DIY Plans for Chicken Coop

Here it is! The post and plans you all have been waiting for…DIY Plans for Chicken Coop…okay, maybe I have just been waiting to share them! Lol! This set of plans has me so excited because it’s a big build but so rewarding! You may not realize that you need chickens in your life, but you do I swear!😉

I have a funny story for you all! Remember when I posted the plans for my small chicken coop? (DIY Small Chicken Coop if you haven’t seen it or want the whole story) Well, I tell the story of getting a rooster and how I had to quickly make a coop for him because he couldn’t be in with my hens… he was big and they were small! All that work and HE started laying eggs! 😂 But that’s not even the best part, we don’t know if we mixed him up and he’s been living in the big coop with the ladies, or HE is actually a HEN!! 😅 But either way, I promised plans for a large chicken coop…and here they are! I am beyond excited with how it turned out and how well it works for our chickens…and possibly rooster!😆

Don’t mind that the coop is already dirty and large weeds are growing everywhere, it has been raining here, Hurricane Hanna hit south of us a little while back, so the rain was constant for what seemed like weeks, and then more rain came! Plus the chickens have been living in the coop for well over two months now!😲 And the hideous fence is coming out soon, but these things take time… so for a small while, I have to look at a couple of fence eyesores! Lol! Our whole yard, our house, the goat shed… everything is under construction!😆 If only I could clone myself for free labor! Lol!

DIY plans for chicken coop

Y’all never in a million years could you have told me that I was going to have chickens and hug them and love them, would I ever believe you! 😂 But I do!! They are hilarious and we LOVE them as a part of our family! I laugh when I think of this because they are chickens…CHICKENS, I never liked chickens, but now I’m in love, not just with them, but with their coop as well!😁

Anyway, I could sit here and share 8000 pics of my ladies but I will stick to the plans…chicken coop plans that is! Lol!

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I am not going to lie, it was a trial and error, and oops, and dang it, all the time on this build! It was some of the dumbest things that I forgot to take into consideration! For instance, I was making the chicken coop plans for 8’x8′ to utilize the supplies, well in my haste to get started and get this baby built…because the chickens were living in MY HOUSE 😲😅 I built all four walls at 8 foot long! *Forehead in palm!!!! Why?! Oy!

But despite the setbacks and mistakes, I got it built and with minimal extra materials! So the plans will be exactly like as I built mine and if I get around to it, I’ll try to draw them up at the 8’x8′ if I have time later on! The dimensions are 8′ x 8′ 7″ for the main coop and the run is an additional 6’x16′ for a grand total of 8′ 7″ x 24′.

All in all, for materials I believe I spent around $1200-1300. Now it can be more or less depending on the cost of materials in your area. And I don’t even want to add in the gas, food, and Starbucks every other day when I made a material run because I forgot something! Lol!

There are ways to minimalize cost though, for instance, the roof rafters were cut at roughly 63″, I can easily get 8-foot boards into my van, but not 12 footers, if you can get 12-foot boards you will save 10 bucks just on the rafters. It seems small but then you look at all the trim boards as well, the vertical frame boards, and before you know it, boom it is a hundred dollar savings or more and I will take that ANY DAY OF THE WEEK!!🎉 The materials list consists of 12-foot replacements where available but shows the number of 8-foot boards if you are like me and cannot easily carry 12-foot boards, or they don’t deliver to your area!

Alright, you ready to become a crazy chicken lady and build your very own chicken coop and love your chickens like family?😂 Here are the plans!

DIY PLANS FOR CHICKEN COOP

I separated the plans up a bit because it is a lot for one file. The plans and tutorials for the other parts of the coop are below, but if you sign up for the email once you will receive all the files so you don’t have to enter your email 5 times! Lol!

Chicken Coop Run

Shutters

Nesting Box

Chicken Coop Dutch Door

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Materials for DIY Large Chicken Coop Plans

This material list only has the materials for the main coop, the run materials will be at the link above along with the plans for that, shutters the same, etc.

