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The Great Hen House Build

The much anticipated and prepared for Hen House and Chicken Run happened this holiday!! I so wanted to make a real Hen House for “the girls” because the reclaimed area has left them with no real home of their own – just a makeshift place that was only meant to be temporary. I was lucky to have the help of my many-talented hubby – the one with the real skill – and the time to build it during the holidays!! So all the photos with me in it – don’t be fooled! I am just the rookie! But nevertheless, I did pull my weight – I drilled and hammered and sanded and painted and lugged and assembled ….whew! This was a really big project. I’m exhausted!! I guess you can see by the photos 🙂

[one_half]The big start![/one_half]

[one_half_last]All measured and ready for drilling[/one_half_last]

[one_half]Preparing the sides[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Assembled and sanding[/one_half_last]

[one_half]Grinding the windows straight[/one_half]

[one_half_last]View of sides-big hey?[/one_half_last]

[one_half]Me inside with “the girls”[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Starting to look like a home[/one_half_last]

[one_half]Painting of primer coat-whew![/one_half]

[one_half_last]Assembling on site the next day[/one_half_last]

[one_half]Painting the interior with Wall n All[/one_half]

[one_half_last]First coat done![/one_half_last]

[one_half]Now the outside! A bright red![/one_half]

[one_half_last]First coat done! Nearly there![/one_half_last]

[one_half]Waiting patiently![/one_half]

[one_half_last]Now for the windows[/one_half_last]

[one_half]This one large enough for me to clean inside[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Ta da! Love the final outcome![/one_half_last]

This is the Chicken Run fence …

I decided to keep to the rustic look and “plant” dropper poles as fencing rather than build a chicken wire fence. The new area is right in the back corner of the back garden – part of the Meadow area. The chickens like it here and there is plenty of shade and stuff to scratch!

[one_half]Droppers just stuck in the ground[/one_half]

[one_half_last]The girls seem quite happy here[/one_half_last]

[one_third][/one_third]

[one_third][/one_third]

[one_third_last][/one_third_last]

I am so happy now that this can be crossed off my New Year’s “To Do” list!! We just have to get the area spic and span and the house kitted out with feeder and watering hole and the bedding. Maybe a picture or two on the inside walls 🙂

Do you have a New Year project? Please share it!

Happy DIY-ing xxxxx

By Barbara

Country living is the best! Being a true spirit of the earth, my garden is all about vegetables and fruit trees and herbs and chickens roaming free. I was keen to really start gardening when we moved to Philadelphia in 2005, but not your typical suburban-type garden – sterile and bug-free! I wanted an edible garden.

27 replies on “The Great Hen House Build”

Amazing! That was a lot of work and is a perfect little house for your girls. I like you showed photos for most of the steps. I have thought about getting chickens, but I do not think we can have them here in this neighborhood, but when we do–perhaps sometime in the future-I will have this post to come back to.

We love doing the photo-record. We have so many projects we have done that we need to remind ourselves how much love we put into our home! The chickens love it! 🙂

Lovely! The bright red color is perfect! I remember how relieved we were when we finished our first coop. It definitely pays to have easy access to the inside. I was the same as you, thinking about how I was going to clean it, even before it was finished being built! As often as you end up cleaning it though, it’s definitely worth it to plan ahead. I’m your hens will love their new poultry palace 🙂

Poultry Palace!!! Ha…love it! 🙂 Better than Hen House! It is a true 5 star abode 🙂
I have a “trap door” and the base is ABS plastic, so I pick up all the shavings and add to the compost heap and clean done!

It is so amazing to look back now and see what we did! It is always good to have a photo-history so you can recall the time. Tough though, but worth it!

It’s wonderful! I wish I were as handy at you are with the power tools then my projects would be finished a lot sooner! Well, that’s what I tell myself anyway. Great job!

Hi Cat!! My hubby teaches me all the tricks of the trade – I have my “assistant” builders overall as proof that I can do it! 🙂 A lot of elbow grease is needed, whew!

Wow your talents just keep coming…I love the design and color…and that fence is perfect…no New Year’s projects outside as we are under snow….so cleaning, decluttering and planning for the spring are in the plans as well as seed starting indoors soon with some flowers.

We are thinking about getting some chickens, which means building a hen house. Youdid a great job, and I love the color! If we do this, I will definitely consider red! Thanks for the inspiration! I also love the fencing!

Thanks Debs! I started off thinking a smaller hen house would be fine, but I am glad that we went for a larger size – incase we get more chickens we can accommodate them. So don’t go too small when you build.

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