The Chicken House

Chicken Coop DIY

Is cutting back on the food bill one of your New Year resolutions? Keeping chickens is easy and they will provide you with an endless supply of free-range eggs. Apart from a warm place to lay eggs and sleep at night and a protected area to scratch all day, their needs are few. Visit your nearest Hardware Store for the materials you’ll need to make this simple, cost-effective chicken house or coop for your new feathered friends.

Materials

• 2 Brass butt hinges (75mm)
• 2 Cabin hooks (100mm)
• 18 Coach screws (10 x 125mm)
• 20 Full thread cut screws (4 x 125mm)
• 50 U nails
• 3 x 3m CCA treated poles (50 – 75mm)
• 9 x 980mm CCA treated poles
• (50 – 75mm)
• 6 x 600mm CCA treated poles
• (50 – 75mm)
• 10 x 750mm CCA treated poles
• (50 – 75mm)
• 1 Sheet green Onduline
• (2000mm x 980mm) cut in half
• 1 Green ridge (900mm)
• 1 Packet roofing nails
• Roll of chicken wire

Tools

• Carpenter’s handsaw
• Tape measure
• Spanner
• Hammer
• Cordless drill
• 10mm drill bit
• Wire cutters

Step 1: Construct three triangles with the nine 980mm poles using the coach screws.

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Step 2: Position the triangles upright and fix the 3m poles to the bottom of the triangles, leaving 140mm protruding at each end. The distance between the back triangle and middle triangle should be 650mm so that the nesting floor can be laid between the base poles of these two triangles.

Step 3: Fix the third 3m pole to the top of the three triangles.

Step 4:  Lay the ten 750mm poles on top of the two bottom poles between the middle and third triangle to form the floor. Secure using the 125mm cut screws.

Step 5: Cover the doors and the sides of the chicken coop (excluding the section with roof sheeting) with wire mesh making sure there are no gaps for your chickens to escape. Secure the wire using the U nails.

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Step 6: Lay the roof sheeting over the back section (between the middle and third triangle) and secure with the roofing nails before securing the ridge on top.

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Step 7: Make up the two triangular doors using the 600mm poles and secure them to the structure with a hinge screwed into the bottom poles on each end allowing the doors to flap down. Fit a cabin hook to each door to keep it closed.

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