Old Coop to New Coop...Well Maybe

We may be setting up a new coop for our 22 hens, it is still in the works but if all turns out well, we may be moving them from their 8x10 metal shed coop to a 10x12 wooden shed coop. It is all in the works right now, but hopefully it will actually happen.

Here is their old coop, this is a front view with the run.

Her is a back view of the coop. You can see the egg doors.

This is what we started with, an old metal shed. So I think we did a pretty good job with what we had to work with and the chickens are happy with it. We want to build up our yard down where the coop, run and garden are and they really could use a better coop.

Another problem with the old coop is I only added 4 nest boxes. I really need more since they are always fighting over them. Two more would be enough, but we'll probably just add 8 to 10 total boxes to be on the safe side.

Here is the shed that we plan to convert to a coop, it is much bigger and taller inside, so no more hitting my head when I enter the coop. We plan on keeping it the same on this side that you see and giving the chickens access to it from the back. This shed is also much closer to the house. You can see the distance difference in this picture. That is the run in the far back way down the hill.

The ceiling is 9 feet high in this shed.

The shed also is a blank slate. We will have to cut out some windows and doors in it for the chickens to have fresh air flow.

This is the side where I am going to put nest boxes and we're going to try and put 8 to 10 across the wall all at the same level, so hopefully no more fighting over them, well maybe just not as much fighting as before.

This is the other side of the coop where we plan to put the roosts, that way they'll have air flow during the summer and stay cool while they sleep. When winter comes back we'll be able to shut the windows but they'll still have light coming in.

I really hope this idea of ours works out. It is going to be a lot of work to do. A whole lot of work! We have to move the run to the new location too which is going to be really hard to take apart.

Fun! Fun!