Our Plans for Building A Chicken Coop with White Interior and Run
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Our plans for building a chicken coop turned into a bigger construction project than we anticipated. When building a chicken coop you want to take into consideration how many chickens you will have, a plan for nesting boxes, perches, a door to a run and possibly an automatic door opener.
Building A Chicken Coop
I originally asked my dad to help me build a small chicken coop that was cheap and small. This chicken coop from Wayfair and this red coop from Amazon was on my wish list. Needless to say, our chicken coop came out a little bigger than we planned.
The day I saw a truck load of wood being delivered, I knew it wasn’t going to be small. The 2×4’s and 2×10’s that were delivered were enough for a small house.
Do you remember the pool pump building from last year that we built to enclose all the pool equipment? Our walk in chicken coop is next to it. My son was actually very helpful and has enjoyed helping my dad build the coop.
My son had been asking for chickens since last Spring but as many of you know, life was insane a few years ago and I just couldn’t wrap my head around something else to take care of.
You know how it goes when a kid wants an animal, YOU as the parent end up taking care of it.
Chicken Coop Design Ideas
The chicken coop I designed was originally not a walk in chicken coop. It was small and under $500!
I showed my dad a few pictures of the coops I liked and his response was, “how is that going to survive in the winter?” My dad always thinks big and sturdy so he took it upon himself to build a chicken mansion that you could walk into.
Large Chicken Coop Plans
He also decided to make a roof covered “indoor chicken pen” for the chickens during the winter months so they wouldn’t have to go in the outdoor pen if they didn’t want to! No joke.
The right side of the coop below shows the opening for the indoor chicken run that will have wire walls.
We only have 7 chickens and I do not plan on getting anymore at the moment. We have 4 Silkies, 2 Americana’s and 1 Speckled Sussex.
We decided to frame a hip roof on the walk in chicken coop in order to have it coordinate with the adjacent pool house and our house.
I have to say, I love DIY projects and I have been helping my dad build and renovate since I was a kid but one thing I am not a fan of is roof work.
Framing the Walk In Chicken Coop Roof
Framing the roof of our walk in chicken coop and walking around on staging isn’t my favorite thing to do.
Thankfully my dad called in the reinforcement troops to add the plywood to the roof and shingle it.
Related: See the inside of the chicken coop here
My dad is almost 70 years old and my mom was ready to kill him (and me) for the work we did do on the roof.
RELATED: Don’t miss our inside chicken coop tour progress and nesting boxes
The Silkie chickens are like little pets. They love to sit on your lap.
Stay tuned, the roof completion post is coming soon and hopefully we get the windows and doors installed quickly so the chickens can get out of my garage. They are currently in a makeshift dog kennel – dog crate setup which is getting too small. The DIY walk in chicken coop needless to say, turned into something a lot more than just a chicken coop but hopefully we can get the chickens moved soon. They are smelly now!

Meet Jessica
What started as a hobby, Jessica’s blog now has millions of people visit yearly and while many of the projects and posts look and sound perfect, life hasn’t always been easy. Read Jessica’s story and how overcoming death, divorce and dementia was one of her biggest life lessons to date.
Wow ! Looking good ! We just love our chickens too ! All 11 of them ! Our coop looks like an old fashioned schoolhouse ! Love !
Oh, Jessica, it is going to be fabulous. I’m sure the chickens will LOVE it. They are beautiful! If they don’t like living in there I would like to move in, lol. I LOVE the relationship between you and your family. Keep up the great work and TFS.
That is indeed a mansion! We built a somewhat large coop for our 12 girls but it’s only a mini-mansion now…ha. They have a huge run so glad to see that yours will too! In the winter with the snow my hub puts up clear plastic (that wavy stuff you find at Home Depot) on the sides and roof of the run to keep them warm a bit. Then in the summer we take it off so they are cooler. Can’t wait to see the finished chick mansion 🙂
That’s a great idea about he plastic, my dad said something similar 😉
So…what did the finished coop look like??!
It’s almost done!
Absolutely beautiful! I recently turned a 3,000.00 playhouse into a chicken coop.It has linoleum ,easier to clean the floors, it’s insulated, has electricity for lights and a heated waterer in the winter, and last but not least it has air conditioning. That’s right , last year I lost my 11 yr old RIR to a heat stroke my air is thermastatically controlled for my brahmas and orpingtons. Only problem ,it’s only 5 x 6.If your dad feels up to it I’ll hire both of you to build me a bigger coop!
That’s sad about your RIR :(. After this coop I think he will be happy to never see another coop again! haha.
Those are some lucky chickens! I would have been the Mom on the ground alternately begging you and your dad to come down off the roof, yelling at you to come down, and praying!
haha yes she was a little aggravated 😉
Congratulations to your dad on his weight loss. What an amazing job you guys are doing on your chicken mansion. Now you can start a new business of building chicken mansions or Tiny houses for the tiny house living people. Have a blessed week.
Can we see finished pictures of the interior and exterior?! I’m about to build mine and wanted to see and hear how the interior walkway was working out? Thanks!
We love having the interior walkway. It’s a great place to store food and cleaning supplies 🙂 Hoping to share the exterior pictures soon….in the process of hanging some plant hangers ect.