*Note: Amazon links below are affiliate links! Affiliate links work in that when you make a purchase after clicking on a link below, I make a small percentage of commission off of your purchase at no extra cost to you! It is a real win-win for us so I can keep this content coming for free! Thanks in advance! Also note, ONLY Amazon links are affiliate links, all other links are just provided to help you find products!

-23 – 2x4x8

-17 – 2x4x12 (or add 30 – 2x4x8s to the above number if you can’t get 12-foot boards in your car like me!😉)

-2 – 2x4x10

-9 – 4×8 sheets of 1/2″ plywood

-3 – 3′ x 12′ sheets of steel roofing panels

-1 – 10′ steel roofing ridge

-1 – 1x6x8

-15 – 1x2x8 (I used furring strips)

-21 – 1x4x8 (I used furring strips)

-1 – bag of 1 1/2″ steel roofing screws with a neoprene washer

-1 – bag of 2 1/2″ steel roofing screws with gasket

-1 – box of 3 1/8″ screws

-1 – box of 2 1/2″ screws

-1 – large container of 2 1/2″ Kreg screws

– brad nails in sizes from 3/4″ to 2″ lengths

-12 – small Simpson Strong-tie roof brackets

-6 – large Simpson Strong-tie roof brackets

-1 – box of Simpson Strong-tie hex head screws for roof brackets

–100 ft roll of 1/2″ or 1/4″ hardware cloth- 36″x100′

–50 ft roll of 1/2″ or 1/4″ hardware cloth – 36″x50′

-5 gallons of paint of your choice (I used Behr Exterior paint, color-matched to SW Alabaster)

–5 cans Charcoal Gray spray paint for the roof

–Drill

–Miter Saw

–Circular Saw

–Kreg Jig

–Paint Sprayer

CUT LIST:

Run Wall:

-2 – 2×4 @ 96″ (top and bottom rails)

-6 – 2×4 @ 69″ (studs)

-2 – 2×4 @ 55″ (header)

-4 – 2×4 @ 6 1/2″ (supports to attach run to)

Nesting  Box Wall:

-2 – 2×4 @ 96″ (top and bottom rails)

-4 – 2×4 @ 69″ (studs)

-2 – 2×4 @ 65″ (horizontal nesting box opening)

-2 – 2×4 @ 32″ (top studs)

-2 – 2×4 @ 20″ (bottom studs)

-2 – 2×4 @ 14″ (sides of box opening)

Door Wall:

-2 – 2×4 @ 96″ (top and bottom rails)

-4 – 2×4 @ 69″ (studs)

-1 – 2×4 @ 28″ (header)

-8 – 2×4 @ 13 1/4″ (supports to attach plywood)

Window Wall:

-2 – 2×4 @ 96″ (top and bottom rails)

-6 – 2×4 @ 69″ (studs)

-2 – 2×4 @ 45″ (vertical window boards)

-2 – 2×4 @ 38 1/2″ (horizontal window boards)

-1 – 2×4 @ 10 1/2″ ( bottom stud)

Rafters:

-10 – 2×4 @ 63 1/8″ – mitered @ 25 degrees off square both ends, parallel

-2 – 2×4 @ 104″ – mitered @ 65 degrees off square both ends, not parallel

-24 – 2×4 @ 22 1/2″

Plywood for walls:

-5 -1/2″ sheets of plywood cut down to 71 1/2″ cutouts will be shown below, 4 sheets will stay 8′.

TRIM BOARDS: (You will want to measure your actual spaces to cut trim boards, they may differ from mine slightly!)

Run Wall:

-2 – 1×4 @ 16 43/64″ (bottom horizontal trim)

-2 – 1×3 @ 3 1/2″ (bottom horizontal trim)

-2 – 1×4 @ 67 5/16″ (opening trim)

-1 – 1×4 @ 62 3/64″ (opening trim)

-1 – 1×3 (ripped down from a 1×4) @  (top horizontal trim)

-2 – 2×4 @ 63 1/8″ both ends mitered at 25 degrees off square, ends parallel (roof peak trim)

-2 – 1×4 @ 63 1/8″ both ends mitered at 25 degrees off square, ends parallel (roof peak trim)

