Welcome to the Queen Bee Coop-on Tour. Every day for the next couple weeks or so I’ll be featuring a different chicken coop! These were all sent in by Queen Bee readers. Here’s our first featured coop! Sent in from Colleen in South King County!
Cost: The coop cost about $200 to build.
Who built: This coop was built by Colleen’s husband (way to go!)
Colleen’s Favorite Features – I love that our coop has full-sized doors on both sides, that are wide enough to get the wheel barrow in. We used dollar store picture frames for the windows, and put them on hinges so they can be opened during the summer. There is hardware cloth on the inside of the window to keep the raccoons out. We have also added an 8-foot tractor to the front of the coop that can be detached and moved around the yard.
How many chickens do you have? We have nine chickens – two (2) Dominiques, two (2) Australorps, one (1) Golden Laced Wyandotte, one (1) Easter Egger, two (2) Welsummers, and one (1) Buff Orpington.
Do you have recommendations for new chicken owners? A galvanized trash can makes a great, inexpensive food storage container. Rats will chew through anything plastic, no matter how thick it is. Put a weight on the top of the lid to keep the raccoons out. It is also a great idea to get chickens that lay different colored eggs. That way you can keep track of who is laying, and it makes it more fun to collect the eggs.
How many eggs do you get a day? – Our girls are senior citizens now (five years old), so we are getting about three eggs a day. Not too shabby for chickens that are in their golden years. At their peak production, we were getting nine eggs a day from nine chickens. It gave me enough to take to work and sell to pay for their feed.
Thank you for sending in your coop photos and your story! My favorite part is the little flower box on the front side and I love the color! Great idea to use Dollar Store frames for the windows!
Do you have chicken coop? I’d love to see photos and you can be featured here on Queen Bee! Email it to me at thehive@queenbeetoday.com with the subject line coop tour.
Chicken resources:
- Building Chicken Coops For Dummies
– $12.03 (reg. $19.99)
- Chicken Coops: 45 Building Ideas for Housing Your Flock
– $13.48 (reg. $19.95)
- The Joy of Keeping Chickens: The Ultimate Guide to Raising Poultry for Fun or Profit (The Joy of Series)
– $14.95
- Storey’s Guide to Raising Chickens, 3rd Edition
– $12.36
Feed and water:
- Hanging Poultry & Gamebird Feeder with Feed Pan, 30 Lb Galvanized Steel
– $23.97 (reg. $27.99)
- Little Giant 11 Lbs Plastic Hanging Poultry Feeder PHF11
– $19.99
- Little Giant 3 Gallon Plastic Poultry Fountain PPF3
– $33.50 (reg. $39.99)
Yay! I’m glad you featured our coop. My husband will be thrilled. 🙂 Another frugal tip I forgot to mention – watch the hardware store mis-mixed paint area. We were able to pick up the paint for our coop realy inexpensively because somebody else didn’t like the color.
Chickens are so awesome! Not only do they make delicious eggs, they eat all our table scraps/veggie peels (except citrus and potato) and all the weeds we pull in the yard. After we are done with our jack-o-lanterns at Halloween, we put them in the coop, and it is like a chicken mosh pit! LOL! My garden gets better every year with the lovely poop they make for us.
Are there plans for this? Its beautiful!
Did you buy plans or draw your own? I have questions.