My Homemade Canadian Coop

Let me preface this by saying I have zero construction experience. So please be gentle.

A bit of background on how I got into chickens to begin with. About a decade ago, a friend (who lives in the suburbs) started incubating eggs for her aunt (who lives on a farm). It was a neat experience to watch and the chickies sure were cute! Eventually she started a small backyard flock of her own and I got to observe how that went. Fast forward a bunch of years, and I moved out to a rural community with space for my own backyard flock. The timing wasn't quite right then, but this year the stars have aligned and I'm getting my first laying ladies this fall!
I have actually been perusing coop plans for quite few years off and on, and I finally found one that is pretty perfect for my needs. I'll post the link to it later for anyone interested. *here is the coop I am designing mine off of Pallet coop*

Because I'm on a tight budget, I knew pallets and other reclaimed materials would be the way to go. I've been fortunate to have sourced almost all of my material for free so far. The coop is still a work in progress and I'll continue to update as I go.

My yard is not fenced in, and I only have 1/4 total, so free ranging is out of the question. And since I can't be home during the day, having a predator proof coop and run is of utmost importance. The coop is situated beside a copse of trees that provides a wind break against the prevailing winds, and drainage is away from the coop and run on two sides.

I went back and forth on how big I should make the coop, since I am limited to 5 hens, but ultimately decided that more space is better (especially in the winter when we can get stupid ridiculous amounts of snow). So we started off with a base of 4 pallets, approximately 8x7 feet square.


My assistant securing the pallets together


For the benefit of my back, I wanted a walk in coop. But I also wanted it slightly off the ground to protect from rot, since we do have fairly damp soil. I scored some free bricks. Unfortunately this was *after* securing the base together, so we had to move the base, lay out the bricks, and then move the base back on top of the bricks. Pallets, by the way, can be heavy. 4 of them together are really, really heavy. 1 star, don't recommend.

Are you gonna cover the pallet with a solid board for the floor?

Hoop coop/run would have been easier to put together. Just saying.

Looks like a good start to me.

My wife had all these awesome ideas when she found out we get pallets at work alot. The first 3 are still leaning up against a tree. It got real once the amount of labor involved was noticed

One little thing that I didn't think about was leveling the ground. Because there is a slight downward slope to our yard, the base doesn't sit level. But um, level is for wussies! Carry on!

Next step was covering the pallets with plywood (got these beautiful new pieces from a lady who had just rebuilt her garage and these were extra) to create the floor.



Covered the front opening so the little dumdums won't try to go places I don't want them to go


And added some framing around the perimeter to provide a base to build the walls on. (This was the point I began to realize how not level everything was...oops!)


I wanted to do the least amount of cutting (aka extra work) possible, so I just chose the best fitting pallets for the space and started with the back and side walls which wouldn't have doors in them. At this point it looked kind of like a really amateur Lego build.


Putting my assistant to work pulling apart some of the pallets.


Framing the pop door. Believe it or not, that is now level! You can see by looking at the support just how wonky it was.




Building the support for the top nesting box and pop door exit. I'm probably doing a lot of this in the wrong order, but I'm just winging it mostly with a vision in my head of what I want. So far it's working.


Trying to fill in the gaps as much as possible. (There will be a more finished siding put on.)



The back wall is completely up! 6 feet tall at the back aka shortest point. No crouching makes for happy chicken mama!


A little craft cider bevvie to celebrate a good day's work.

Tonyroo said:

Hoop coop/run would have been easier to put together. Just saying.

Click to expand...

Possibly. But I have yet to see a hoop coop that is esthetically pleasing. And I do have neighbors on both sides, so esthetics has to come into the equation.

sdm111 said:

Looks like a good start to me.

Click to expand...

Thanks! It's been fun so far!

sdm111 said:

My wife had all these awesome ideas when she found out we get pallets at work alot. The first 3 are still leaning up against a tree. It got real once the amount of labor involved was noticed

Click to expand...

Hehe...yes I know what you mean! Taking pallets apart SUCKS. I've tried to do as little of that as possible.

Construction on the coop has been on hiatus this week due to supply chain issues.

Aka my dad got a flat last weekend so he couldn't bring the trailer with my 2x4s and more pallets up.

He'll be here on Sunday with the rest of the fam for Mother's Day so I can get back at it!

In the meantime here is what I ordered for my first flock.
2 of each
RIR
Barred Plymouth Rock
Azure Blue

They will be here September 12, which is so far away! (But really not when you are still building their house.) I ordered ready-to-lay, and being a newbie I didn't realize how far in advance you need to order. HPAI is also affecting order and delivery dates.

I'm going to tag a few people who might be interested in this, but of course the more the merrier so all are welcome!

We are back in business! Dad brought up the trailer with some more pallets, some purchased lumber and a hammer drill.

After Mother's Day lunch with the immediate fam, Dad and I framed out the door. We had to be a little creative, but we made it work.


Later my assistant and I finished building up the front wall.


I know that it's such an eye sore right now but I'm keeping the vision in mind. It will be great! It's been decided we will paint it red with white trim (since those are the colours that barn paint comes in).

Also discovered that at least one chipmunk and a bunny have taken up digs under the coop. That didn't take long! The plan always was to do a skirt around the 3 sides of the coop not attached to the run. Obviously needed!