– 2 – 1×2 @ 68 1/2″ (battens)

Nesting Box Wall:

-2 – 1×4 @ 97″(top and bottom horizontal trim)

-2 – 1×4 @ 65 13/32″(vertical side trim)

-1 – 1×4 @ 68″(vertical board above nesting box)

-5 – 1×2 @ 25 35/64″ (battens on top of nesting box)

-5 – 1×2 @ 17 7/8″ (battens below nesting box)

Door Wall:

-2 – 1×4 @ 35 11/64″ (bottom horizontal trim)

-2 – 1×3 (ripped a 1×4 furring strip down) @ 31 23/32″ (top straight horizontal trim)

-2 – 1×4 @ 69 11/16″ one end mitered at 25 degrees off square, longest end (side vertical trim)

-2 – 2×4 @ 63 1/8″ both ends mitered at 25 degrees off square, ends parallel (roof peak trim)

-2 – 1×4 @ 63 1/8″ both ends mitered at 25 degrees off square, ends parallel (roof peak trim)

-2 – 1×4 @ 69″ (door frame)

-2 – 1×2 @ 36″ (door frame)

-1 – 1×6 @ 35″ (door frame)

-1 – 1×3 @ 37″ (door frame)

-4 – 1×2 @ 67 5/16″ (bottom battens)

-2 – 1×2 @ 4 45/64″ one end mitered at 25 degrees off square, longest side (top battens)

-2 – 1×2 @ 11 63/64″ one end mitered at 25 degrees off square, longest side (top battens)

-2 – 1×2 @ 16 9/32″ one end mitered at 25 degrees off square, longest side (top battens)

Window Wall:

-2 – 1×4 @ 97″ (top and bottom horizontal trim)FYI – I did not purchase expensive 1x4x10s for these boards, I cut roughly 5 inches off of my 8ft 1×4 furring strip and cut a 6″ piece off of scrap board.

-2 – 1×4 @ 65 13/32″ (side vertical trim)

-2 – 1×4 @ 45″ (window trim)

-1 – 1×4 @ 42 3/4″ (window trim)

-3 – 1×2 @ 43 3/4″ (window trim)

-1 – 1×6 @ 42 3/4″ (window trim)

-1 – 1×3 @ 44 3/4″ (window trim)

-3 – 1×2 @ 2 5/32″ (battens above window)

-3 – 1×2 @ 5 5/8″ (battens below window)

-2 – 1×2 @ 65 13/32″ (battens)

Building the DIY Chicken Coop

Just a little note for you all before we start building…I am NOT a professional construction worker, home builder, architect, or any other PROFESSIONAL of any sort! I am a mom who figures out ways to build what I want, consulting professionals at times, and making it up as I go along other times! 😁 It all works out in the end even though it may not be considered the RIGHT way to do it! Lol! I’ve realized since starting this blog that pretty much EVERYONE has an opinion and they all differ on the CORRECT way to do something! But I am simply sharing the way I did this project and it may not be the BEST way, but it worked! Take that for what you will! 😅

Alright, if you are brave enough to continue on this project with me, let’s get started!😏

Framing Out the DIY Chicken Coop

As with any structure we have to frame out the walls very first! All the walls are basically the same idea, a top and bottom plate, then 5 vertical studs arranged to support whatever openings you want! Some walls have a few extra boards to brace the openings for windows, nesting boxes, etc.

Framing the walls will take the 3 1/8″ screws listed in the materials. All boards will be screwed directly through the 2×4 plates and into the studs unless otherwise stated to drill pocket holes!

It is certainly helpful to have a second or third set of hands, even if they are kids! My boys helped a TON on this project, but walls can also be built by one person, as I built a couple on my own as well so don’t fret if you don’t have help, you can still build this chicken coop!

Building the Run Wall

This wall is a pretty simple build! I intentionally left this wall wide open to the run because it faces south for us, and that is where our breeze comes from all summer long! Heck in Texas it’s about 9 months out of our year and the ONLY way to survive is to have shade and breeze!

