chickens have very particular requirements in terms of space for roosting, space for laying, and space for roaming. the aim here was to make a place where they would be protected from predators in all activities, while providing easy access to food and water replenishment, coop cleaning and egg collection. since doing this in a sing;e structure made a reasonably large construction in the middle of the yard it was determined that the coop should both function practically and add an aesthetic feature to the yard. 

 

in terms of construction an attempt was made to make the entire structure out of 2x4’s (for simplicity); with the exception of a central support for the center of the butterfly roof this was achieved. the perimeter is framed in a fairly conventional manner and covered with hardware cloth, the roof frame is clad in off the rack galvanized corrugated roofing, and the roosting box was conceived and made as “crib” construction of horizontally stacked 2x4’s.