When I decided to get chickens, I knew I wanted the coop to be mobile. Having a farm full of beef cattle means you typically have a farm full of flies, so the idea of keeping the coop close to the cows to help defeat the fly population was definitely appealing.

Design Phase

I mentioned my plans to my dad and he said I could have his old hay wagon. The wagon made the ideal base for the coop since the hay wagon is fully mobile.

I drew the plans for the coop with the main focus of the design being around ventilation. Even though we live in a climate with horrendous winters, I wanted a coop that would be fully ventilated since birds throw off so much moisture with their breath and droppings. A high level of coop moisture, especially in the winter, can lead to a sick flock of birds quickly.

To combat the moisture, I decided to include two, 10″ x 10″ windows high in the coop directly across from each other. I also placed a large picture window in the front of the coop for lighting and additional ventilation.

My other coop “wants” were an automatic chicken door since I’m not an early riser, and nesting boxes that roll the eggs out the back to make egg collection easy.

After showing the design to Andy, we enlisted the help of his uncles B and Buck, along with my father-in-law, JD.

Building Process

Coop construction started in February so our heated shop came in real handy as temps were well below zero.

Uncle B’s been in construction his entire life, so he kept the job going and was able to guide us on the various construction decisions.

Initially, I hoped to go with a metal sheeting for the exterior, but the budget said otherwise, so we settled for a plywood paneling. The drawback with going the plywood route is the periodic staining that’s required to prevent rot and decay. However, in my opinion, aesthetically, I think the plywood looks better than the metal sheeting so we’ll just deal with the occasional maintenance needs of the product.

We decided to spend the extra money and go with metal sheeting for the roof so hopefully the roof will be maintenance-free. 

Interior Finishes

I found a local retired gentleman on Craigslist that builds nesting boxes. He sells the boxes cheaper than you could build, so I bought a two box high by four box wide nesting structure and the eggs roll out the back for easy collection.

To prevent rot, we sealed the flooring with a rubber roofing product called Blackjack #57.

Finishing Touches – the Chickens!

The coop was finished just in the nick of time since the chickens were rapidly outgrowing our stock tank brooder. We moved the pullets to the coop and they were happy to have so much space.

Note, nesting boxes are blocked with plywood to prevent roosting. Plywood was removed when chickens started laying eggs.

Making use of the automatic chicken door.