Chickens Home Sweet Home

I’m hosting a tour today through the home of the Backyard chicken gang that lives in my backyard. My chicken coop was built by Horizon Structures based out of Pennsylvania.  My coop is a 5 x 6′  that is built to hold 12-15 chickens, though with my chickens being free range it can hold 15-18.  It is over a year old and I couldn’t be happier, though I really wish we had ordered the size up, though my husband does not.

What is the best thing about my chicken coop?  The Dawn to Dusk Door.  A metal door with guides that has a battery powered all-in-one light sensor, so it opens when the sun rises and closes when the sun sets. That means you don’t have to run out in your PJ’s in the dark when you forgot to shut the coop door, or be sitting out  with friends at dinner worrying about getting home to lock up the coop before something bad happens. The second best thing about my chicken coop?  The poop drawer.  Anyone who has ever cleaned a chicken coop will  want their very own poop drawer after they see this! 🙂 When my chickens roost, the underside of the roost bar is sealed off with wire so that they can not get under.  What is underneath the roost bar is a poop drawer that catches their droppings.

Now the genius part you can access the drawer from the outside back of the coop by a hinged panel (with latches). The drawer is lined with Glasbord a fiberglass reinforced plastic, that makes cleaning the drawer extremely easy.

You slide out the drawer, brush or scrub off the poop into a basket of pan, place the cleaned drawer back in the coop and throw the chicken poop into the compost.  Yes, it is that easy-3-5 minutes and your done with your weekly coop cleaning!

The third best thing about my chicken coop?  We added a covered back porch.  I found that the chickens didn’t have enough room to gain cover from the elements, rain and snow.  So we ordered two pieces of galvanized  metal that matches the roof of my coop, built a wood frame for support and attached it to the back of coop with hinges.  This allows me to be able to lift it to get to the poop drawer and fill feeder and waterer.