Deluxe Backyard Chicken Coop

Just a few weeks ago I had ZERO chickens and had never raised a farm animal in my life. Now I have a crazy band of six hens and this AWESOME deluxe backyard chicken coop! In this Instructable I'll walk you through all the materials I used and the step by step construction of this coop that comfortably accommodates 6-8 chickens. It features a 4'x6' coop and a 6'x10' run off the back. It has a dual pitched metal roof for excellent protection and a unique angled roost and droppings board which makes cleaning and maintaining the coop much easier from the large access door on the side. I gave my coop a set of playhouse/shed windows for plenty of light and ventilation when needed and there is plenty of space under the coop for the birds to hang out and for a person to retrieve them if needed.

►Automatic Chicken Door - https://amzn.to/3MxGbgp

►Chicken Feeder - https://amzn.to/3yLgaEy

►Chicken Waterer - https://amzn.to/3D3fqgU

►Level - https://amzn.to/3evXjGX

►Speed Square - https://amzn.to/3TsseTl

►Framing Nailer - https://amzn.to/3D10H61

►Impact Driver - https://amzn.to/3CEBexG

►18 Gauge Brad Nailer - https://amzn.to/3T64p3Q

►Multi Tool - https://amzn.to/3T3VL60

Building Materials

(48) 12 ft 2x4s - Three of these should be pressure treated

(2) 12 Ft 4x4s - Pressure Treated

(5) Sheets of T1-11

(1) Sheet OSB

(1) Sheet 1/2" Ply

(5) 16' 1x4 Pine (for trim)

(3) Rolls 4'x25' Hardware Cloth

(1) Roll 3'x25' Hardware Cloth

(5) Sheets Corrugated Metal Roofing

Screws/Nails

Fender Washers (for attaching hardware cloth)

(2) 18x23 Shed/Playhouse Windows

(1) 12x18 Shed/Playhouse Window (for the back of the coop to provide cross breeze)

So, to get started on this coop I pretty much have one job and that’s to cut a pile of big 2x4s into a pile of smaller 2x4s. It’s a lot of cuts to make but my miter saw station makes easy work of these 12 footers. Most everything in this build uses standard 2x4s but there’s a few pressure-treated ones thrown in the mix wherever the coop will come in contact with the ground. The next thing I’m going to focus on is framing out the walls and roof of the coop. The roof is pretty straightforward, all 90 degree cuts that just need to be assembled. I decided to join all these with a framing nailer because its quicker and cheaper than using screws but later in the build you’ll see I switched over to using screws. My reasoning for doing it that way is that if I ever want to get rid of the coop I want to be able to easily disassemble it into its component parts like walls, roof, etc but those component parts wont need to be taken apart because they’re all fairly small so I could use nails on those. The walls of the coop were easy too but the design has a slanted roof and so I need to cut that angle into the top of all the studs. I asked the internet what’s a good angle for a chicken coop roof and I got everything from about 5 degrees to 18 ½ degrees. After designing it out I went with 15 because it looked pretty good and is easy angle to remember. I think if you made a bigger coop than this one, 10 degrees might be better but for my little coop I think It looks nice. I’m putting a big access door on one side of the coop for cleaning and maintenance and so the studs don’t go all the way down except for the one at the front which I doubled up for added strength. But the angled cuts at the top and the stud spacing are all the same as the other side. The front wall continues the angles across the top and I also want to add a couple small shed windows so I framed those in too. The header board does have a 15 degree cut on one edge so it lines up flush with the angled studs. And the bottom is pretty open because that’s where the chickens will access the nesting boxes. Compared to all the cutting I did, assembling these walls went pretty quick and pre assembling these on the bench made it easy to keep everything square. For the next part of the build I shifted over to my garage because the walls of the run are 10 ft long and I just don’t have that much open floor space in the shop. The bottom plate of these walls are pressure treated since they will be in contact with the ground. The run will have a slanted roof also but only half the angle of the coop because it’s much longer. It’s about 8 feet tall at the front of the run and slopes down toward the back. I’m 6ft 2 and I will be able to comfortable stand at the back of the run without bumping my head which is really all I ask for in life LOL

