This month’s “Cool Coop” is a perfect reminder that spring is finally here and warm weather and sunshine will soon bring some much appreciated color to the landscape. You’ll love Dandi Gentry’s creative and artful touches she added to her beautiful set-up. Continue reading as Dandi describes the construction of her cheerful coop she refers to as the – “Sunny Side Up”
We are from Alabama, I always thought it would be fun to have chickens in my garden…so last spring we made my dream a reality.
We started with the coop… In my garden we already had a square structure kinda like a gazebo that we weren’t really using. So we decided to use it as our structure. It’s about a 8′ x 8′. We came up with the design based on where we wanted the front to be..knowing we would be adding a run.
The front window is a glass on glass mosaic that I made for the coop.
Inside the coop we have 2 x 4s running across 1 wall for the roost, a poop tray underneath filled with sand, old wooden crates are used for nest boxes, and old windows are used for circulation.
We put the windows on hinges so they could be opened in summer because it gets very hot here. Chicken wire and heavy duty metal wire cover the inside of the window. Sand is used as flooring inside the coop. We used lots of recycled materials to keep cost down.
Our neighbors gave us old rusty metal from an old chicken house to use as decoration on the outside. We even have a chicken feeder hanging in the front with flowers planted in it!
The run is about 24′ x16′.
We also have 2 ducks, so we have them on one side and the chickens on the other separated by chicken wire.
The whole run is covered with chicken wire and then heavy duty wire on the bottom. Chicken wire also covers the top.
We added swings, chairs, stumps, ladders to make them a little playground. Right now we have 10 chickens and 2 ducks.
We are enlarging the run this spring to add new chicks and 2 Indian runners.t’s so much fun!
Thanks Dandi for sharing your unique coop and colorful flock! I’m sure the photos of the “Sunny Side Up” will give many of our Community Chickens readers some great ideas to add to their set-up this spring!
If you have a “Cool Coop” you would like to share with the Community, email me at RNickols@communitychickens.com
Click on the link below for previous entries in the “Cool Coops!” series…
To view what else is happening at our Southwest Missouri property visit: the garden-roof coop
If you enjoy bird-watching (in addition to chicken-watching), I invite you to follow my Facebook page: Rebecca’s Bird Gardens
15 Comments
This whole set up is so wonderful! I hope to one day have this amount of awesomeness in my backyard too! Wow, Wow, Wow. I can’t say enough about this! Every detail is perfect. The artwork, the plants, and the varieties of chickens – Bang, Pow, Boom! You’ve totally knocked this one out of the park! Thank you for sharing and inspiring me!
wonderful coop….do you let the chickens out in your garden……..I love the whole thing….very inspiring….we have 9 girls and 4 ducks and really enjoy all of them……their eggs too…..
Beautiful coop and run! What are the white panels that you added over the wire mesh and where did you get them?
W Evey
Are the ducks in the same coop?
Wow, this looks like chicken paradise. It’s making me want to up my game with my own flock of 8. By the way, nice artwork on and in the coop. You can tell this is a labor of love.
Cool coop! What I’d like to know is how large the run is and what varieties of chickens do I see in the pics.
Hi! The run is 24×16 … I have polish, barred rock, buff orphinton, Millie fluer d’uccle, and Cochin’s … We also just added a 16×24 pen for our new ducks!!
How did you cut the pieces of glass so precise to these shapes? And did you paint in some of the black? It is beautiful ! I do glass mosaic windows just for a hobbie…but I can’t cut such precise shapes. We just got chickens and a coop can’t wait for them to grow…your whole setup is amazing! I know you worked hard.
Thanks Dee
Everything came from hobby lobby to cut with. I had a glass cutter and the hand help snips, just drew out the shapes I wanted..it took some practice.. It is all glass no paint.
Absolutely LOVE your coop and the art you have added to make it extra special!!! You’ve done a wonderful job…..and given me the boost to try my hand at mosaics which I’ve put off for many years. Thanks for sharing!!!
Thank you for sharing and the stain glass window was awesome. You guys did an awesome job.
I have four chickens and move the chicken tractor so they get new grass everyday. Did you know they love blueberries, yogurt,and applesauce.
Enjoy your birds!!!
Love the Mosaic window. I sure do miss having chickens. Very nice set-up.
Thank you for sharing your fabulous coop. Absolutely beautiful! You know a person has joy in their heart and spirit to design something like that! It just exudes happiness. LOVE the glass/mosaic rooster and how you could see it thru the windows on the other side too.
Beautiful coop and in a nice backyard!
Good job!