Rectangle Chicken Coop
Built with exterior grade plywood, galvanized hinges, latches, chicken wire, stainless steel screws, a recycled content polyethylene roof, and exterior grade house paint, this mod coop not only pleases the eye, but is easy to assemble and consists of durable, quality construction.
The coop contains a roost area and an egg door opening for maximum access. The shipping box comes packed with straw bedding material for sweet dreaming hens.
With only a Philips screwdriver in hand, you can watch their website video for easy assembly. Buy pre-painted and it should take about 30-minutes!
The ChickenCrib is also available for pickup at the workshop in San Francisco or at the office in Berkeley, California if you want to save on shipping costs and you live in the area.
Dimensions: 60″ long, 42″ wide and 36″ tall.
Cost: $559 unpainted and shipped; $649 painted and shipped.
For more info: www.chickencribs.com.
Chicken Stagecoach
When you think of a stagecoach, you envision something streamlined, efficient, and certainly mobile. And this coop by Chicken Mobile Stage Coach is all of that and then some. Made of pine and exterior plywood, and designed and custom built by a professional cabinet-maker, it withstands the elements and is easily moved around the backyard by one person to give the chickens access to fresh grass. Clean up is simple with the optional plastic lined roost floor and plastic nest liners. Even better: your chickens will think they’re on vacation with an upgrade that includes a misting system, solar vent, automatic door and heat.
Dimensions: 4′ by 8′
Cost: $695 for the basic 4X8 unpainted coop with exterior nest box. Extra features include stained wood; automatic feeder and waterer and white tarp cover at $970. Can be shipped to your home fully assembled. Or you can order the kit form. $30 buys you the plans to build this coop yourself.
For more info: www.chickenmobilestagecoach.com.
Deluxe Design Coop
Guest house or chicken coop? This coop’s disguise is part of its charm. The fox would never look for dinner here.
Designed and built by the homeowners and not available for purchase, this coop gives you an idea of how stylish your birds can board. The Chez Poulet by Heather Bullard was created to fit her half-acre urban setting. With raised flooring, high gloss paint and a convenient storage supply area, the coop offers high security, style and cleaning ease.
From start to finish, it took this couple approximately two months of working part-time on weekends to complete this design. Some of the stand-out features include a raised nesting house, double barn door entry, drop-down door for egg access, adjustable perches, removable ladder, built in concrete footings and used brick surround walkway. A copper plated cupola with bead board and molding crown this luxury home for chickens.
Dimensions: 11′ 3″ long, 7′ 2″ tall, and 4′ 3″ deep
Cost: $2,ooo for materials, not including labor.
For more info: www.heatherbullard.typepad.com.
Saltbox with Run
This economy starter model coop and run has everything you’ll need to begin backyard egg production. Of course, you’ll also need the chickens.
The Saltbox with Run by My Pet Chicken is built completely of fir wood with a roof constructed from asphalt sheeting. This coop design has been well researched and thought out to maintain a happy and healthy flock at a minimum investment.
A major perk? The ease of assembly. The coop arrives at your door in two boxes and takes about 45 minutes and a screwdriver to assemble. Included are two nesting boxes to encourage egg laying, a window for ventilation and light, a removable droppings tray for easy clean up and an attached covered run to allow the flock to roam at will.
Dimensions: exterior dimensions are 7’4″ wide, 31″ deep, and 3’11” tall at peak; interior dimensions are: 28″ wide, 23.5″ deep, and 30″ tall
Cost: $349 plus shipping. Coop comes in two boxes, the largest is 64″ x 30″ x 5″. No shipments made to Hawaii or Alaska.
For more info: www.MyPetChicken.com.
Chicken Coop on Stilts
This “Saltbox on Stilts” by Berg Danielson is versatile and fits well in small spaces. Holding three to five birds, it can be used as a tractor and moved around but most people prefer to leave it in place and build a chicken run off the coop.
Why the stilts? Having the coop 3′ off the ground makes daily egg collection much easier — no bending and stooping. A ladder provides entry for your birds, but swings up with the pull of a cord in order to keep the chickens safe from nighttime predators.
Built by a finish carpenter and inspired by the weathered saltbox board and batten barns along the Northern California coast, its weathered Western Red Cedar turns a silvery color over time. Only high-grade materials are used in the construction, eliminating any potentially toxic materials.
Dimensions: 5′ long, 3′ wide and 7′ tall
Cost: $695 and go up according to each added feature. Free delivery within the Seattle area, Portland delivery is $100. All other locations contact website. Shipped pre-assembled.
For more info: www.seattlechickencoops.com.
Large Living in a Smaller Coop
Due to its smaller size and protected chicken run, the Pull It coop is perfect for city chickens. Only 4’x6′ it easily offers room and board to six happy chickens, while the mobile design of this coop allows them easy access to new fresh grass. Suddenly, your chickens are free-range hens. Available in a duratemp exterior or pine board and batten siding, the coop comes with three nesting boxes and a 24″ x 32″ hinged door for easy access to the interior coop. Extra benefit here: the built-in chicken run is predator-proof and is surrounded by a 1″ x 2″ vinyl coated wire mesh.
