Build a Chicken Coop | Construction and DIY projects | Forums

Several years ago, we decided to add a flock of laying hens to our farm & homestead here in Downeast Maine. The chickens needed a home, so I designed the chicken coop you see here. It has a footprint of 4 feet by 8 feet, so a standard sized sheet of plywood makes up the main floor surface without any cutting. The slideshow video I made shows a few steps during the original construction of the coop, and I built it right from the plans I drew in CAD.

This chicken coop will house up to a dozen hens, and our chickens have survived many brutal Maine winters where temperatures plummeted well below zero. The coop is also very sturdy, and has worked out well in preventing predators from getting at our hens.

Over the years, I made a few changes. The picture of the purple coop is how it looks now. The same coop in yellow is how it was first built.

If you would like a set of drawings or plans to build a similar chicken coop, you can download them for free in pdf format from my web site:
http://www.downeastthunder.com where you will also find a number of other free, downloadable plans/drawings in pdf format for a variety of DIY projects.

This particular chicken coop design is a fairly easy DIY project for most folks familiar with basic carpentry skills and tools. If you are planning to begin raising a flock of hens, this is a good place to start! Check out the video.