Last summer we needed two things in the yard, a Shed to store some yard items and a place for our new little chicks that were fast growing into Chickens. So we decided to build a Shed/Coop combination. The Chicken Coop/Shed was such an adventure. We started out with just ideas that we sketched out on paper and ended up with a fun habitat for the "ladies" and a shed for more storage! The back half of it is the coop (the right part of the shed) and the rest is the our shed space. Here are some shots of our journey...
We started with a spot in the yard that our boys tilled up...
Our yard is on a slope, so we had to build into the hillside. To keep the shed level Ryan had to put in some footings, which are swamped at this point from sprinkler water... ewwww....
Ryan and the boys next put a floor on and some walls...
and some more walls & trusses...
When cutting out the window, nesting boxes and lower doors, the Saws All saved my life! I just couldn't of done without it.
Next was...
Once it was at this point, my Husband said, we've gotten it to this stage, now it's your turn to make it look good! So I began putting on the trim... a lot of trim! We bought large sheets of the trim and ripped them on the table saw to the different sizes I would need for the Board and Batten trim and the rest of the areas around the shed and coop...
Here is a shot of
At the same time I was doing trim, I was also building all of the doors for the structure from scratch. I Grooved all of the lines in the shed door with my skill saw, (I will do a tutorial on how I grooved them later).
I thought it would be fun to have a split door or Dutch door, I love split doors, they have been apart of our family for generations on our Island home in Washington... I also built the nesting boxes door and the lower doors. ( I got my inspiration for the nesting boxes door and the lower doors from Heather Bullard's Coop from Country Living). Building all of these doors took a while, I had to be very precise with all of the cuts and the trim, Plus I'm a Perfectionist, so it takes me a little bit longer :)
I also whipped out a Screen to put behind the lower doors, so we can see into the Ladies and of course so they can look out and see us!
Ryan built some Nesting boxes...
Now it was just down to the final trim and paint this last side...
One of my favorite features is the cute porch light I found at Lowes... Porch light you say? Yes, we have power to the shed/coop too, complete with switches & outlets so we can also light up the coop at Christmas time!.
Before the cold temperatures hit here I was able to finish some of the inside part of the shed. I finished the wall of the coop and built a cabinet to store supplies in... we will finish the rest of the inside this summer, I'll keep ya posted!
The supply cabinets, I made it so the doors had chicken wire too... I know, soo cute!
One of my other favorite features of the shed is the old windows we decided to put in it. We had some and Ryan said, why not use them! So we put one in the front side of the shed...
And this little old window on the right side above the Nesting Boxes is one of my Favorites, it comes from our Island home in Washington that was torn out when the home was remodeled years ago, I was lucky enough to get one! I love to look at it because it reminds me of the Island.
Well that's it for the tour of our Shed/Coop! Hope you enjoyed it!
We still need to work on the outside run for the ladies and work on some things inside, I'll keep you posted as we go!
If you would like to read more about how we completed the Outside run for our Chickens, you can do so here. Or click on the photo below:
If you would like to see how I placed the Board and Batten trim on our shed, you can do so here. Or Click on the photo below:
If you would like to see how I made the grooves in our big door of the shed, you can do so here. Or Click on the photo below:
With Much Love & Gratitude,
