Small Chicken Coop with Planter & Clean-Out Tray

Build the two side frames first: 2x8 up top, 2x4 below, screwed to the 4x4 legs with 3" deck screws, squared by diagonals. Join them with the front/back 2x8s and 2x4s and square again.

The 2x8s aren't oversized whimsy — their top edges become the planter box walls later. Cedar or treated everywhere on this level; it lives in the splash zone.

Add the center 2x8 and the 33-1/2" door divider with 3" screws. Then staple the chicken wire around the run NOW, wrapping the legs — the source's timing, because stapling wire inside a finished coop is a crawl you only volunteer for once. Hardware cloth at ground-predator height if your neighborhood has raccoons; it does.

Screw the five floor supports across the base with 3" screws — spaced to leave the clean-out tray's slot between two of them (check your tray width against the gap now, not in step 8).

Lay out both side-panel profiles on the 3/4" sheets, nesting the shapes so the roof panels come out of the remainder, and cut with the jigsaw. Attach the panels to the floor supports.

Build the upper floor framing section flat on the ground with 3" screws, then lift it into the coop and attach at the top; add the nesting-box floor piece with 2" screws through the 3/4" side panels into the 2x4s. Then the four 45° roof supports and remaining framing with 2" screws.

Building the frame on the ground and lifting is the source's order and the right one — screwing framing overhead inside a 3-foot box is the alternative.

Rip pickets (or use 1x3s) to 2-1/2" and 1-1/2" widths and trim the outside with galvanized brads or 1-1/4" exterior screws — this is where the coop gets its cottage face. Cover the roof areas with the 3/4" scraps, 2" screws into framing, and lay the roofing over.

Remember the planter sits in the front roofline: dry-fit its 2x2 frame before the roofing goes on so nothing has to come back off.

Hinge the nesting-box door in its opening with a latch. Build the two base doors from the 2x4 frames and 3/4" ply to fit their openings, hinge and latch them. Cut the clean-out access doors to fit and hang them too.

Use two-motion latches everywhere a raccoon could stand — a simple hook-and-eye is a puzzle they solve on the second night.

Screw the 2x2 cleats inside the planter area to the 2x8 walls with 3" screws, drop scrap 3/4" material on the cleats as the floor, and screw down with 2" screws. Line with landscape fabric, stapled, with drainage holes punched — it drains onto the roof below, which is what roofs are for.

Fill and plant. Trailing things (nasturtiums, sweet potato vine) earn their keep here.

Build the shallow tray — 1x3 sides and ends around the 1/2" ply floor, 2" screws — sized to slide through its opening between the floor supports. Slide it in, bed it with shavings, and enjoy the best feature of the whole build every single week: pull, dump, hose, return. No shovel, no crawling, no regrets.