Chicken House Tour

We inherited our chicken house when we bought this place. It is not beautimous, but it is fairly functional. It needs to be rebuilt as the posts that are the foundation of the entire structure (corners, mostly) are rotting. It is right on the wet weather creek and the creek is threatening to erode the dirt right out from under the wall. And, as it has a dirt floor it's easy for critters to dig into. Still and all, it's working for us, for now. Let's take a tour. In the photo above you can see the (re-fenced) run, the window and door - the door enters into what I call the "little room" but they may be the same size) and the orange stuff is on what I call the "big room".


The "little room" is mostly enclosed, with ventilation at the rooftop and some drafts. The "big room" is much more open, with construction netting stuff forming some of the walls and a tarp acting as a wind and rain block. The entire affair is rather cobbled together, with the walls being made of plank wood, tin roofing, tarp, cardboard boxes, feed bags...


This is in the "little room". The chicken-sized door goes out into the fenced in run. Our chickens mostly free range but it's nice to have a yard for them during times like now, while we've got a trap set trying to catch a fox that's been preying on our chickens. I lined most of the little room with 1/4" plywood because our winters are cold (-8F this past winter) and the room was very drafty - like, you could look through the walls.


In the "little room" looking out the door. There is a doorway between the "little room" and the "big room" and it has a heavy piece of rubber hanging in the doorway, with a 2x4 piece of wood stapled to the bottom. It's very heavy, probably heavy pond liner. I roll it down in the summer so there's lots of ventilation. In the winter I roll it down to reduce airflow and drafts. The chickens push past it if they want to go into the big room in cold weather. Fools.


The "big room" with the wall partly of wood, corrugated metal, and cardboard, and partly of construction "webbing" and tarp. There are roosts in both rooms but the chickens only roost for the night in the "little room".