I fondly remember visiting my grandparents house when I was growing up. They had an amazing garden were the biggest zucchinis grew. The zucchini bread every year was something I learned to really appreciate as I got older. Then there was the crab apple tree along this long bermed yard. It provided the ammo when having apple fights with my older boy cousins. It was always better to be at the top of the berm. I had forgotten about it until just now, but there was a crazy cool chicken coop along the railroad tracks down a ways from their house. When my cousins and I stumbled upon it, it was like finding a treasure in the woods. It wasn’t anything special, really just old wood and old chicken wire. It was just there, magically, for us to watch with amusement. I remember going to find that coop as a teenager. It was in total disrepair and empty. It made me sad. But, the resurgence of urban farming has me so excited again. Another treasure, but this time in the city.
These photos of chicken coops have tons of personality for a variety of reasons. I hope you find something you like to inspire you or maybe even to bring back some memories.
Find our complete Flickr gallery of images here.
Check out the upcoming event including coop design!
CITY CHICKENS! AND DUCKS TOO!
Date: Saturday, April 24th, 2010 Time: 10AM – 12:30 NOON
Location: Garden for the Environment, 7th Ave at Lawton Street, San Francisco
Cost: $15
Harvest fresh eggs from your own back yard! You can keep chickens and ducks in San Francisco! Join Paul Glowaski, co-founder of Urban Eggs, for an exciting workshop on organic “eggriculture”. You will learn how to keep healthy chickens and ducks in San Francisco, including coop design, flock and human health concerns, chicken and duck feed, and what to expect from baby chicks to laying hens.
To pre-register, please call (415) 731-5627, or email info@gardenfortheenvironment.org
PDF Tags: chickens, photos
Very nice coops! We designed our coop a few years ago, focusing primarily on function and security (from predators). Not quite as inventive as some of these, but we were also trying to have the coop blend in more with other structures on the property. Would be fun, now that our carpentry skills are better, to build something more elaborate. We now will be embarking on a chicken coop ark for the garden area that we can place over fallow raised beds in the gardens, and expanding the run in the existing coop to accomodate our new, larger flock, so your post is very timely!
We actually just built our second coop (or should I say barn?). Well technically it's our third, but we'll just forget about the first one shall we? I have a post on how our previous one went up:
This newer one, while I plan on posting about it, it won't be until we get around to painting it. It's a mish mash of reused wood and is pretty ugly. Kind of embarrased to show it. LOL But it's very sound structurally and it stays a lot drier than our last coop.
If I ever convince my family we need chickens (the point is in doubt) I would want a coop like that. I like how it's enclosed to keep the chickens safe. We have a lot of critters here, so that would be a concern.
Christine in Alaska
Christine, what exactly are all of their concerns? Just what's the point of having them? It's because it's the best tasting eggs you'll ever eat! LOL There really is nothing like a fresh egg from your own chickens. I can't go back to storebought now.
Nice Rachel. Glad we're not the only ones whose drills pack up with no notice! Like you, our plans (that I did in Google-sketch up) became more of a 'serving suggestion' than actual plans. Our design certainly evolved while ours was under construction. Overall though, I've been very happy with it, and for all the attempted break-ins by bobcats and coyotes, it's kept the hens safe! Here was our first coop…
http://curbstonevalley.com/blog/?p=1267
Wow! Yours is MUCH prettier than mine. LOL Our most recent one is even worse looking than our blogged one. Some of the boards came off of the blogged one while others came from an old painted redwood two rail fence near DH's work. Hopefully soon we can pressure wash it and paint it to make it look nicer. Fortunately it's at the back of our lot so it's not as obvious as our last one.
At a colonial plantation nearby we'd get fresh eggs while tending a patch of garden and they were SO good. Needless to say they were the best eggs I'd ever had. My co-worker works on a property where she gets eggs and I am getting jealous to the point where I am seriously considering getting my own coop with a crowd.
I am a recent fan of chicken raising. My sister is currently raising chickens on her farm which is located just 5 minutes away from us. We are having so much fun visiting them and seeing how quickly they grow. I found your blog on Blotanical and wanted to "Welcome" you
Noelle, thank you for the welcome. We appreciate you coming on over to check us out. We hope you enjoy!
Thank you all for your comments. We love starting discussions. Can't wait until next weeks Flickr! Hmmmmm. What will it be? See you next week
Beautiful chicken coop. Who made it. Really appreciable.
It's from the Tangled Nest. http://thetanglednest.com/
Hi there Dog Island friends. I'm Lyanda from The Tangled Nest in Seattle, and that's our green and orange coop in your photo–very glad to see it on your beautiful blog! Here's a link to the post about building this coop, including a free PDF of the plan. Enjoy! http://thetanglednest.com/2010/02/our-urban-chicken-coop-plan/