop and bought 6 chickens, yours looks a bit more substantial though. His chickens started laying really fast as well: the day after he bought them he had 3 eggs, and 4 the next two days. How many are you thinking of getting? That looks like you could house quite a lot[/QUOTE] Probably going to start with four, and maybe expand depending on the yield from those four. I've read that you need around 1 square foot per chicken so I have quite a bit of room to expand if I wanted.

Looks pretty chill. My grandpa used to have chicken... but he needed more space to build a garage, so they became a tasty dinner.

That's a very sexy looking chicken coop you've got there.

thats cool, hope to see more

You realize how over-engineered this is? We have one in our back garden, and it is just a big box frame with mesh on the outside, a big door, then a small nesting box and perch inside, no windows or this other pimp stuff haha.

My parents have many chickens, two of the chicks drowned yesterday in the water tub though.

Wow, I wish we could have chickens here in the suburbs... they're so cute D: Great work, though.

What's going on here: [img]http://i.imgur.com/9USa3.png[/img]

[QUOTE=AidanCKY;29573256]You realize how over-engineered this is? We have one in our back garden, and it is just a big box frame with mesh on the outside, a big door, then a small nesting box and perch inside, no windows or this other pimp stuff haha.[/QUOTE] Yeah I know it's really over-engineered, but it was something that I wanted to make really nice and sort of exercise some of the construction stuff I've learned. Overall it's just something that we are having fun with designing and we want to make it as nice as possible. [QUOTE=CarlBooth;29574453]What's going on here: [img_thumb]http://i.imgur.com/9USa3.png[/img_thumb][/QUOTE] The top plate is off because the two 2x6's are sloped for the roof. We may have been slightly off with where we positioned the 2x6 on the back but it doesn't really make a big difference since the roof rafters are going front to back and not side to side, and the front and back is even. The only thing that really needs to be square is the bottom plate, the 2x6's that go around the bottom and the front and back top plates.

Oh my god, FUCKING AWESOME!!!! I bought plans to build a chicken coop this summer as well. Can't wait to get started. I thought about just designing it myself, but I really like the style of this specific coop and decided that I should go ahead and pay them the $20 it cost for the plans instead of just ripping them off. [url]http://www.thegardencoop.com/[/url] I also picked up some pieces of cool old leaded glass to use in my coop that I pulled out of the front of an old door that someone was throwing away. [editline]2nd May 2011[/editline] What kind of chickens are you going to get? I'm thinking about Australorps. [url]http://www.mypetchicken.com/catalog/Day-Old-Baby-Chicks/Australorp-p234.aspx[/url] Some of my friends have Barred Plymouth Rock chickens and they're nice too. [url]http://www.mypetchicken.com/catalog/Day-Old-Baby-Chicks/Barred-Plymouth-Rock-p231.aspx[/url] If you go with the Rhode Island Red, be careful. I hear they can be mean. [url]http://www.mypetchicken.com/catalog/Day-Old-Baby-Chicks/Rhode-Island-Red-p228.aspx[/url]

[QUOTE=analrapist;29575135]Oh my god, FUCKING AWESOME!!!! I bought plans to build a chicken coop this summer as well. Can't wait to get started. I thought about just designing it myself, but I really like the style of this specific coop and decided that I should go ahead and pay them the $20 it cost for the plans instead of just ripping them off. [url]http://www.thegardencoop.com/[/url] I also picked up some pieces of cool old leaded glass to use in my coop that I pulled out of the front of an old door that someone was throwing away. [editline]2nd May 2011[/editline] What kind of chickens are you going to get? I'm thinking about Australorps. [url]http://www.mypetchicken.com/catalog/Day-Old-Baby-Chicks/Australorp-p234.aspx[/url] Some of my friends have Barred Plymouth Rock chickens and they're nice too. [url]http://www.mypetchicken.com/catalog/Day-Old-Baby-Chicks/Barred-Plymouth-Rock-p231.aspx[/url] If you go with the Rhode Island Red, be careful. I hear they can be mean. [url]http://www.mypetchicken.com/catalog/Day-Old-Baby-Chicks/Rhode-Island-Red-p228.aspx[/url][/QUOTE] I was thinking maybe two Cochins and two Silkie chickens, although I'm considering those Australorps and the Plymouth Rock chickens now that you mention them. I'm going to a place that sells a large variety of chickens some time during the week, so I'll see what they have available. At any rate, it is very important to me that I get chickens with very good temperament while being decent egg layers.