For the door to the run I wanted to add some fancy criss cross bracing with a half lap joint. Sounds like something you wouldn’t bother with because , well, geometry. But its actually easy and you don’t need any math. Just lay the boards inside the door frame and mark where they intersect. I then just line up my miter saw exactly to that line and set my depth of cut to be exactly halfway through the board and begin feeding it through the blade like I was back working in the deli department. I sneak up on the final fit and bam, I have an X with no math needed. And it drops right back into the door because that’s where I took the original measurements from!

Moving on, to the base of the coop I’m going to use 4x4 posts as the main supports and those get the same 15 degree angle on top. Each 12 ft 4x4 will give me a tall post and a short post. Each front and back post will be connected by two main horizontal supports. To make those I’m, going to gang a couple 2x4s together. I plan on putting sand in the bottom of the coop a couple inches deep which will be fairly heavy and I don’t want the floor to sag over time. To attach these to the posts I opted for pocket screws because it felt like the easiest way to get a solid connection to the posts. I put pockets on both the inside and outside for added strength. Now to join the two sides together it was back to the garage. I added a couple temporary feet just as a helping hand while I attached the other side of the base. This made the process so easy. You can see my reference line on the post. The height was just right to drive my screws and then remove the temporary support. Then I got a surprise visit from one of the future occupants. Just making sure project is still on schedule. I added two more supports in the middle and held those in place with little scraps of wood. All I need now is a floor. I made the base of the coop exactly 4 ft wide by 6 ft long. That way I can use a single sheet of OSB with only a couple feet cut off one end. The other reason I went with this size is that it’s recommended to give each chicken 3-5 square feet of coop space and since I have six chickens, this will give them 4 sqft each. I marked out notches on all four corners and then cut those out just using a jig saw with a speed square as my guide for a straight cut. I use the same method to cut out toe kicks on cabinets it’s so quick and easy. That just drops right into place without too much persuasion and gets screwed down to the frame with inch and a half screws and that’s it for the base.

The next day I got a few helping hands to carry the base of the coop to the least slopey part of my yard. This was a real challenge because I live on the side of a hill but in this spot we were able to get it really close by temporarily propping it up with a couple 2x4s. Then we could begin adding the walls of the coop. This is where prefabbing them in the shop was clutch because now I just have to drop them in and screw them into place. On this side I just toenailed the front to the floor.

For the walls of the run we referenced off of the 2x4 at the bottom so the bottom of the run was flush with the bottom of the coop. This will keep the run and the coop in the same plane so when we do final levelling we can get the whole thing at one time. We did the same thing for the back of the run as well. Before adding any more walls we decided to swap out our 2x4s for some more permanent support in the form of concrete pavers which you can kind of see in this super out of focus shot! BTW the long board attached to the bottom was used to level the entire structure and was removed later.

Then we could add the final two walls to tie everything together making the structure nice and rigid. The last bit of framing left was adding the nesting box. I reserved the last 12 inches of the coop for this. The idea size of each nesting space is 12-14 inches wide which gives me room for four good sized spaces in here which should be plenty for six birds because I’m told the birds will end up picking just a couple spaces as their favorite and always use those. Hey, this thing is starting to look like a coop!

