Our DIY A-frame Chicken Coop

I have six girls: Claudia, Heidi, Tyra, Marissa, Giselle, and Cindy.  They are teenagers at 14 weeks now, getting their big-girl voices and clucking and bocking here and there.  Sometimes they look skinny and scrawny and then next minute they seem big huge and giant breasted.  Yes, yes, I am talking about chickens-- not people.

My fiance and I have spent way too many hours building the girls a coop, and digging and driving around town looking for the best prices for organic chicken feed.  We bought both our chicks and feed from City Farmers Nursery in San Diego.  The feed is about 40 bucks for 50lbs.  For the cost of building the coop, and food so far, the first eggs are going to be like golden eggs.

The Coop before moving it down the hill and adding the "run" area.

The coop is constructed from fencing planks, 2 by 4s and plywood.  Hardware cloth is everywhere is is not cheap! The A-frame is about 30 square feet, and the total outside area is about 100 square feet.  The outdoor area has a bamboo roof (with a tarp for when it rains).  The whole coop is seated on a steepish hill, and is about 8 feet tall.  The floor of the hen house is covered in left over laminate flooring stickers (left over from our bathroom project but less than 5 bucks to buy) to better clean up in there.  The side of the A-frame is shingled with left over roofing shingles from our roofing projects (no good pictures of it shingled).  

Inside view with heater.

It probably cost around 250 dollars at the end of the day.  But the total hours of building and getting it situated on a hill was huge.  Easily 40 hours each.  Not to mention my mom and dad helped a lot too. Had we had level ground, and no predators about, it would have been a much faster and cheaper build.

The coop is not only on a hill, but right next to open spaces land in San Diego.  So there is no doubt, coyotes, raccoons, opposums, snakes, and most definately ferral cats (lots of pet cats too).  So, we had to build a sturdy coop and bury in the hardware cloth for any burrowing creatures.  The land is mostly clay, and full of giant stones too.  I burned some calories working on the girls house!

Almost a "tiny house." Mom helping out.
Notice the vinyl tile flooring.

We took the girls home when they were 3 weeks old.  Little cuties. Peeping and scurrying about. I didn't use a brooder, rather the A-frame coop house worked great for the little ones.  We just didn't lower the ramp, they were forced to stay in the house for the first four weeks.  A heat lamp kept them warm.  The fiance and I set up chairs next to the coop to sit and watch "chick TV."  We were instantly smitten and demanded that all of our friends come by and see our little bundles of joy.

Officially cat-proofed.

The Leghorns sleeping.

Did you figure out that they are named after supermodels?  It was only natural, seeing as they strut around all the time!