Our Homestead Chicken Coop

We spent over four months building a chicken coop that is beautiful, functional, and will last for years so we can enjoy fresh eggs and have fun raising chickens.

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Ever since we moved to the homestead in pursuit of a simpler life we knew that chickens were something we wanted to raise. Fresh eggs, and the opportunity to learn, grow and have more cute animals roaming around the homestead. Yes, please!

While I was planning our perfect chicken coop, I knew I wanted a sturdy chicken coop that was functional, and beautiful. A coop that I could add some vintage details to, like the refinished vintage doors. We also knew that we wanted something that was off the ground to provide more space for the chickens and one that had a decent-sized run.

Although I would have loved to plan and build my own coop, my building skills are not quite there so we purchased some chicken coop plans. We purchased our chicken coop plans from Cottonwood Shanty. Alyssa has the most beautiful chicken coop and as soon as I saw it, I fell in love.

We had ordered the lumber, supplies and we were eager to get started. We enlisted my dad’s help since he has had plenty of experience building fun structures. When I was a kid, he built a two-story castle in our backyard, a sanctuary for us kids.

We had our dream team assembled and were started building right away. The first thing we had to do was create a level foundation. The area that I wanted it was on a hill and so we began adding dirt to level the ground out a bit and added cinderblock to prop the back of the coop frame up so it was level with the front.

Once we had a level foundation to work with, the frame and floor came together pretty quickly and the next thing we knew, we have the bones of our future coop.

Next came the harder parts of the chicken coop which came with long workdays and ended with a lot of nodding off on the couch right after dinner. We took it all in stride because we were learning so much and we could see the beginnings of our cute little chicken home.

We found a couple of vintage doors and refinished them for the coop and run doors. The dark wood against the white coop looks so beautiful. We found the doors from a building materials warehouse and one of my favorite ways to find vintage decor, OfferUp.

Refinishing vintage is one of my favorites things to do, its hard work but it’s so worth it. After you put in all the enblow grease, you are left with a unique and one-of-a-kind piece. It makes it so much more special when you can bring something vintage back to life.

We spent the next couple of months working around the clock to finish the chicken coop. Our chicks had already arrived at this point and we were under a time crunch to get the coop finished in time; I wasn’t about to have full-grown chickens running around my house!

The siding went up and we installed the nesting boxes on the side and the back. We grabbed our paintbrushes, turned on the tunes, and patined every inch. My arms have never been so tired, but it was worth it for the coop and all the memories made.

The run went up and after that, we installed hardware cloth on the run to keep predators out and added a couple of branches for the ladies to perch on.

We were finally to the best part of the project, the decorating part! To finish the front of the coop, we added solar wall sconces that give a beautiful glow at night and a glass doorknob for the front door. Two cypress trees sit on either side of the stairs and chicken-friendly potted herbs are scattered around the coop.

We absolutely love our chicken coop and so do the chickens. Our 18 chickens were moved in shortly after finishing the coop and so far, they are loving every inch of it (literally, I found one chicken sleeping in the corner between the nesting boxes). We often end our days sitting in the run with the ladies just watching them be chickens.

They are still too young to lay eggs so we are patiently waiting and starting to come up with names. Keep an eye out on my Instagram story, because I will need your help naming them!

THINKING ABOUT BUILDING A CHICKEN COOP?

Here is what I have learned from building our chicken coop

• Finish your coop before you get your chickens. Even though everything worked out for us, if I could do it again, I would finish the coop before getting out chicks. I would suggest having your coop at least 80% finished before getting your chicks. The added pressure can cause mistakes to be made and a rushed job.
• Make changes to the coop build based on your area. Most purchased coop plans will be basic plans. Plan out your extras and changes before your start. Since we are in a wet area we used pressure treated for almost everything. We also have a good amount of wind so we added extra reinforcements to create a really sturdy coop.
• Don’t underestimate predators. We have luckily not had any issues with predators yet, but we know it is coming. While installing the hardware cloth, don’t skimp. Overlap it, put in extra nails and staples, and if you are questioning whether or not to add more to a certain spot, just do it. Better to do it while building than have to add more later.
• Make a budget. Even if you go over the budget a bit, it’s nice to know how much you have spent and how much you will have leftover to spend on the fun decor stuff.
• Pick up your chickens. Okay, this one isn’t about the coop, but it is still very important. When you get your chicks, pick them up regularly. This gets them comfortable with you picking them up and it will be easier for you to handle them later, which you will have to. Once the chickens are in the coop, they sometimes need a little push to go in the coop at night until they get into their routine.

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