Chicken Coop Construction & Details

On this page you will find Chicken Coop of my own design.   Coop prints may ONLY be used for personal use.  Commercial use is strictly prohibited.

Chicken Coop

Chicken Coop is a structure that provides chickens with shelter, protection from predators, place to roost, feed and to lay eggs.  Therefore, when building a coop, one must consider the proper building size, good design and preferably easy access to nesting boxes. On this page, I will show images, details & even drawings of the coop I have designed and built for myself.

Free Chicken Coop Plans

I had built this Coop using some leftovers from my other projects.  That's why you see big door hinges, Plexiglas installed inside of doors (figured more light won't hurt) and few other things.

To build this coop, I have used pressure treated 4x4 posts, regular framing lumber, 3/4" plywood floor, white pine T&G barn siding and 30 year asphalt shingles (I had few bundles left from replacing roofing on my house).

Originally, when I designed this coop, I was planning to accommodate only (8) chickens and to have a small storage room on one end of this coop for feed storage (as you can see from images below).  Total size of this building is 4'x8' (outside dimensions).  Coop area is about 4'x6' and storage area is about 4'x2'.  If you are planning to have more chickens, simply remove partition or install access door into storage room and you'll have full 4'x8' coop area that should be able to house anywhere from 12-16 chickens.


Images of Coop From All Elevations

Front View of Chicken Coop
Front Elevation
Back View of Chicken Coop
Back Elevation
Drop Down Ventilation Door
Drop Down Air Vent
Finished Coop with Run & Fenced Area
Coop with Run

Images of Nesting Box

Coop Nesting Box with Open Cover
Coop Nesting Box
Coop Nesting Box with Closed Cover
Nesting Box
Close Up View of Nesting Box Cover
Close Up View
Entrance to Nesting Box from Inside of Coop
Nesting Box Entrance

Images of Coop Interior

Interior of Chicken Coop House
Entrance View
View of Perch & Back Side of Coop
Back Side & Perch
Inside View of Coop Interior
Front Side
Inside of Coop Storage Room
Storage Room

Coop Construction Recommendations
  • Each chicken will require anywhere from 3-4 sq.f. of space inside of coop if that's where they will spend most of the time.  This means that 4'x8' coop should be able to accommodate 10-12 chickens.  If you have a good size run and if coop is used primarily for egg laying and perching, 2 sq.f. of space per each chicken should be enough.
  • Good size for nesting box is 12"x12" and anywhere from 12" to 16" high
  • Build your nesting box entrance a little smaller for a "cave-like" experience.  In my opinion, 9"x10" entrance is about perfect.
  • Perch should provide at least 10" of space per each chicken (8 chickens will require 80" long perch).  I built my perch out of regular 2x4 board.
  • Provide enough of ventilation (I put functional windows in front & drop down door in the back of my coop for cross ventilation)
  • When building the run for your chickens, figure 10 sq.f. of run space per each chicken (or more if space is not an issue)

If you need more detailed Chicken Coop plan, you can purchase it from Keystone Barns.  Visit Keystone Chicken Coops to buy the plan.