The chicken coop

A few years ago, I was walking in our neighborhood with my husband and daugther and came across a neighbor who had chicken.  After chatting for a while with her, I became more and more interested in that venture.  My daughter was certainly one of the best motivators.  She could not wait to see the neighbor's chicken every time we would pass by.  I thought to myself that this is something I could do...A few classes and books later, I decided it was time.  For my birthday last March, I asked for chicks and the supplies needed to start.  Here are the chicks: Gossie (black sexlink), Rosie (braham), Sweeney (speckled sussex) and Paulette (Partridge Plymouth Rock).

The next step was to build a coop!  I had about 6 weeks to get this accomplished and get the chicks out of the house.  I decided to go big!  I build a 4x8 coop with a 8x8 covered run.  Although I started with 4 chicks, my intent was to be able to accommodate more over time.  In my city, I can have as many chicks as my coop can accommodate! 

Here is the coop:

 I buried cinder block all throughout the perimeter of the coop and run with chicken wire under.

I used sticky vinyl tiles for the flooring for easy clean up. 

I put 3 windows total in the coop to give plenty of light for the girls but to also be able to see them.

 Here is the covered run.

Here is the finished coop. I reinforced the perimeter of the run with an additional 2 feet high hardware cloth (we have lots of raccoons in our area).

The goal of the coop was also to allow me to get in it.  I use a deep litter method which turns out to be really easy to maintain.