It has been a busy two weeks since I returned home from my unexpected trip back home to Michigan for a funeral. I’ve finally gotten caught up on housework, homework, and yard work!

Although I had to travel home for a sad event, I was able to spend time with several family members and friends. I am grateful I was able to see several cousins, my great-aunt, and two of my best friends from elementary and middle school.

During the week I was away, my husband put the finishing touches on our “chicken condo” and I was able to have the ladies move in the weekend I returned. This new coop is a HUGE upgrade from the pre-fab one we had purchased from Pet Co.

One of the best things about this new coop is I can walk into it, which is key to having the option to get them inside the coop before dusk. It has been sooo nice not to wait for sunset before we could leave the house. Now I no longer have to make sure I’m home at dusk to put them in!

Another great thing is the bigger coop space means I only need to clean it once a week, the other coop required cleaning 2-3 times a week.  They now have ample roost space and the run is big enough leave them in all day. It’s rare that they don’t free range in the orchard but it’s nice they now have adequate space if we can’t let them roam.

My husband built the coop and run himself and it was the first structure he’s ever built. I personally think he did an amazing job! I think he was happy he got a new power tool to help complete this project 🙂 I did most of the painting. Our coop is three different colors and that’s fine with me! We used left over paint from our shed, house, and a cheap “mismatched” gray color from the paint store.

We loosely followed this design we found at Backyard Chickens (their’s is much bigger than what we built) and I used these coop dimensions and design criteria I found on Hen Cam. I really appreciate the detailed information Hen Cam provides!

My husband worked on it almost every weekend starting the weekend of August 7th and it was officially complete October 17th, so it took a little over two months to complete. He’s going to write a post with specific plans and share things he learned while building this coop. Take a look these photos documenting the process, start to finish! View the pictures →

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