Cold Weather Chicken Coop in the Suburbs

For my birthday this year I asked for chickens and a coop. Yep this girl doesn't ask for diamond or fancy things, just poultry. Ha! So I began drawing up coop plans and making sure I had everything in my coop and the run to makes sure that a chicken will be happy and healthy. Let me tell you I was planning and change my ideas for a few weeks. I think I rented every chicken book from the library to make sure I knew what I was getting into and what they all needed.

Then we made a material list and drove to Menards for our supplies. It was 11% days so we figured we better jump on that before it ended Saturday. Anyway to save money is a good thing. The kids were going to be spending the night with grandma and grandpa on Saturday, so we figured that was the best time to start building. Less kids means more focus on what we needed to get done.

Scott started building on Friday night when I was out with some friends and managed to get the floor and legs built.

Saturday after he got home from run club, we jumped full force on it. The kids would pop in and out to see what was happening and Henry thought he was helping but..... well we all know how preschoolers are!  

We moved what was built so far into the backyard where it was closer to it's final resting spot. We had only a few hours to work on this before we had to get cleaned up and drop the kids off up north. There was also a chance of a storm that evening so that gave us some motivation to get this secured and the roof shingled from the elements. Mind you the temp was 90 degrees and humid, we had sweat rolling off us like no mans business. It was fun seeing Scott refer back to hand drawn plans to make sure he had the boards going in all the right spots. It makes me feel like a professional!   Scott also was doing all his cuts by hand and didn't want to use a power tool. I think he only used a skill saw once and I used the electric drill because I had nothing to prove!

Plywood siding is going up

plywood on the roof, followed by tar paper and shingles

I wanted a big door that I could clean the coop out easily and I want the floor flush with the bottom of the door so I didn't have any lips to work around. I think we might add a removable board on the bottom half of the door so when we open it there is not a chance of a chicken falling out  and then I can remove the board when I need to clean the coop. I think there will always be changes along the way.

We did make one change from my original plans, and that was the windows. We got plexiglass for the windows that would slide open and closed but after we did one window I was like mmmm no thanks. So we used the wood that we cut out from the opening of the windows and put a hinge on it so it would open up and hang by a chain. We thought about doing it like a shutter window but I thought that was a bit much.  There is a nice breeze that can pass through the coop on hot days by having the windows like this. We added a nice primed trim boards around all the windows, door, and corners to make it a nice finished look.

This is the front of the coop the little square is a window that lifts up and to the left is the door

this is the right Side of the coop and the white square is a window that lifts up and the bottom box with shingles on it the nesting box. The roof lifts on that so we can collect eggs from the outside. We also added a vent to the top for make sure they are well ventilated this winter

this is the left side of the coop and the white box is the window and the bottom with the hinges is the run door that goes to the outdoor chicken run. we also added a vent on this side too.

We were able to start insulating on Sunday evening so this coop will be warm in our cold mn weather.  We covered the insulation part with plywood so they wouldn't peck at it. 

Also added 1/2 hardware cloth on the windows to make sure they stay in there home safely.

The neighbor stopped by to help us move this into it's finally spot. We placed some pavers under the coop on the corners to help keep it balanced and secure. Let me tell you this was a beast to move.

We got some small chains for the windows and run doors. And I started put the hardware cloth around the bottom of the raised coop. 3 out of the 4 sides will have it, and I buried the hardware cloth down about a foot and bent the wire like a L outwards to prevent predators from trying to dig down to get in. We still need to add the run off the coop still. We are still throwing ideas up in the area on how we want to do that. The run will start from the left side coop and go out straight and curl to the right to follow the back side of the garage.

Here is the nest boxes inside the coop.

and the outside part of the nest box

we will fill that with straw and nice bedding to make it cozy for laying our beautiful eggs

We added vinyl flooring to it because I figured it would make the floor not get gross and rot. We will be doing a straw on the floor so they can poop all over it. I want to use straw because then it will decompose faster then pine shavings in my compost. And I would imagine it will be warmer in there for winter with that material. I don't want to heat this coop in fear of a fire.

I still need to make a ramp to get into the run door,  a roosting bar along the back wall, and some kind of flashing around the edge of the roof so it don't ruin the plywood under the shingles. I also need to paint the white trim white with exterior paint to seal it up nice. We should have done that the first time but we all make mistakes. 

Kate thought we should name this coop of ours Chick-Fil-A we all laughed and agreed that would be super cute. I think I will make a fun sign with that name on it to put on the front of the door of this coop. 

I can't wait to meet our backyard chickens and I'm excited to share our journey of being bird owners with you. This is new for us and I'm sure I will make mistakes along the way but I think we are really going to enjoy this. I know the kids keep asking how much long it will be till they arrive, they can't hide there excitment . Be prepared for tons of cute photos.