For the outside of the coop I’m using T1-11 siding panels. T1-11 is a kind of pine plywood with a shiplap look on one side of it. It come’s in standard 4x8 sheets and is a half inch thick. I can just cut all my panels to size using my track saw in the shop which is super handy. Then screw them right to the framework of the coop. The panels aren’t very big but to help out I screwed a scrap of 2x4 to the base of the coop to act as a ledge to hold the panels in place while I attach them. The coop was already pretty sturdy before but now with all these panels screwed onto it, it’s rock solid. The panels went on easy enough and yes, I covered over my window frames which will be easier to cut out later than to cut around now. This T1-11 is going to give the coop a real rustic feel and look great when it’s painted (that’s foreshadowing). Oh and randomly I noticed I hadn’t added sides to the nesting box so I screwed some of the OSB to the vertical supports to wall each space off. To make the siding match the angle of the walls I opted to cut them with a flush trim bit on my router. This was so quick and easy but man was it messy. I felt like I was in a blizzard of sawdust

Then I painted the coop which I decided not to bore you with. If anyone is curious I used Emerald Exterior house paint from Sherwin Williams. Not a sponsor, I just like their products. Then it was time to knock out those windows. This is super easy to do. From the inside of the coop I drilled four pilot holes at each corner of the window framing. This gives me entry and exit points and I can connect the dots with a straight edge. Then I just drop in my jig saw and cut to the lines. Easy peasy. Note to self though, staring this close at a fresh white surface in direct sunlight is killer on the eyes, like snow blindness so maybe cut the windows out BEFORE painting next time. The windows fit in nicely and screw right to the framing. You know, they say the eyes are the windows of the soul. But I also think the windows are the eyes of the chicken coop.

OK, I need to make another hole in the back for the chicken’s door. I’m using an automagic door that opens and closes based on light levels or whatever schedule I set because you know everything these days needs a smartphone app. This one is made by Run Chicken and I chose it because it looked simple to install and operate. To cut the hole I used the same technique as the windows but because I did it from the outside I screwed up the hole locations and hit the 2x4 at the bottom. Oops. Easy enough to fix and the door screws to the wall like this. And I can test it out. . The app allows you to set the door to open and close based on set hours, sunrise and sunset based on your location or based on the light sensors on the door which will open 20 minutes after sunrise is detected and close 20 minutes after dusk. I love technology!

Next, I can add some trim to tidy everything up. I’m just using 1x4 and 1x3 pine boards here and these are tacked on with a trim nailer. This was all primed and painted with the same exterior house paint ahead of the installation but I did go back and touch up any bare spots on the exposed ends or caused by the nail holes. I also added the door to the nesting box which is just made out of T1-11 frames with 1x3 pine boards. It swings down for easy access and easy cleanup and stays closed using eye hooks on each side. The side access door was made the same way but I’ll add barrel locks later to the top and bottom to it to keep it secure. I added the final bits of trim around the windows to finish off the look.

I built an angled roost in his coop and a droppings board to go underneath the roosts. This makes it super easy to clean the coop because it opens up the area right by the access door. And I can scrape any droppings of the droppings board right into a 5 gallon bucket for use later as fertilizer. And as you can see a person can still fit inside the coop if need be for deeper cleaning or repairs. I’m also making a two level roost over the droppings board which will give my birds plenty of space and get plenty of air circulation from the windows.

For the roof of the coop I decided to go with metal over shingles. Compared to shingles Its much lighter and stronger and also quicker to install because you don’t need plywood underlayment you can just screw it straight to the frame. And because its so light it’s easy for two people to lift into place. Before I installed the roof over the run I went ahead and covered everything in hardware cloth which is much easier to deal with now. Actually, If I built another coop I would install the hardware cloth as I assemble the walls while everything is flat on the ground. If you’ve never used hardware cloth its like a stronger version of chicken wire. It comes in big rolls and is a bear to deal with by yourself but it’d more secure than chicken wire which is the most important reason to use it. I started out snipping this stuff by hand which got old real fast. Then I got smart and switched over to a rotary tool with a metal cutting wheel.

Much better.

Then I installed the door to the run which I attached with gate hinge hardware and a spring loaded latch to make sure the gate remains securely closed. Then we can slide the roof onto the run which again is so much easier to do with metal roofing. And that’s it! The coop is complete! All it needs now is some new occupants.

Thank you so much for taking an interest in my projects here on Instructables!

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