Basically, build an 8 foot by 6-foot rectangle and add studs where needed! It is easiest to add the studs at 19″ from the outside edge, then place the header boards in between. Screw the header boards to the side supports and put a couple of screws from the top 2×4 down into the header.

Adding the second support boards, closest to the edges after, allows the drill room to get in between to screw the header in…hope that makes sense. The second support boards will be placed 11″ from the outside edge.

This creates your run wall, one down, three to go!

Building the Nesting Box Wall

The same concept as the run wall, build an 8 foot by 6 foot rectangle. Add studs 14″ from the outside edge.

Build a box that is going to frame out the nesting box. Use 2- 2x4s @ 65″ to make the vertical boards of the box and 2 – 2x4s @ 14″ for the vertical. This photo also has the bottom studs added! They are 20″, 22″, and then 20″ apart. Or you can make them 21″ apart…not sure exactly how I ended up with the above! Lol!

Add the top studs. They are 32″ long and spaced the same as the bottom boards.

Nesting box wall…✔

Building the Door Wall

Again, start off with an 8 foot by 6 foot rectangle. Add two studs 17 3/4″ from the outside edge. The second set of studs will be 32 1/2″ from the outside edge. A small header of a 2×4 @ 28″ in between the closest two studs, at the top, will be for the doorway! I added scrap 2x4s for hinges but ended up not using them! Lol!

What you will need though that I didn’t realize until later, is 8 – 2x4s @ 13 1/4″ pocket holed, to allow a brace to attach the plywood to. Here’s the Sketchup photo to show you! (Ignore the 2×4 header that is turned the wrong way below, it should be flipped up to where you see the 1 1/2″ edge as in the photo above! Sorry for the confusion!)

Door wall DONE! Can you believe it…3 walls down…only 1 to go! Yeah!

Building the Window Wall

The last wall to go, and then you can put them all together and start seeing the chicken coop come together!

Last time you have to build an 8 foot by 6 foot rectangle! Lol! And for this wall, you will want to put 2 studs at 13 1/2″ from the outside edges, and then 2 studs at 25 3/4″ from the outside edges.

Build a rectangle for the window. Use 2 – 2x4s at 45″ to make the vertical window boards and 2 – 2x4s at 38 1/2″ to make the top and bottom of the window. Luckily you can screw these boards into place through the window!

ALL FOUR WALLS ARE BUILT!! WOOHOO!!

If you have any questions as to the dimensions or locations of boards, make sure and download the printable plans to see detailed photos with dimensions!

Setting the Frame

At this point, before setting the walls, I sealed the bottom of all the 2x4s that would be touching the ground and attached hardware cloth with screws to the bottoms so that no animals could dig under the coop!

Here’s how she looked!😍

Now, we are doing the deep litter method, so there is no floor in the coop, the dirt makes the floor and you just add pine shavings weekly…it is AMAZING because there is no chicken poop smell at all! I did a lot of research before choosing this method and I am so glad I did! Plus, once a year, I have compost ready to be placed in the garden!

Literally, no cleaning the coop…we add pine shavings, and dust out the nesting boxes, THAT IS IT, and the ladies keep turning their poop into the dirt so you NEVER smell anything…besides dirt! Lol! Yes, there is a dust layer all over because of how they work the dirt, but that’s why we have great ventilation with the eaves, window, and open run wall! I COULD NOT BE HAPPIER that we went with this method!!

Anyway, back to setting the walls, I screwed the door wall to the window wall on the left, and nesting box wall on the right. That leaves the run wall attached to the window wall and nesting box wall on the backside!

***Make sure the walls are level on the ground…and each other before screwing them into place!***

Maybe this will help you see the final outcome!

One everything is level and screwed together, you can add the plywood to the walls.

Adding Plywood to the DIY Chicken Coop

You will want to measure all walls and openings prior to making any cuts in your plywood! The measurements given here are based on exact measurements, any small changes in measurements affect the measurements given below!

I attached plywood to the two sides that will remain 6ft. and then had to attach the roof rafters before adding plywood to the other two sides…measurements are based on doing it in this order.

