Chicken Coop for the Soul

It started with a dog house and a wooden crate.  I was determined to turn them into a chicken coop and in 4 hours, I did just that.

And it cost me nothing.  I used materials we already had on hand.

My oldest was my right hand man on the job.  Here we are at the beginning of the project.

Here's the finished product!  (I may paint it since we don't have the chickens, yet.)  The kiddos were inside the pen pretending to be chickens.  The coop is just large enough to accommodate 4 hens.

The project started off well.  I was surprised at how well it was coming together.  Mounting the crate to the side of the dog house properly really intimidated me.  I hit a major snag when the one side of the crate proved too rotten to hold screws.  As I tried to shore it up, the whole back, top and side fell to pieces.  It turned into a blessing in disguise because after rebuilding the rotted out pieces, I was able to make the top of the box removable for easy egg collecting.  The crate made two perfectly sized nesting boxes.  The next intimidating thing was making the door.  Thankfully, it came together so well, so quickly, I was surprised.  

This is likely going to be a temporary coop.  We're still hoping for a barn down back which will house the rabbits, chickens, pig and feed (and two goats we may have on loan until breeding time).  I still hope for a goat barn and dairy at the top of our property near where we have electricity.  That way I can have lights for milking and a have a fridge and/or freezer in the dairy.  

Step by step we are getting there.  Building this coop all by myself (hubby was working) really helps me feel better about my own abilities to work hard and get things done agriculturally.  It's so nice to look out the window and be able to say, "I did that!"  

Now, to just get 4 happy, laying hens in there!