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By Jerry Hanson, Pine Meadows Hobby Farm, Oregon When thinking of a chicken coop idea, I knew I wanted an easy-to-clean coop. I came up with this chicken coop idea after my wife andI found five acres to purchase fromour county’s surplus property auction.This farm is a distance of one miledown the road from the 84-acre ranchwe had been renting and living in forsome years. We closed the purchaseon our anniversary.
The farm had been abandoned forsome years. Some squatters occupiedthe property and stripped, wrecked,disassembled, and demolished thesite. After cleaning up the land andsalvaging as much material as I could,I accumulated a pile of usable buildingmaterial and started thinking up chicken coop ideas. In addition, I had collectedother free material and stockpiledit at the ranch nearby for use at a latertime. The result was enough materialto build a small chicken coop andbarn. The total cost of the coop wasapproximately $235.
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After measuring all of the material, I sat down at my desk and began drawing up some chicken coop ideas based on the available material. What I came up with was an enclosed chicken coop. The coop measures 6′ wide, 12′ long, and 9’ high. The house area measures 6′ x 6′ x 6′. I elevated this house two feet off the run. This frees up an enclosed run of 6′ x 12′.
I was able to salvage some tinsheeting from what was left of thedestroyed single-wide mobile homeon the property and fastened it to thebottom of the frame of the chickenrun. This way it prevents chicken predatorsfromdigging under the chicken yard andgetting to my hens. This also makes it easyto clean out once per year in the fallwhen I’m preparing the chicken house for winter.I simply spread pine shavings on thefloor and provide a recycled woodenbox for a dust bath for chickens.
My chicken coop idea iscoming to life!
The water container perches atop a cement block in which I place a 50-watt light bulb plugged into a “farmers outlet.” This outlet has a built-in thermostat, which turns on at 35 degrees F and off at 45 degrees F. This heated chicken waterer keeps the water from freezing in the winter months.
Inside the coop, I placed a removable roost made from a 2″ x 4″ with routed edges for the chickens to roost on. This roost perches atop a tray that is 16″ wide and long enough to reach from wall to wall of the coop with an inch to spare. This tray has a 2″ lip around it and within this, I place pine shavings. The floor of the coop is covered with pine shavings as well.
Cleanup requires simply removing the roost and setting it aside, then removing the tray and carrying it to the garden or compost bin. I also use this in a five-gallon bucket full of water with an aquarium air pump and air stone in the bottom of the bucket. Allowing the air to bubble for three days allows the proliferation of aerobic microbes to digest the goodies and create an excellent tea for the garden plants in approximately three days. This tray is the only thing you clean four times a year. I schedule my clean-out for the Summer Solstice, Fall Equinox, Winter Solstice, and Spring Equinox.(Ed. note: That would be roughly the21st of June, September, December, andMarch.)
The floor of the chicken coopand run are cleaned out in the fall once per year as most of the chicken waste is collected below the roost. This method prevents any odor build-up. I chose fall for the annual clean out because the garden would have been harvested and tilled making perfect sense to implement the spring growing season with the wood and chicken waste to amend the nutrients to the garden soil allowing it to cure through the winter before spring planting.
With this chicken coop design, there is no odorbuild-up within the coop. In addition, I placed two re-purposed windowson the east and west wallsto open and create a cross draft for ventilation. This works wonderfully.
The chicken nesting boxes were attachedto the outside of the coop to makeit easy for my wife to collect eggswithout having to enter the coop.
We allow our chickens to free-rangedaily by opening the chickenrun access door in the mornings andclosing it at dusk after they have allgone to roost.
This chicken coop idea accommodatesone rooster named Rodneyand 12 hens. To see a video presentationof the building of this coop and the annual clean out visit ourYouTube channel at Pine MeadowsHobby Farm “The Little Red ChickenCoop at Pine Meadows HobbyFarm” and “Farm Chores Cleaningthe Easy Clean Chicken Coop atPine Meadows Hobby Farm” on theweb.
Whatchicken coop ideas have you tried? We love to hear about them!
Originally published in Countryside March/April 2015 and regularly vetted for accuracy.
