DIY Reclaimed Wood Chicken Coop - Full Tour & Tips

This summer we built our first chicken coop using mostly reclaimed wood and items to reduce costs. In this video I share some tips and considerations that may help you if you decided to build your own or simply modify one you've purchased!

00:00 - Intro
01:11 - Liter & Cleanout
07:01 - Predator Apron
08:45 - Basic Garden Gate
09:31 - Nesting Box
11:57 - Enclosed Run
13:29 - Inside Tour
18:52 - Chicken Breeds
19:51 - Basic Construction
22:30 - Outro

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[TimmyCarver]

Seeing Chirp jump into your lap for loves was the sweetest thing I saw in ages!

[azaliasimon]

So funny! My sister literally was just gifted baby chicks a couple days ago, unexpectedly. She's been looking at chicken coops nonstop since and instantly sent this video over to her once I saw it pop up in my feed. Thank you for being so thorough with the coop tour!

[gishi]

You're the second person who keeps chickens in San Diego who's said that chickens are "cold hardy", and I have to say, that's not correct! Maybe the cold isn't a factor at all in your climate but having taken care of chickens in upstate NY, chickens don't like the cold. Domestic chickens are the descendants of jungle fowl! So they do get stressed from the cold, and if they're older or already compromised their health can really take a hit. They can also get frostbite on their feet and combs. A lot of people who care for chickens in colder regions have different ways they heat their coops in the winter. Just leaving this here 3 years too late probably, but just incase someone living somewhere with cold winters is watching this! Thanks for the video though and I'm definitely going to check out that chicken orchard vid :)

[saltycat]

Your golden chicken really loves you. I spotted her looking at you from time to time when the other chickens are looking elsewhere. She is studying your facial expressions. Very sweet girl.

[Christina-xcon]

Growing up my next-door neighbors had 4 buff orpingtons in their yard, and they were awesome. They would run to the fence to say hi to me when I got off the school bus and I even became the neighbor's "chicken sitter" and would go sit in the coop with the girls and cuddle them! I can't wait to have my own chickens in a beautiful little coup like this one :)

[gpswatching]

We are currently building a coop/run from mostly reclaimed wood our neighbor threw away after a remodel. It is definitely more challenging to “make it work” but also rewarding. My husband is a master repurposer, lol. We have enjoyed some very useful and beautiful “silk purses” in our 40 years of marriage. I’m grateful!
Thanks for the tour.

[kimlaplante]

Seeing Chirp jump into your lap for loves was the sweetest thing I saw in ages! ❤

[sheiladuncan]

I agree with all of your security features against raccoons. We've had them invade our coops several times, and they kill everything they can catch, and will return for the carcasses later. One even chased a 20lb. goose back into our barn and killed her in a stall. I set traps, which it evaded, around the carcass, and the dang thing dragged the body over a 6 ft. stall wall to get it out of the barn, if that gives you an idea of their strength and determination. When 3 ducks went missing I found the remains up in the barn loft which doesn't even have a ladder to reach it.

[gregrandol]

I did it myself with the Woodglut plans. I think this is the best way to find out how to build it.

[luingalls]

We live in SD County as well, Santa Ysabel. My family is building our own coop, we just got our first chickens a couple weeks ago (Wellsprings). Thank you for your info and detail, helps a lot!

[barbaraanderson]

Finding a watching this saved us a lot of digging in our rocky New England soil. The PVC coated wire apron is genius! Great coop and run.

[lissatakacs]

My chickens were great mousers, and rats that snuck in didn't always make it out. My Barred Rocks were the best hunters, protectors, hardy, great layers and the friendliest. I love your coop and area. Great Job!

[waterbitten]

I'm rewatching this, and Jacques saying, "If you are a raccoon, " immediately made me imagine a raccoon watching this video making notes.

[rrialb]

I raised chickens for many years, strictly for eggs and coincidentally for entertainment, pest control and making soils richer. Your thick wood shavings in your coup, with 6 months between changing? To me that would seem like a lot of ammonia build up...I hope you did your research. I love chickens and often get choked up when I see a happy flock...I miss my girls terribly! Keep the great videos coming J!! Thank You!

[twobluestripes]

It’s awesome. I watch the channel The Chateau Diaries and they have a walled garden with an old orchard on one side (most of the older fruit trees that don’t bear are getting replaced, but a couple large old ones have been there!). They decided to move their chickens over to that side, add some coops, and fence in some large runs, to keep them from disturbing the veggie garden (and keep the males separate as well). Seems like an orchard is the ideal place for chickens, since they clean up dropped fruit and eat bugs/pests, and provide constant soil fertilizer!

[danielwagner]

A coop built on high ground and built up to avoid water not on low swamp land. Makes a big of difference. Love the windows for adjustable ventilation. Great job!

[nancycowell-miller]

Love this! I've got one of those cheesy pre-made coops - that I attempted to "beef-up" with more hardware cloth. It's still hangin' in there (including my "redneck repairs!") After 8+ years.

If I had it to do over again, I'd do something more like this. But I'm loving the flock and sharing the bounty with friends and neighbors ❤ That's all that matters!

[CreaticityIsLife]

Great coop! Thanks for the tour. FYI, I use shade cloth over the top of the run. It doesn't require as much infrastructure up top to secure it. It has kept everything out, especially wild birds, which can spread disease (rare, but it can happen). As an added bonus, my cats love to lounge on the shade cloth. It's like a big hammock for them, and it keeps them on the job - they are great mousers! Finally, I'm in Albuquerque so the shade cloth does a great job of keeping their run cooler in the worst of the summer heat.

[italianasc]

Wonderfully detailed and instructional video! There's nothing better than someone explaining their decision processes, including lessons learned. Thank you for this!!

[middle-agedmacdonald]

Nice video. Maybe the first one I've watched from you. I've seen you on Kevin's channel a bunch of times. Lol to the door brace. Yeah, I think we've all done that. A tip if you're interested in the chicken water bucket. I run drip irrigation to all my beds, and I live in the desert so the beds get watered several times a day from the timer. I once had my single water bucket fail due to it breaking off the rope it was on. Luckily I was home and heard the chicks squawking. It's often 110F here in the summer so that's not going to end well if I was at work all day. What I did was to install two buckets (I use the water nipples that screw into the bottom). My buckets are food grade dark black...(no light gets through so no algae grows in them). I also have swamp cooler floats installed in the buckets, and those floats are connected to my nearest raised beds via cheap 1/4" drip tube. Every time the beds get watered, the buckets get filled until the float turns them off. Long story long, I haven't had to manually add water in almost two years! Two buckets gives me peace of mind that if one fails, it's highly unlikely the other will before I can repair the first.

I'm also a hermit. Have a good one brother! Nice coop, and I appreciate your nice mellow way of narrating and giving information.

Any plans for some free range rabbits to go in that awesome chicken food forest? I'm thinking about trying them out in my system.

Have a good one!