Nesting Box Wall Plywood

Using 2 sheets of plywood that are cut down to 71 1/2″, make the nesting box cut out as shown below. (I altered the 72″ to 71 1/2″ to leave a gap between the edge of the plywood and the soil to keep it from resting on the dirt, which will make it rot faster!)

Then using the same measurements cut another one opposite of the one above, or the same and flip it over! Lol!

 

Window Wall Plywood

Using 2 of the 1/2″ plywood sheets that are cut down to 71 1/2″, make the cutouts as shown below to accommodate the window opening! Again, you will cut two that are ultimately the same, just flipped opposite directions!

Building the Rafters for the DIY Chicken Coop

Time to add the rafters and REALLY make it look like a house of some sort!

You will make a total of five sets of rafters, 2 will have an extra board across the bottom of the rafter as seen below. I left the other 3 without this board so that the ceiling is open inside the coop and my hubby won’t hit his head! Lol! You can easily add a small brace towards the top if you’d like, but I found after the boards are added in between the rafters and all, there really wasn’t a need, they were pretty darn sturdy! We hung all over them and climbed on them and nothing was shifting whatsoever!

To build the three middle rafters, you will cut 2 boards at 63 1/8″ with both ends mitered at 25 degrees off square, ends parallel. Use pocket holes to attach the two boards together, drill pocket holes on one end of only one of the boards, holes will be drilled at 1 1/2″ deep and 2 1/2″ screws will be needed along with wood glue!

You can hardly see them, but the pocket holes are at the top on the left board!

The bottom brace that will be on the end two rafters will be screwed in on the ends. This board will be cut at 104″ long with both ends mitered at 65 degrees off square, ends not parallel. It should be 6″ up from the end of the board it’s being attached to.

Now, I realize that typically, they notch the rafters to lay flat on the 2×4 of the wall, I tried and failed on two different 2x4s and gave up, found an option that was far easier for me, and rolled with it! Lol! I just attached the roof brackets directly to the 2x4s on both sides and it was sturdy enough…I mean crap, it has already survived a pretty good storm when hurricane Hanna came through! 😅

But before I get ahead of myself, let me show how I did a couple of things first! So to make cutting the plywood to fit over the rafters easier, I traced the rafter onto my plywood and cut it, before placing the rafters on the coop that way it wouldn’t be guessing at where to cut!

Make sure and measure up 71 1/2″ from the bottom and then lat your rafter there completely centered at the top. It will not reach the top completely! It’s okay, it will be covered by trim boards and no one will ever know! Lol!

The photo above is for the door wall. I added another sheet of plywood that was going on the side and traced the rafter onto it as well. And because I made a mistake on one of my pieces of plywood, I had to piece together the door wall of the coop, you will have three solid pieces though!

This sounds a little confusing as I am trying to explain it, but it really isn’t…let me show you the photo of how the door wall plywood went on.

See how the pieces are pieced together. Your left side should look just like your right though, instead of two pieces patched together yours should be one! You will want to cut the door out before hanging the plywood as well!

Run wall plywood will look like this.

That is one 8ft sheet running longways. I cut it and attached it to the rafters before I put the rafter up to make it easier!

BACK TO THE RAFTER CONSTRUCTION!

So to make putting the rafters up easier, I attached the end rafters to another rafter while on the ground. You do not have the do them this way, it just helped us throw them up and attach them a lot quicker than if we had to add the middle boards while up on top of the coop. We only had to add the middle rafter, and that one took way longer! Lol!

So basically, I placed each end rafter down and attached the boards as below…use pocket holes drilled 1 1/2″ deep and use 2 1/2″ screws with wood glue to attach them to the boards. Place another rafter that is not an edge rafter (no bottom board) on top and pocket hole it into place! (Sorry I didn’t take the pic with the other rafter on, but the next pic shows it well enough I believe!)

Then attach the large rafter sections to the coop.

Just FYI, we added another bracket on the outside of that 2×4 as well…2 on every rafter. In the middle of the left side of the photo, you can see the brackets I used on the end rafters, I placed three along the rafter.

Not to jump ahead of ourselves, but here’s a pic of the rafters with both brackets!

