Coopin’ on Up
October 17, 2008|Comments (35)
With the addition of the chicks (remember them?), our chicken family needed more space. The rule is four birds per nesting box and we were fast approaching maxing out that standard. We decided to half that rule and have a nesting box per two birds. Keep in mind that our birds do not live out their days in those boxes. They lay their eggs in them beside wooden craft eggs from Hobby Lobby (which I wash regularly… I’m a wee mite OCD about that) and then skip off to chase bugs in the yard. The birds spend less than ten percent of their day in the nests. Lucky things.
Our friend (adopted mom), Connie, offered us a storage shed which was no longer useful thanks to rotted siding and bad roof. We were thrilled and Josh dismantled the thing like a pro. What would we do with our reclaimed shed skeleton? The answer was clear. Josh and I purchased decorative plywood siding (mock planking) and tin roofing material. The door was already fitted with white plastic siding which allowed filtered light to enter the coop.
Josh cut the chicken door (10″ wide by 13″ tall) and leaned a roost made from fallen branches against the side of the coop.
With the human door open, you can see the nesting boxes (twelve total; four measure 12″ wide by 14″ high by 12″ deep and eight measure 14″ wide by 14″ high by 12″ deep) and a few perches for the birds to roost on at night. The nesting boxes are about 20″ from the ground.
While this picture doesn’t really show it very well, there is a small perch in front of the boxes so that the birds have a landing zone. Also notice the walls. We insulated them with straw held up with chicken wire.
And the real test? Menina. Menina is our nest snob. She kept tabs on us throughout the entire process and fussed over the nesting boxes — trying out each one until she’d found the one with the million dollar view and contemporary feel.
What do you think? Reclaimed shed turned classic coop. What color do you think we should paint it?
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Happy homemaking gals!
Nice job. The girls will be so happy.
Wooden eggs. I never put anything in my nests. Do they lay better that way? We never had a problem but I’m always looking for tip & tricks.
Nice chicken house! I think you should paint it barn red!
Wow, I LOVE your insulation idea! I use golf balls instead of the wooden eggs, they can’t tell the difference. I think it should be barn red or maybe a dark green.
Using fake eggs in the nest encourages laying in that spot. We have had great results using the wooden eggs and the chickens always choose to lay their eggs next to the wooden eggs. Menina occasionally gets broody and tries to hatch one though! LOL! I love the idea of using golf balls! I suppose anything in that shape would work — plastic Easter eggs, ping pong balls, etc.
My husband was looking over my shoulder as I was reading this and was pretty impressed with your chicken coop! It does look good! I am partial to painting things bright pink, orange and red, but somehow my preference has not really been carried through with in any of our animals houses!
We’ve always gotten a good amount of eggs without putting wooden eggs in, but we have had the occasional problem of a chicken eating eggs. That’s very annoying when you can’t figure out who is doing it. Maybe wooden eggs would help out with that. The chicken would go to eat the wooden egg and then think, “Ow! That hurt! I’m not eating eggs anymore!”
Hi Lacy,
Cool coop. I think the same color as the last one. Welcome back.
I trust you are healthy and ready for some more exploring. Go girl go. lol Love Always
How about umbre? Love that color!!
Nice!
I’m thinkin’ you could paint it to match your house??!!
HIYA LACY!! *waves* (((((HUGS))))) Thanks for dropping by and checking out the vid; glad you liked it.
It’s shameful that my house is in such a bad state, but at the same time, it gives some kind of visible evidence that proves I’m not joking around when I say I have to renovate. LOLOL 
Have an awesome weekend, my friend. I hope to see you again soon. *hug*
Love the new house! Are they taking it to it well? Just needs a wreath.
Great job you guys. We have to put the top on the top roosting boxes yet as they are using the top partitions to roost on. They are 12x13x about 16 inches high. Our nesting boxes have a runway at the back and in front will eventually have doors so it is quite dark inside. Apparently chickens like the dark and are less likely to snack on the eggs if it is darker in the nesting boxes (perhaps they like to see their food), so you can pass that tidbit on to Lynnie.
Our little chicken doors are 10 x 13 inches also, but that is because I looked it up in one of those handy books written by great chicken sociologists who researched the ‘door size preferences of chickens’
.
I was surprised you insulated the coop (a great way too) as I thought it would be warm enough there you wouldn’t need to insulate.
I love it when I can get hand me downs in anything and use them for something.
Amazing project, I love the photos! Hope to have a hen house of our own soon…
Wow, what a great shed!
