Build Your Own Chicken Coop & Aviary

I am blessed to have a husband who is quite handy and is willing to tackle projects indoors and out. When we moved to our new home we knew we wanted to build a chicken coop and found plans online to use as a template. This coop currently houses six chickens, two ducks with a small pond, one mini rex rabbit, and four parakeets (yes, they can live outside year round and they have a heat pad and nesting boxes that are enclosed).

Step One: Find a relatively level area to build your coop on and lay out the footprint of the coop.

Step Two: If you’d like a concrete foundation to keep out predators we suggest digging out the footprint of the coop to a depth of ~ 8-12″ inches. Fill with concrete and let set for the recommended time on the bag.

Step Three: Next, frame up all four inner walls for the main portion of the coop followed by framing the roof.

Step Four: If you choose to paint your coop (which we would recommend) paint the inner walls and roof joists – it’s easier to do this now instead of when the roof is on.

Step Five: Put on the main roof – we used metal for its durability. You can use shingles if you would like but you’ll need to put a plywood base on first. Putting the main roof on now is much easier than adding it after you have built the nest boxes.

Step Six: Build the main door going into the coop.

Step Seven: Build the two side nest boxes and put side sections of the roof on. This is when you add your siding to the nest boxes – you could buy pre-made siding but we made our own using plywood for a more custom look.

Step Eight: Paint the siding and the remaining framing of the coop before you add the metal wire.

Step Nine: We used a heavy duty 1/4″ hardware cloth throughout the coop because we live in a heavily wooded area with lots of predators. If you use regular chicken wire small rodents or weasels can still get through. Make sure you use stainless steel staples and make sure there are absolutely no gaps in between the wood framing and the metal wire and the framing and the roof – we did fill some gaps with expanding construction foam.

Step Ten: Decide how you’d like the interior of your coop finished for nest boxes, roosting areas, storage for supplies, etc. We decided to close in one quarter of the nest boxes with doors for enclosed egg laying – another quarter is open with a roost bar, another quarter has been modified into a rabbit coop, and the final quarter was enclosed for storage to house feed, shavings, oyster shells, and chicken care supplies.

Duck Expansion: In March 2020 my daughter and I could not resist the ducklings at the local feed store. My husband graciously agreed to expand the coop so we could add a small pond. In the photos you’ll see we followed a similar process of digging out the foundation, building the framing walls, painting the framing, adding the metal roof and then and adding the hardware cloth. We kept the chicken coop separate from the duck expansion until the ducks were old enough to fend for themselves.

For videos of the interior of the coop you can visit my Grateful Heart Home & Garden Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/gratefulhearthome While you’re there please consider liking my page.

To purchase the plans we used for this coop you can visit: howtoplans.org (When we last checked out this site it said under construction, fingers crossed it comes back online if you’re interested in building this coop).