It's funny because I just got a new batch of chickens to go along with my reinforced coop.

[QUOTE=TRA;29574978]The top plate is off because the two 2x6's are sloped for the roof. We may have been slightly off with where we positioned the 2x6 on the back but it doesn't really make a big difference since the roof rafters are going front to back and not side to side, and the front and back is even. The only thing that really needs to be square is the bottom plate, the 2x6's that go around the bottom and the front and back top plates.[/QUOTE] I think its more related to the fact you don't appear to be measuring / cutting the wood before you screw it together [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/7XG8j.png[/IMG]

[QUOTE=CarlBooth;29578523]I think its more related to the fact you don't appear to be measuring / cutting the wood before you screw it together [img_thumb]http://i.imgur.com/7XG8j.png[/img_thumb][/QUOTE] It actually has nothing to do with that, but okay

[QUOTE=TRA;29577956]I was thinking maybe two Cochins and two Silkie chickens, although I'm considering those Australorps and the Plymouth Rock chickens now that you mention them. I'm going to a place that sells a large variety of chickens some time during the week, so I'll see what they have available. At any rate, it is very important to me that I get chickens with very good temperament while being decent egg layers.[/QUOTE] Australorps are mild-mannered and very good layers. But they don't have a lot of personality. They are all basically the same, and not as funny as some other kinds of chickens. Plymouth Rock chickens are also pretty good layers, and are easy to hand train. My friends can pick theirs up and carry them around like footballs. :)

[QUOTE=CarlBooth;29578523]I think its more related to the fact you don't appear to be measuring / cutting the wood before you screw it together [img_thumb]http://i.imgur.com/7XG8j.png[/img_thumb][/QUOTE] Did you never think that he could cut the wood [i]after[/i] he screwed it in?

Not to side with the assholes, but usually you are supposed to measure first, then cut and screw together. That way you can save the scraps for something else. But it seems like he lines up one end, screws it in, and then cuts off the excess which is basically the exact same thing just in a different order and saves just as much wood.

Looks like a pretty fancy chicken shed. Hotel Range Eggs

[QUOTE=analrapist;29579843]Australorps are mild-mannered and very good layers. But they don't have a lot of personality. They are all basically the same, and not as funny as some other kinds of chickens. Plymouth Rock chickens are also pretty good layers, and are easy to hand train. My friends can pick theirs up and carry them around like footballs. :)[/QUOTE] We have Australorps, they are huge and their chicks tend not to drown.

Let me explain the reasons why we decided to keep the excess wood and not cut it first: 1.When we assembled the sides on the ground, we lined the posts up with the holes so the centers were at 48 inches and lined up with the center of the hole. We then laid the 2x6 down across the two 4x4's, and squared the one end of the 2x6 with the 4x4. After we did that, we screwed that end in to the 4x4 to maintain the square. Since that is now square, we were able to square the still loose 4x4 to the now square 4x4 and 2x6 assembly. Since there's no benefit to actually detaching the already attached and squared other side, we just screwed in the other side. Now we have a perfectly square, even, and measured base that has some excess wood that we can trim off later with a Sawzall. 2. We assembled the two sides on the ground. Keeping the excess allowed us to work with the whole sides easier. As stated above, we of course measured everything before we assembled it, it was very much precision work. The way we decided to put it together allowed for a perfectly square base.

this might help once you get the bulk of it together. [url]http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/01/automatic-chicken-coop-door-opener.html[/url]

My dad built a chicken coop when I was younger, it was pretty awesome. It looks like yours is turning out pretty good too :buddy:

I approve of this thread.

Updated the OP with what we got done today. We finished the laying box up and we got sheathing on one wall. The majority of our time was debating how to fix and then fixing a miscalculation/redesign we made; we had to move the studs back so they were completely on the plates. We thought we were going to put the sheathing on a different way but decided it was going to be cheaper to set the plywood in between the top and bottom 2x6's. We had to unscrew all the studs from the top and bottom, and then move them back 1.5 inches. Overall we got quite a bit done today, we'll hopefully be done sometime tomorrow, otherwise it's going to drag on to another weekend.