Our Chicken Coop

We have had our 4 chickens out in their coop for 2 weeks.   They love it.    Since I love the idea of urban farming for everyone, I wanted to share my chicken coop details.    I bought the chicken coop as a kit from the feed store where I purchased our chicks.   I purchased a coop for 4 chickens.

Here is the picture of the coop I bought from the feed store.    I would only recommend this kit if you can modify this coop.    I have a close family friend, Dennis, who came in from MO to help me with the coop design.

The kit says it "Safe and Secure".   I would disagree with this statement.    The basic design is great but it is not predator proof.   The latches worked well but a raccoon could easily open them.   There was no latch on the back lid to the nest.  This really surprised me! This is where the eggs will be and it would take nothing for a raccoon to open this lid.

The second picture is our coop modified!   Dennis did a wonderful job!    Here is the improvements made to this basic coop design.  Again, the basic kit worked great!    Dennis added a bar through the upper part of the housing area for two reasons: 1) It is part of the system to add the tractor attachment so we can move the coop.  2) This is where the heat lamp is attached.   We have the heat lamp on a timer so it comes on at night for the late spring and summer.

Dennis added a better latching system to the all the doors and a latching system to the lid that opens to the nest.   He made the coop predator proof by adding chicken wire to the base of the coop.   This was important for us.   We have foxes and coyotes that could dig under the coop and get the chickens.

That's it!