Dimensions: 4′ by 6′
Cost: $1,595 delivered on the East coast, $2,195 on the West coast. Or opt for the $200 placement fee and Horizon Structures will set the whole chicken coop up in your backyard.
For more info: www.horizonstructures.com.
Cedar Coop
For wood lovers this is the ultimate coop, made entirely from reclaimed cedar wood. Cedar’s list of desirable qualities include anti-bacterial and fungal resistant, pleasant aroma, natural oils that help to preserve the wood against rot and decay. But that’s not all this coop offers, other features include a metal roof, brass hinges and latches as well as a food grade-plastic water supply.
Created by John Wright, an architectural designer, the coop has a unique shape with multiple purposes. Housing two to five hens, the small size helps contain “body” heat to keep the birds warm in colder climates. Plus, humans never have to enter the coop, as there are doors for cleaning, feeding and watering.
More features include: mobile chicken run with ladder to coop, pellet feeder in cedar or galvanized hanging type, and segmented mobile chicken run.
Dimensions: The run with the ladder is 24″ wide, 48″ long, and 42″ tall, while the straight run is 24″ wide, 48″ long, and 24″ tall.
Cost: $750 plus shipping costs. The coop can be shipped in two pieces but delivery is limited to a location near an Amtrak station. It can also be flat packed and shipped anywhere. Want to build your own Modern Coop? Plans are available for $48.00.
For more info: www.wrightdesignoffice.com.
Award Winning Coop
Designed and built by Harley Cowan in Portland, Oregon, The Chicken Sedan received the People’s Choice Award from the American Institute of Architects Portland Chapter.
With four doors allowing easy access (hence the name “sedan”) to eggs, canvas shades and flashing for weather protection, a lockable lid-door for extra ventilation, and mobility that allows owners to place the coop over any plot that needs “nourishment,” there isn’t much Cowan didn’t think of when creating his hen house.
Predator proof and weather-resistant, the coop is made with cedar lumber shingles (positive benefits include rot and bacteria resistance), plywood, and galvanized flashing, hinges, latches and cables. A spring-loaded drawbridge door between the coop and the run is operated by a steel cable on the outside, allowing for opening and closing the coop without physically getting inside the hen house, and preventing predators from getting in.
Dimensions:4′ by 8′
Cost: $900 for materials, labor extra.
For more info: www.chickensedan.com.
Recycled Coop
Although not available for sale, this coop shows off what can be done with cast off lumber, recycled panels and wooden pallets.
Built in a weekend by husband and wife team Shawn Connally and Bruce Stewart, this coop is constructed of found and reclaimed materials, discarded pallets, scrap wood, and some old fencing from a neighbor’s yard. In fact, the only items purchased to build the coop were the corrugated plastic roofing, chicken wire for the walls, and pier blocks used to lift the coop off the ground. Once the rainy season began corrugated plastic roofing was added to the roof to keep the chickens dry.
But don’t think this coop is without its bells and whistles. There’s an automatic door in the sleeping area that opens each morning and closes for bedtime. There are also three nesting boxes with doors accessible from the outside for easy egg collection.
Cost: $100 built by Shawn Connally and Bruce Stewart
For more info: www.flickr.com/photos/shawnconna.
Chicken Coop Fits 18
This coop, in the Cape Cod woods, designed and built by Tamar Haspel and her husband Kevin Flaherty, features accommodations for up to 18 hens. The coop was made with rough-sawn pine from a local sawmill, remnant-roofing tiles, and a door from a yard sale. The owners agree the best feature is its predator-proof construction meant to keep out coyotes, foxes, raccoons and opossums. Completed in three weeks, the owners say their 4’x8′ coop was built for a fraction of what a pre-fabricated chicken coop would have cost.
Although not available for purchase, this coop is a testament to what a couple from Manhattan, who moved to the semi-rural life in the wilds of Cape Cod, can do when they put their minds and determination together.
Dimensions:4′ by 8′
Cost: $875
For more info: www.starvingofftheland.com.
High Security Coop
Built with security akin to Fort Knox, Hope Clark holds the unofficial record of no chickens lost to a potential predator. As a retired federal agent, her husband is security conscious, a plus for these hens.
The floor of the run is four-inch concrete, cut into the side of a slope and fenced with hardware cloth that extends into the ground so that predators can’t dig under without hitting wire. Each seam is reinforced with lumber and a hotwire electronic zapper keeps out any overly aggressive predators.
Other fun chicken features include a flood light in the run, lighting inside the coop and nesting boxes that are painted dark inside so the chickens feel cozy. From the plywood on the roof and floors to the 2×4 studs in the wall, all lumber is treated.
The coop and the run are both painted to blend into the trees, leaves and brush to be as tasteful as possible to the neighbors. This well-thought out coop took this couple three months to design and build. Although not for purchase, this coop was designed for winter warmth and cool summers, making these chickens very happy occupants of their new home.
Dimensions: The coop is 4′ by 8′, but the chickens live in a section 4′ by 6′ at night. The other 4′ by 2′ space is taken up with storage for chicken feed and other supplies. The attached run is 8′ by 12′.
Cost: $1,500
