Scrap Wood Chicken House

We're going about building a chicken house using pretty much the same principles that these gents used to build this children's ferris wheel ride; with whatever we can find in the scrap heap!

It's only fair to start with the finished product. Voila, a super safe chicken bungalow in the hills overlooking the lake. 

When designing your chicken house there are a few things to take into consideration and one of the most important factors is location. You want it close enough to your residence to lend for easy access as it's a system you should be checking in on every day in the form of finding delicious fresh eggs and keeping your chickens safe and fed. Another factor is ease of garden access and not for your chickens to go roaming around your flower patch (they will destroy everything) but more for transportation to the garden of all the wonderful composted and nutrient rich soil they will produce for you. 

For chicken aided compost soil you have two options. One is to fence off certain areas of ground you want to fertilize and let the chickens eat, scratch and spend their days in that area for a few weeks. The other option is to have one area where they do their thing and keep adding mulch, kitchen scraps and whatever you want to compost in that area for them to scratch about and desecrate on. If it starts to get too mucky and smelly you need to add more carbon in forms like straw, ground up corn stalks, cut and dried grass or mulched leaves. To get composted soil out of this spot just simply dig down under the top layer and fill up a bag with nutrient rich earth. 

Remember, chickens left on a single plot for too long will leave the land and themselves in an unhealthy state so you either have to move to a different area (fence them off in a new spot) or make a new ground for them (add mulch to their one area). 

For this chicken set up we've chosen to keep them in one area and make the ground of that area into one large compost pile. Here is Tom taking a rest from breaking up the soil which will eventually be under the raised chicken house. 

The leader of this project was Timo who is a traveling south west French man. He told tragic tales of his chickens being murdered in the night by beasts and was not cutting any corners to build this chicken house strong and safe. We used whatever materials we could find laying around the property which included wooden posts, boards, bamboo and an old tarp plus some screws and nails. 

We first chose 4 tall posts to make the basic structure along with side panels to make the frame. The concept is to make a safe place for them to roost (sleep at night), lay eggs and be shielded from the elements. This means a raised structure with a bird access ramp and a sturdy door along with a water proof roof.

Here's Tom again who had a lot of work to do yet was caught napping on more than a few occasions. We made slits in the main posts and chiseled out grooves to hold the side panels on tightly. This is the difference between a chicken house lasting 2 years and 10 years.



Great work Tom, you finally made the sides! Here is Timo starting on the roof. We made the frame then cut an old tarp to size and folded in under the top side boards as well as nailed it down with wooden slats for a nice tight fit.

Sides on, front boards on, roofs on, backs on as well (we nailed on an old floor mat much like we did that roof tarp) and Tom's off slacking somewhere. That left Timo and I to do the sides by ourselves. We had a few large pieces of bamboo and cut them into small slats. After, we nailed them individually all along the sides and front and left space for a door. Somewhere between all that we put in a crucial part which is the roosting floor. We used long sticks spaced just enough for droppings to pass down onto the ground but still safe enough to prevent invaders from harassing the birds.

We also covered the tarp roof with canye branches which is like a softish bamboo looking grass and nailed them on tight with long slats along the top and bottom.




Here are the egg laying boxes. Be sure to put plenty of straw down and freshen it up from time to time. Put the boxes so they have a little bit of privacy and are easily accessible from the doorway.



Door went on and got beautifully painted by my good wife Raquell. A bunch of other little details got finished as well but I think you get the picture by now. Raised safe and sealed structure, place for chickens to roost and dropping to drop, boxes with straw and a bit of privacy for egg business, door near egg boxes for daily access. Also, try to make it look nice because you're going there every day.

Finished with a nice little bench to the side for observing the birds. This should be enough space for around 6 chickens. Remember the breed of your chicken will dictate the amount of eggs they are able to lay and the management of your chickens will affect the quality of the eggs. In other words, choose a good laying breed and give them some care. 

We had a few chickens donated to us and we transported them on foot over the mountain in the middle of the night after pizza at the Yoga Forest which will be the topic of my next post. Also, chickens are good.