Our Criteria
We started off with some criteria when it came to our Chicken setup. When it came to breeds we wanted them to lay throughout the duration of their life, even if it means we only get a couple of eggs now and then as opposed to one every day for a year then nothing. They also needed to be family friendly varieties (basically not grumpy). When it came to the coop it had to be practical (easy to clean and access) of course we needed it to be an awesome looking coop. I started looking online to purchase a chicken coop, we really weren't sure how our Beagle would go with Chickens so we had to be prepared to not let them free range, so it had to be big enough to keep them full time. It needed to be easy to clean out, and last the distance. We initially started looking at chicken tractors (moveable coops) but soon decided against it as we didn't want our dog rolling in poop every time we moved it around the yard. We found a few but they were a bit over priced, looked flimsy and were also not really suited to our hot climate - obviously the designs we're from Northern Hemisphere where it snows. We need lots of airflow in summer as it's just too hot and our winters don't get very cold at all. So my husband offered to build us a chicken coop and here it is.The awesome chicken coop
All up the coop cost around $500 to create with a mix of new and recycled materials. The chicken coop was built using reclaimed hardwood timber from old Queenslanders (which caused many swearing fits as the timber was literally so HARD to work with). Corrugated iron, a screen door and hinges were from my Father in law who just happened to have them lying around. The things we bought new was the marine ply for the house, bolts, nails, screws the netting and the paint. You don't think those things cost much, but they certainly added up!