You can then add the next rafter, or I went ahead and attached the plywood to the door wall (the front) to stabilize the rafter as we placed the middle one! Plus the plywood was already cut so it was quick and easy to throw up there!

Yes, I get dressed up to work! 😂 Don’t mind me over here in my glasses and pajamas!😅

Alright, back up in the rafters, attach the middle braces and the middle rafter!

Ooh, la la!!

Time to layout and screw down the roofing panels! I of course have no pictures of us putting it on because it was windy as heck that day so it was all hands on deck…er roof! Lol!

I spray painted my galvanized steel roof panels because it was going to take 6 weeks to get the charcoal gray in since they aren’t carried in-store. Boooo! I didn’t want to wait but it ended up taking us that long to build it anyway! 😂 I should have just ordered it, but I did save a few dollars (maybe 20 bucks) by painting it vs ordering it, so there’s that!

If you choose to spray paint yours, make sure to wipe the steel down with vinegar, clean it really well with the vinegar so that the spray paint will adhere well to the galvanized coating!👍

Time to add the plywood to the last side that needs it! The run wall still needs its plywood! Using one of the sheets of plywood that you cut down to 71 1/2″, and cut it directly in half at 24″, so you end up with two 24″ x 71 1/2″ pieces!

Okay, now that all the plywood is on, time to trim out the entire thing! 😆

Trimming Out the DIY Chicken Coop

I am going to pretty much show the pictures of the trim and offer any helpful tips I may have, and you can download the plans if you want to see exact measurements!

Run Wall Trim

I attached the run to the wall before completing the trim work, you can do it whichever way you want, I just wanted to be able to trim around it without being perfectly precise in my measurements!

I framed around the opening of course and then added the run to complete the trim.

If you need the chicken coop run plans, get them here: DIY CHICKEN COOP RUN

After attaching the run, I added trim to cover any plywood seams!

You can see the brackets we used to attach the run in the photo above as well! It is also screwed into the coop from the inside!

The final addition to the trim on the run wall that is not pictured, I added the battens to the top. They are mitered at 25 degrees off square on one end.

Nesting Box Wall Trim

The nesting box will need to be built in order to trim out this wall!

Get the nesting box plans here: DIY NESTING BOX

Well, guys, this is the extent of nesting box wall trim that I took! 😆 Apparently it was getting dark and I was just trying to hurry up and finish! So, you will definitely want to check out the plans for this one!

That gray bar is not supposed to be there…so don’t wonder which step you missed that told you to add that!😂 It’s the top rail of the fence that we were taking out!

Door Wall Trim

Don’t mind that large gap at the top, those boards will be covered!

Window Wall Trim

Make sure and add the hardware cloth to the window before adding trim. You want the trim to not only hide the hardware cloth but keep it pinched between the plywood and trim!

Don’t mind the caulk all over the wall…this particular area started cracking after the rain, so I thought I’d try a little caulk to seal it and cover it!🙄😀I did caulk all the horizontal boards to make sure water doesn’t seep behind them and cause the wood to rot!

Then I started painting baby!

Painting the DIY Chicken Coop

Using my Home Right sprayer, I was able to quickly spray the inside and outside of the chicken coop!

I LOVE this sprayer, I also have the older model but for this particular project, I suggest this one because it has three different tip sizes that allow you to use the largest one and spray really fast! I am talking 3 minutes max for an entire wall!😵

That’s not actually a video! Lol! Only a screenshot from the video because it was on my phone and too big of a file to send and I haven’t had the time to download it to my computer! Sorry folks!

After spraying it inside and out, I just had to build and hang the DOOR and SHUTTERS to complete the building process!

The last thing I did before allowing the ladies to move in was adding hardware cloth to the eves to keep coons and other sly little critters out!🐭🐍 Using screws with a wafer head, I was able to just screw the hardware cloth to the frame and 2×4 on the rafters!

From the outside, you can’t even see the hardware cloth! It’s perfect! And DONE!

I’m beyond excited to share these plans with you all, and would love for you to share them with your friends!

Thanks for stopping by! Hope to see you again soon!

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