Chicken coop plans

Project index:

• Before you start
• Materials
• First parts of the frame (page 2)
• Putting the house together (page 3)
• Building the attached run (page 4)
• The all important nest boxes (page 5)
• Lining the house (page 6)
• The roof, house door, and nest box lid (page 7)
• A door for the run (page 8)
• Finishing touches (page 9)

Before you start

This chicken coop can be moved around your lawn to give your hens fresh grass and stop them doing permanent damage by eating and scratching up one spot too much. This is a compact design, ideal for urban backyards. The way the enclosed house is elevated of the ground creates extra room in the cage and will help deter pests from entering the house.

This sort of design is sometimes called a chicken tractor, because of the way it can be moved around. Many people don't have the space for free-range hens. Keeping them in an enclosure like this means they are still able to eat grass, shoots, bugs and other "wild" foods. They will also be able to scratch around on fresh ground every time you move the cage.

Use our list of materials to get organised before you start, as this will help you avoid lots of trips to the hardware store.

Tip: When ordering timber, get the longest lengths possible. For example, getting two 5m lengths will result in less wastage (because of off cuts) than getting five 2m lengths. Of course it often depends on what you can fit on your car or trailer.

Tools

You can do most of the work for this coop with just a hand saw and a hammer, but to make things easier you should have these tools at hand:

• Hammer
• Skill saw that can be set for angled cuts
• Jigsaw
• Tape measure
• Pencil for marking cuts
• Large ruler

Materials

Note: The suggested quantities of timber and plywood allow 5% for wastage and off cuts.

• 29 meters of 50mm by 50mm dressed timber*
• 13.5 meters of 50mm by 25mm dressed timber*
• About 4.7m2 of 7mm plywood (depending on actual wastage from off cuts)
• Six medium-sized galvanized hinges
• One swing-down style latch (optional, for nest box lid)
• Two small gate latches
• One roll of 25mm wire mesh
• 75mm galvanized jolt head nails
• 40mm galvanized jolt head nails
• Galvanized or stainless steel staples
• Construction adhesive
• 30mm self-tapping screws

*Dressed timber will be about 5mm smaller than stated dimensions. For example, the 50mm by 25mm timber is actually 45mm by 20mm when dressed. If you use rough sawn timber, small adjustments to some measurements will be needed.