Here are our sweet silkie chickens… My daughter has these babies as “show chickens” for 4H. Aren’t they adorable?
We had them separate from the other hens since they were show birds, and their coop was just an open box. It did the trick, but we wanted to make sure they were better protected.
With no more money in the animal budget for a new coop, I decided to use what we already had, a dog house I got off of Freecycle.
Aside from my hubby spending a night or two in there, it was never used. Believe it or not, my dog does NOT like to be outside much.
She would rather be inside on her nice warm bed. So, I got to work. After a quick trip to Menard’s to get some hinges and a handle for $7, I was on the way to making a new home for the babies.
First, I had to take off one of the roof sides of the house.
Then, I had to make sure all the nails were out… and the person who built this sure wanted to make sure it was secure! There were 20 nails in this side of the roof alone! Some were more stubborn than others, requiring me to hammer it from the underside.
Then, I had to measure for the hinges, and mark the spot to pre-drill a hole to screw the hinges in to. After the hinges were on, I needed to put the handle on the side so we can open it up and get the silkies food, water, and check the nesting box for eggs.
We put some straw in the bottom, along with their food and water and put their run against the house. I will let them “out” once they are used to this new house. And viola! A doghouse re-purposed into a chicken house! The whole project only cost me $7, too! And they look so happy, don’t they?
What’s your favorite chicken coop plan? Have you tried converting a dog house before? Be sure to pin this for later
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Heather’s homesteading journey started in 2006, with baby steps: first, she got a few raised beds, some chickens, and rabbits. Over the years, she amassed a wealth of homesteading knowledge, knowledge that you can find in the articles of this blog.
Hi there,
Great Idea shared it! Trish
Not a dog house but I converted a kids playhouse I got off craigslist for free. Cost about $50 in hardware cloth for the windows and misc.hinges ,screws and lumber,only took a few hours.
Awesome, we are planning on converting a rabbit house into a chicken coop. Should work too.
Great job! No need to spend a lot of money on a fancy coop when you can use what you already have or repurpose something someone else no longer wants. I turned an old dog run in my backyard into my chicken pen.
Awesome! Thanks for sharing on the Homestead Blog Hop!
I wish that would keep out the racoons here…they are fierce. We have to having something that is like Fort Knox to keep them out!
we had issues with them, too until we hung out christmas tree lights during the summer. from dusk til dawn they were on a timer and that really seemed to help!