My new chicken coop finally arrived! Look how cute it is!
It shipped from Michigan and arrived last week, but it took me a few days before I could move it to my backyard. Why? Because it is heavy and big. I had to clear a pathway (which means moving my mega composter) and then I had to bribe a few friends (with cookies) to come over to help my husband and I move it. The house weighs 200 lbs.
I put it in the boy's old play area where I used to have a grass roof house.
Why did I have a coop shipped from Michigan? There were several reasons:
1) I just did not have time to make my own right now.
2) There are NO cute coops like this in Los Angeles.
3) The closest coops I could find (that had charm) were over $1,400!
4) It was cheaper to buy and ship this one then it was to buy one here. Go figure!
The chickens love it!
NOTE: You may have noticed that I am starting to use a watermark on my blog photos. I just got tired of people stealing my pictures for their own use and not giving credit. It doesn't prevent the stealing, but at least people know where the photos came from. I will try to keep the watermarks inconspicuous.
About the Author
Theresa Loe blogs here about taking the garden full circle while striving for a more local, fresh-from-the-garden lifestyle. She is a TV producer, video host, freelance garden writer and a wrangler of chickens and children. (Not necessarily in that order.) For more information on these topics, you can subscribe to her free monthly newsletter.
Theresa Loe is the award- winning Co-Executive Producer & Canning Expert on Growing A Greener World TV. She blogs here about Living Homegrown®, local and fresh-from-the-garden. 
{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
Can I ask for the link of the coop site? How much was it? I live in MI and am looking for coop. Is it easy to clean out? How many chickens will it hold? Thanks! Ginger
Truly adorable! And I love the way you make use of every single square foot against the wall to grow something beautiful or delicious. Clever use of old gates too.
oh my gosh! L-O-V-E it. great blog!
Hi Ginger- I totally forgot to include the link to the website in my post – Sorry!
I bought the coop from Green Chicken Coop. They are incredibly nice and very helpful.
Here is the link:
link to greenchickencoop.com
The one I bought (called the Victoria) was $399 for the hen house and then $149 for the attached run.
I just noticed on their website that they have a new one called The Alexandria that is raise up more off the ground. I actually like that one more because the chickens can go under the house! It seems to be their new deluxe model. Very nice.
It is very easy to clean. If you look at the Green Coop website, it shows how it completely opens on the sides and at the back (where the nest boxes are).
I only have 3 chickens right now, but my coop is supposed to hold 5-8 chickens. Personally, I think 6 would be enough. 8 might be a little tight in the run unless they are bantums.
I hope that helps!
Theresa
Susan-
Thanks for the nice comments on my garden. I DO use every square inch of my garden. I have hanging baskets, windowboxes, etc. in every square inch. I live in a beach community and land is at a premium!
I will have to do a post on clever ideas for small space gardening. I got a million of ‘em!
Love it!! We’ve been thinking of some of the same issues in wanting to get a coop and I couldn’t find any on the Web. Now I know where to look.
Green Bean & Cindy-
So glad you like the coop! Thanks for stopping by…
What a beautiful coop! And your chickens are so cute.
It makes me so sad that people steal other’s images and don’t give credit (well, I’m sad that people steal, period). Hope your watermarks will deter them!
Very nice coop! The pre-built coops can be expensive. If you want to build an inexpensive chicken coop for your backyard you can do it for very little money. All you will need are some common materials, and chicken coop plans to get started. There are so many different designs to choose from out there, and if you have simple plans you can always add your own creative touch. Here is a site where you can download professional chicken coop plans:
http://buildchickencoopz.com
That coop is way too small for any more than 3 chickens, especially with that tiny run. I hate companies like this that sell these tiny coops – marketing them to people who dont want to pay too much…its cruel to keep animals penned up in that tiny space.
Lenny -
I am SO glad you wrote. You are absolutely correct. The coop is small. I only have 3 birds. BUT – that coop and run are NOT meant to keep the birds inside at all times. It is only for night time safety. The birds are free range birds. The attached run gives them a place come out and stretch their legs while waiting for me to come let them out each day.
The company that makes this coop makes it very clear that the run is NOT for them to say in all day.
Theresa
Can you please tell me how you clean your coop,what is your routine ? it looks like you are using Pine shaving for the bedding, how’s that working for you ?
I’m just curios, not sure I’m loving the sand that I’m using right now.
Thank you
Tammy,
I had totally answered this, but now it is gone. So, I will answer again…
I clean my coop about every two weeks when the hens are outside a lot (free ranging). But when they are not allowed to free range, I try to clean it every week. (Sometimes they don’t free range because of weather or when I have a lot of seedlings coming up in the garden that I do not want them to eat.)
I DO use pine shavings and when I scrape them out, I put them in my big composter. The shavings break down quickly and the poop adds nitrogen, etc to my compost. It also helps the compost heat up. Since I got my chickens a few years ago, my compost is SO much better.
I have heard of using sand, but I always wondered how it worked. Sounds like you are not liking it much. I would think that after awhile, it would be hard to keep clean.
~Theresa