The Coop

Our chickens live in a plastic coop called the Eglu Cube. This chicken coop is made in England. We bought ours from someone who gave away their chickens and didn't need it anymore. The chickens usually only go inside to sleep at night. They sleep on roosting bars inside and their poop falls between the bars onto the poop boards. When I clean up all I have to do is take out the poop boards and dump the poop in the compost pile. There is also a little room called a nesting box and when they are old enough to lay eggs they will lay eggs in there.  It has a special door so I can reach in and take the eggs without having to take the whole roof off the coop.  The best thing about this coop is that it is very easy to clean. I can take it apart and hose it all down in about 10 minutes.  

Chickens use this ladder to get into the coop.

Can you see the word "omlet" on the egg door?  That's the name of the company that made the coop. Pretty clever name for a company that makes chicken coops, don't you think?

As you can see this coop has a damaged section by the door. The previous owner melted some of the plastic with a heat lamp and made a hole in the wall.  I covered up the hole with black tape.  I was worried the chickens would peck at it but so far they have left it alone.  You can see the roosting bars in this picture. At night time I close the orange door to keep the chickens safe.

Chickens like to have a lot of space so there is a fenced in area attached to the coop. It is called a chicken run. The one you see in this picture is temporary. We are building a stronger one that will have a roof and use a stronger type of wire called hardware cloth.  In this picture you can see Pip keeping an eye out. She is the oldest (by one week!) and is definitely the leader of the group.