Build a Chicken Coop in a Woodshed

Build a Chicken Coop in a Woodshed

old woodshed Build a Chicken Coop

Build a Chicken Coop in a Woodshed (How We Did It)

This post to build a chicken coop in a woodshed, is definitely in progress! In addition, I wanted to start blogging about the process so you can follow along with our progress and possibly give us some suggestions.

While we knew we wanted to build a chicken coop, we definitely needed to continue to use our woodshed for storage. Our community will only allow us to have a small amount of chickens. Therefore, we are creating a tiny home for our chickens inside of our woodshed as well as keeping space available for wood storage. There will also be a run on the south and west side, so stay tuned as we begin to post videos and photos on how to build a chicken coop in a woodshed. The winters in Wisconsin can be brutal, so wood for our wood stove is as important as food.

Due to the fact that there are multiple layers of siding in this structure, we decided not to insulate. Regardless of where you live, you will need to research the heating and cooling part of building your chicken space.

The Journey Begins

We started the whole process on how to build a chicken coop with cleaning up the inside and the outside of the structure, along with painting.

before and after; cleaning and painting inside of woodshed to prepare for building

So far, we built a floating structure on the south side of the shed. We decided to lift the floor of the coup off of the bottom of the concrete shed for a couple of reasons. Hopefully, this help us keep the floor of the coup cleaner and allow for storage and clean-up tools to reside underneath. Also, because the floor is cement, we knew the chicks would be a little warmer in the winter if the floor was raised off of the floor.

Inside of the Coop

The roosts (where the chickens will perch) and the nesting boxes will be built inside of the structure pictured above. One important element for us, is to be able to access the eggs from the inside of the shed. Pictured are the nesting boxes with curtains. This is to deter the chickens from coming out while we reach in for the eggs.

red plaid curtains on rod inside nesting boxes

Where we reach for the eggs without going into the coop.

Additionally, we knew we needed more ventilation inside of the shed. We heard more and more about people discovering that ventilation was more of an issue than keeping the chickens warm. Plus, there are many varieties of chickens that do well in cooler weather.

Part of the process to build a chicken coop in a woodshed is to make sure the existing shed has enough ventilation so we decided to add a couple of tiny windows we found on sale. Although the windows open and are on clearance, we had to consider that the window (if opened at night) will need to be predator proof. We decided to put an extra layer of hardware cloth over the top of the exterior part of the window to keep raccoons, possums or other nocturnals out at night.

Outdoor Chicken Run

All chickens need a “run” to forage, get fresh air and sunshine, and not stay “cooped” up! Our run was a lot of work. In fact, if we were to do it again, we would build and outdoor run with wood and hardware cloth. A repurposed dog kennel is what we started out with, as shown in the photo. However, we needed to add more hardware cloth at the bottom to keep the chicks safe and add more to the kennel to give them more space. You’ll see as we add video and more photos.

We decided to give the chickens a heavy-duty roof to shelter from the elements and hawks. We left some open areas to allow for sunshine. The strings you see above the fencing are fishing line to deter hawks.

No chicken run is complete without a swing!

We are now working on predator proofing the bottom of the run. For now, here is the before and after of the inside of the coop.

rough and close to final

There are a lot of details that were not documented in this blog, so I’ll try to update as I get a chance. However, if there is something specific you’d like to ask or comment, please do! We would love to know what you think!

Here are some resources that we are using:

Oak Abode

Brooder

Chick waterer

Where to keep the chicks when you first get them!

Another waterer with a heating element

A great grub loaded with protein – a real treat for the chickens!

Shopping List for ingredients (substitutes):

Country Life Natural Foods is a great sources for raw nuts and seeds

We are looking at a couple of different options for feed.. so stay tuned for updates

Optional add-in ingredients/resources:

Grow from seed any plants to feed the chickens!