Two years ago, I built a chicken coop inside the barn. It was my first project on the new property. The design was simple, and the only way in or out was a human-sized door.
The one thing missing? A chicken-sized door… Since chickens ARE the intended residents. Action must be taken, folks. Preparations must be made.
The goals of the project were twofold. First, we wanted to eliminate the goats’ access to the chicken feed inside the coop. Second, we wanted to use existing materials in our barn or on our land.
You’ll notice that the door was built directly into the barn wall, because the coop is built into the barn. You’ll also notice the black handle you grab for raising the door is a bit odd. In the truest sense of sustainable agriculture, we found an extra rabbit feeder lying around and screwed it into the door as our new handle. Since the feeder bowl is facing the door, we drilled a few holes in the bottom side so that any possible rainfall that enters the top screw holes will drain out the bottom without retaining moisture that might cause the wood to rot.
But, I promised you steps. So here’s my unconventional approach to adding a chicken coop door:
9 STEPS TO BUILDING A CHICKEN COOP DOOR
- Build a chicken coop
- Add chickens
- Leave
door open all day while theyfree range - Let goats barge in and eat all the chicken feed
- Do nothing (for months)
- Invite the co-founder of Real Plans (the best meal planning app in the universe) to help
- Let HIM build the chicken door for you
- Congratulate yourself
- Write a blog post
THE BOTTOM LINE
As you can see, this method requires forethought, omniscience, and a spot of good fortune. I hope you find yourself fortunate enough to have a good entrepreneurial friend from Southern California. The same results cannot be guaranteed if your friend is from somewhere else, such as Michigan, The Pelopponese, or Uganda.