Shed Chicken Coop (Walk-In)

Sort the foundation first — pier blocks with treated 4x4s on top is the simple default, but frost depth and drainage vary, so ask locally (the source's advice, and correct).

Frame the floor 24" on center with 16d nails or 3" screws, square it by diagonals, and sheath with 3/4" ply glued with subfloor adhesive and ring-shank nailed. Cold climate? Slip rigid foam between the joists now. Set the floor on the foundation and shim dead level — every wall inherits this surface. Then lay linoleum over the plywood; it converts cleaning day from scraping to hosing.

On a big flat area, frame the front wall: plates, studs, and the door opening with its jack studs and header. Nail or screw, then square by diagonals before it leaves the ground.

Two side walls, each with a framed window (headers and sills from the 21-1/2" pieces). The windows can move or resize freely — they're ventilation, and the shutters will be built to whatever you frame. Use scrap to frame the nesting-box opening in one side wall, with a lip to help hens step in.

The back studs are cut at 15° on top (84-1/2" long point) so the roof slope is built into the wall. Fasten the top plate WITHOUT letting it overhang the studs — the T1-11 runs flush all the way up the back face, and a proud plate would hold the siding off the framing.

Stand and brace the walls, screwing down into the floor joists and to each other, checking plumb as you go. Then the rafters: 2x4s cut 15° both ends (parallel), with the bottom point trimmed off square 2-5/8" down — that flat lets each rafter land flush on the front wall. Hang them with 1-1/2" pocket holes and 2-1/2" screws, or toenail, or use brackets; all three work, the pocket holes are just the least cursing.

Hang the T1-11 in full sheets, trimming only length. Trim front and back first with full 8-foot 1x4s top and bottom, then the sides — all trim cut to fit, because T1-11 thickness varies and the source rightly refuses to pretend otherwise. 2" galvanized nails throughout.

Roof: three sheets of 1/2" ply (center piece gets one lengthwise cut — the 24" o.c. studs make the math work), nailed off, then your roofing over it.

Build the box from the 1x12: 30°-sloped sides, bottom, front trim, 2x4 back supports. Screw it to the side wall THROUGH the studs at the framed opening, and hinge the sloped lid.

The slope isn't style — a flat nesting box top becomes a roost, and a roost above the nest means fouled eggs. The outside lid means eggs without entering: the feature you'll use 365 mornings a year.

Trim the window openings in 1x3, staple HARDWARE CLOTH over them from inside (raccoons open chicken wire like a lunchbox), and build the four shutters — three 1x4 boards battened with 1x2s each — hung on hinges so they close over the wire in rain or cold.

Frame the door in 1x4s with 1-1/4" pocket holes, back it with leftover ply or 1x6s, and build it to YOUR opening with 1/8" gaps all around. Hang it, add 1x2 door-stop moulding inside the jamb (stop and weather seal in one), and latch it — with the string-through-the-wall trick if the latch is chicken-height.

Move the flock in. You'll stand upright in there tomorrow morning and wonder why anyone builds the crouching kind.