I’ve been missing my backyard chickens terribly so I asked my friend Heather in Massachusetts to share some photos of her chicken coop for all of us to see. Here’s what she has to say:

Since Mavis’ move she is chicken-less and has asked me to give a chicken-coop tour.

It all started when I built my coop from pallets. Did you know pallets are not even, straight, or any other sort of plum that some type A person would adore? I didn’t.  In case you missed it, you can read the whole story here.

Coops designs vary {a lot!} depending on your climate. Here is MA the summer can be 95* and plunge to 5* in the winter. That 90* swing requires a few adjustments. I built my coop around the idea that I wanted a lot of natural light, especially since my coop was tucked back on the edge of the woods. I used two storm doors I got for free from a friend.

Second, I stuff my coop with hay {which stays nicely in between the pallets}. I also added lighting to increase egg production through our VERY dark winter. I plug it in at 5am and unplug it when we all get home..

We keep the food inside in a self feeder I created from a dog bowl and PVC pipe.

This keeps critters out of it and I can fill it without going in the coop. As aside benefit – it’s spill proof!

Water stays outside on a heated base. I buried the cord with big rocks. We all know chickens like to dig and I didn’t want them to peck at the cord, dig it up or generally damage the heater. It’s not cheap but lugging frozen poop-covered water containers into your kitchen sink is no fun either *blech*!

A regular bird feeder holds their oyster shells and egg shells, keeps water and dirt out of it, and holds enough grit for a week or two.  This is Agnus posturing- she is such a beast and rules the pen.

We have many, many tenacious raccoons. They’ve scratched 1/4″ into our town rubber garbage cans, scratched 1/4″ into the pvc pipe feeder and attacked our dogs… So it was a no-brainer to staple fencing to the bottom of the coop, all openings {vents or windows}, and all the way around the border of the pen.

Although we consider our chickens “working chickens” and not “pet chickens” I just couldn’t resist the curtains. They were bargain basement place mats that I cut and stapled to the roost

The back of our pen is all business. Three tins filled with food (with the strap), shavings, and diatrematreous earth. The rake is pinned up off the ground and snow and the extension cords are weaved through the garden and under the coop.

That stump is new, the entire 100′ tree snapped off and landed 2′ on the other side of the tins.

This is where I store my homemade chicken tractor. Storing it up on the blocks keeps it dry and easy to use when needed.

GOLD! Sure they look like giant bags of leaves – but come rain and snow the leaves will keep the mud under control and entertain the chickens.

How are YOUR chickens doing this winter? Do you do anything special to your coop during the winter months?

~Heather

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