Cheers and have a nice weekend,
Rosa
Great Chicken Coop!!
I didn’t know that little tidbit about fake eggs! I think you should paint it Yellow.
I agree with commenter Laurie above -barn red would be my choice too!
This reminds me of my son-in-law and how he put together a garage up at my son’s house! He tore down an old house for a guy up on the hill here in town and anything he could possibly salvage out of the old house went into the construction of what is now a three-car garage at my son’s place. Nothing fancy -but it serves the purpose -even has electricity and heat in it too so he and my son can work on cars there even in the dead of winter!
I love that chicken coop and I’m so jealous, because I want chickens! Living in the burbs, I don’t think the HOA would let me though LOL I’d paint it to look like your house
rue
HIYA LACY!!
I got smart, my friend: I moved you to my bookmarks, so I don’t forget to come by and visit you. Aren’t you just so doggone proud of me that my brain had a fart-free moment and actually worked for a change? 
I hope you’ve been having a good weekend, my friend. It must be getting pretty crazy around your house, now, what with Halloween rapidly approaching and garden harvesting needing to be done? I sure hope you’re not running yourself ragged…
Well, have a great Sunday, my friend. And thanks so much for dropping by to visit me! It made my day when I saw you’d been by!
*hug*
Looks like they have a wonderful new home! How cozy! I’m not sure on what color to paint it though… part of me wants to go with the majority here and say red (always the first color that pops into my head when I think of anything farm related) yet that somehow does not seem right for your chickens. I will have to think about it and get back to you cause nothing is coming to me right now.
I’ve had an incredibly interesting weekend. Small towns seem to do that once in a while… there’s not much going on, ever, then one day WHAM! It’s enough to exhaust a person, even if they are not directly involved! Come read about it! lol And I made a decision about my youtube… ya might want to read about that as well.
Hope you’ve had a wonderful weekend my friend!
xoxo
Hi Lacy,
I’ve missed you. I haven’t been surfing much lately. I love how creative you two are when you put your heads together.
Now you have a chicken mansion!! I’m not sure what a happy color is to chickens!!! Cute.
Now that’s nesting in style!
I would go with barn red. Or maybe red and brown.
That’s awesome! Your hubby (and you too) are so good at stuff like this! I’d hate to see what would come out if my husband and I did something like this!
Love the reclaimed coop! You need to send me your address so I can send you your prize!
Have I mentioned I want chickens??!!
Well at least I can share yours for now.
Clever you! Almost a Condo-Coop! Do you have the same problem we did where one hen thinks she should have ALL the eggs in one nest…just for her??
Have a great week Lacy.
~Hugs for you~
Momma Barb
Menina. Menina is our nest snob. Now that is hysterical!!!
Nice to meet you! Found you on Angela’s Blog (dogumentary)
We use to raise ducks when I grew up. Then the Canadian Geese found their corn feed. Boy, the neighbors LOVED us at the end of each season with 100′s of birds out on our lake.
*snicker*
Happy Tuesday!
Jennifer
Love it. Makes me seriously homesick for chickens.
I can’t tell from the second picture how close the roost ladder is to the fence, but I know from experience that my flock would have used that as a golden opportunity to just fly on over.
We always kept their wings clipped, but a few would always manage to take even the smallest opportunity to escape.
Great coop! I think green would be a good color.
Cool coop!! Your husband is so handy.
I hope you are doing well! Have a wonderful Wedensday, Robin
HIYA LACY!! Thanks for dropping by! *hug* I’m glad you enjoyed the video; it took me quite awhile to make it, but I do have to confess that it’s probably my best work, so far.
I sure hope you’re going to decorate your place for the Big Night; I mean, it’s Halloween… *big grin*
Have an awesome day, my friend, and try not to work too hard!
*hug*
Great job! I love how it turned out. I bet your chickens are very happy.
Ooooooooo – a party? *jumps up and down* KEWL! And I’ll bet it’ll be an awesome party, too, Lacy. I just can’t imagine you throwing a bad party.
Thanks for dropping by to visit me, sweetness – it’s always so great to see you!!!
LOL Lacy
Yeah, I thought that “fart football” one was pretty funny – but then, I have a very strange sense of humor. LOLOL 
Have a great day, my friend, and thanks so much for dropping by to visit me.
Oh! Did you like the new Tree clothes?
I’ve always wanted to have a small family farm… to be self-sustainable!!! SO COOL!!!
Just found your blog on LWG blogroll and thought I’d say hi… off to read more…