How I decided that I was an architect, engineer, and builder on a random weekend in October
Throughout our careers as “chicken tenders” (see what I did there?), we have had a total of three different coops. The first was the cheesiest Tractor Supply special that our cheap-ass selves could find. No hate to Tractor Supply – they’re out there doing the public service of farm supply and demand at a reasonable price. (Not sponsored, by the way, just a fan).
That first coop got us started and gave us a space for our flock to live and for us to get an idea of what the hell we were doing, but it was cheap and flimsy and small.
When we inherited our next coop, we struck gold! It was handmade and the perfect size for our little flock of five hens. It was solid, well-built, and planned out with convenience in mind. It lasted us about seven years before we realized it had clearly reached the end of its life and was no longer filling our needs.
As you can see in the photo above – it was a hot mess.
We had always talked about upgrading our coop, leaning toward buying a pre-made one, but one night I got a wild hair you-know-where and decided I wanted to just do it. Like, yesterday.
So I did it.
While my lack of impulse control in executing projects is not conducive to wise financial decisions, it does offer the role of moral support to my other toxic trait: thinking I can figure out any skill on my own without actually having any idea of what I’m doing. It’s both served me well and been a big problem.
So one day in October of 2024, I decided I could design and build a chicken coop on my own…because of course I did. Eric is literally the most supportive husband of all time and said, “Ok, what’s the plan and when can we go to the home improvement store?” He’s a saint. I scoured the internet for chicken coops that I liked the look of, of features that we wanted, ideas for dimensions, necessary and recommended materials, and how-to blogs. I loved exploring design tools and problem-solving obstacles and learning about how construction planning actually works.
I ended up using Sketchup and their free design tools to plan the dimensions and measurements for all the materials, which was a huge help. We stocked all our supplies and dove head first into chaos.
Before we could dive into building the new coop, we had to make room for it by tearing down the old one. This was delegated purely to Eric because GROSS. It was mouse-infested, decaying, dirty, a mess and a half. I don’t mind admitting that my princess tiara was firmly in place when I put that ball directly into his court. No thanks. And I’m so glad he had the stomach to do it – between the surprise fiberglass insulation decaying in the walls, the MUMMIFIED HALF EATEN SQUIRREL BODY STUCK IN THE FEEDER, and two inches of literal mouse shit caked onto the frame (receipts at the bottom of the post because I don’t want you to have to see it unless you want to), we were kicking ourselves for 1. not taking more time to clean this beast better, and 2. waiting so long to upgrade.
With the old coop out of the way, it was time to build. Eric was so great and he set up a work table in the backyard, complete with his power tools, carpentry accessories and his blind faith that I wouldn’t completely screw everything up. After a brief tutorial on power tool etiquette, I was on my own while he went to work. I framed the damn thing on day one. It was a slower process than anticipated but that turned out to be the theme of the entire project. We were off to the slow races! I won’t bore you with the nitty gritty details of the entire build but there are a few lessons I learned along the way:
- Patience is a practice, you have to work at it – it doesn’t just happen.
- My ego is my worst enemy. As much as I like to think I can figure anything out, I can’t do it all.
- A helping hand is not a slap in the face, it is a gesture of kindness.
- A helpful toddler is not really helping, but the lessons you are teaching while letting him “help” will resonate for a lifetime.
At the end of the day, I’m SO happy with how it turned out! I’m so proud of myself for taking the reins on this project, trying something new, learning an entirely new skillset, and recognizing the not-so-good personality traits that I need to work on. Our new coop offers so many features that we customized for our needs. It’s secure, easy to clean, easy to maintain, comfortable for the chickens, and large enough that they have plenty of room to hang out even if they don’t come out into the run. It’s stylish and sturdy, and I’m happy to share the plans with you!
Including the following photo of the mummified squirrel…please know you have been warned because it is so gross.
Our guess is that it somehow crawled into the feeder (a PVC pipe) and got stuck and died…then the chickens had a mini feast on the parts of it that they could reach. It’s just the worst and it makes my stomach turn and skin crawl whenever I think about it and looking at this photo makes me want to throw up. I’m done talking about it now and hope to never have to talk about it again.
The LoCo Funny Farm 
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