So I decided to bring a little bit of country into suburbia. Checked with the council to find out the rules and regulations about keeping chickens in suburbia – and they said only 5 hens max and no roosters. I went through the usual rigmarole of researching in poultry forums and finding out what makes a good chicken coop (and of course working out what I liked and didn’t like and what would fit in our suburban backyard setting) and came to the conclusion that I liked the semi-permanent chicken tractor solution which meant that the chicken coop/run sat on the vegetable beds and once the chickens had done their job of fertilizing the plot, I would move the tractor onto the next vegetable bed…and so the cycle starts again. This would save me from having to clean out the coop.
Pics of the coop building in progress
Setting out the garden beds – timber sleepers were bought and bolted together to form 4×6 foot beds with paths in between.
Framing the coop – used untreated pine internally
Chicken nest boxes
Chicken nest boxes painted
Chicken coop roof sheathed with external plywood
Recycled some old western red cedar venetian blinds to put on the plywood. Sheathed rest of coop with plywood and painted
Painted lilac and trimmed with white, added coop access doors
Access door to back where nest boxes are made, trimmed and painted
Added wire mesh in bottom of coop and fitted chicken doors to front of coop. Moved chicken tractor coop to position on vegetable garden bed
Just add chickens.
