Small Modern Chicken Coop

Lay out the first side frame (sloped top rail, three graduated uprights, bottom and mid rails), mark and drill the 1-1/2" pocket holes, and assemble with 2-1/2" exterior pocket screws. Build the second frame IN MIRROR — the frames face each other.

Do the builder's regret-tip now: paint or seal the frame interiors before any wire goes on. Painting through stapled mesh is the worst hour of the whole project.

Staple chicken wire or hardware cloth to the frame insides. Trim the excess and FOLD the cut edges over before the final staples — trimmed wire ends are needle-sharp, and both you and the birds will find them otherwise.

Screw the 2x2 floor cleats to the frame insides with the 2-1/2" screws — these carry the removable roost floor.

Cut the first cedar picket with its top at 5° (long-point measurement) and attach to the side wall inside face, flush with the 2x2 top, leaving at least 1-1/2" of frame exposed above. Two of the shorter screws per joint.

Measure the SHORT point of the picket you just installed — that's the LONG point of the next one. Cut, install, repeat down the slope. The first few cuts need fresh pickets; before long the offcuts are supplying the pieces, which is the method's whole economy.

Drill two 1-1/2" pocket holes in each end of the 33" 2x4s and attach them to one side frame, then flip the assembly onto the second frame and attach. The coop becomes three-dimensional here — a second pair of hands saves a lot of awkward propping.

(The source left one bottom-end 2x4 off for easier cleaning access — shown in photos, optional.)

Add the 2x2 interior trim, then side the interior wall with pickets and the shorter screws, saving offcuts for the doors. The upper opening this creates is both ventilation and the birds' door to the run — it stays open because the run below is enclosed.

Cut the plywood floor to fit its opening MINUS about 1/2" all around, set it on the cleats, and do not screw it down. A floor you can lift out is a coop you can actually clean. Add a lip strip at the back edge — the source's own improvement — so bedding doesn't pour out when the door opens.

Pocket-hole the front door frame together, staple wire to its back, and hang it with hinges and a latch. Check the swing clears the siding before final hinge screws.

Build the back door — pickets over the upper portion, wire over the lower — and hang it. This full-height door is the source's post-build upgrade: it makes the lower level cleanable without crawling, which is the feature you'll thank yourself for monthly.

Slide the 37-1/2" x 8 ft tin sheet onto the sloped frame tops and fasten with the metal roofing screws into the 2x4s. The whole coop was dimensioned around this off-the-shelf panel — no cutting, no seams, no leaks to create.

Assemble the nesting box from the plywood pieces — floor, three dividers, 1x3 lip — with pocket holes or 2-1/2" screws, and install it in the roost. Bed it, introduce the flock, and accept that the coop now looks better than the shed.