Don’t settle for a boring chicken coop! These 10 chicken coop hacks will take your coop from drab to fab – and your chickens will love it, too! ?
Spring is finally here! Which means it’s time for chicks and spring coop cleaning. If you are like me, you may be looking for some extra-awesome ways to spruce up your chicken coop this year. Well, I’ve got you covered!
I searched the internet high and low and let me tell you, there are some genius chicken lovers out there! It was so hard to narrow this list down to just ten amazing DIY’s that will take your coop to the next level! Click on the image to check out each of these awesome chicken coop hacks!
Chicken Grazing Frames:
These grazing frames from The Garden Coop are pure genius! They allow chickens access to the tips of grass or other yummy sprouts while protecting the plant roots from being gobbled up! They would be easy to make with simple wood framing and mesh wire and there are step-by-step instructions on how to make your own!
DIY Automatic Chicken Feeder:
MultitaskingMaven.com shares an excellent tutorial that walks you through how to make a chicken feeder using a 5-gallon bucket and a plastic condiment platter. I love this so much that I think I am actually going to bust one out this weekend using all those extra buckets we have lying around!
Plastic Bin Poop Catcher:
Let’s talk poop for a second: We all know that chicken poop – if you can catch it – is a huge resource for you garden and homestead. The tricky part is catching it! Lucy Brown shared her simple method for catching all that poo on Mother Earth News. This is seriously so simple – all you need is a plastic container and some wire!
Shabby Chic Ladder Roosts:
There is some serious shabby chic goodness going on at Shabby Olde Potting Shed! From dressers transformed into nesting boxes to battery-operated mason jar sconces, this is one fab chicken coop! These rustic ladder roosts are my favorite! They are adorable and functional! You better believe I will be watching for ladders at the flea markets this summer!
Removable Chicken Coop Door Panels:
This awesome chicken coop design was shared on the Backyard Chickens member pages. This chicken coop incorporates a lot of function designs including removable door panels. They can be removed to allow for air circulation or replaced for safety and temperature control. Check out their entire post to see what other cool hacks they incorporated into their coop!
Nesting Box Curtains:
Cluck Wild Homestead incorporates some big style into their little chicken coop! Putting drapes on nesting boxes can help reduce unwanted broodiness among your hens, and now you can do it in style! I can’t wait to dig out some scrap fabric and make these for our boxes! She even shares the measurements and instructions to make these adorable chicken nest box curtains!
Chicken Perch Swing:
You’ve heard of porch swings… well, this is a perch swing! And it doesn’t get much easier to make – all you need is an old tree branch and some rope! Fresh Eggs Daily has the full scoop on how to make your own chicken perch swing!
Chicken Coop Rooftop Garden:
Using the roof of your chicken coop for extra growing space is one of my favorite new ideas. It utilizes otherwise wasted space to allow you some extra room to grow greens either for yourself or your chickens. Primal Palate has shared their step-by-step instructions for this amazing roof top garden! The plan that is shared takes a little building know-how, but even a beginner could hack out a smaller-scale version.
Chicken Coop Drunken Herbal Spray:
This DIY coop spray utilizes simple ingredients – essential oils and vodka – to form a great-smelling anti-bacterial coop spray. I am definitely going to whip up a batch to try out in our coop. Get can check out the full instructions and recipe at Camp Wander!
PVC Interactive Feeder:
I realize that this DIY treat dispenser was originally designed with dogs in mind, but I would love to make one for our chicken coop! Boredom busters are an important chicken coop feature, especially in the winter when chickens tend to be less active and require more mental stimulation. Dogtipper shows step-by-step instructions to make your own treat feeder. It requires minimal supplies to manufacture and it would be a great way to use left over pieces of PVC pipe. Fill it with healthy and nutritious treats and watch your chickens have a ball with it!
I can’t wait to incorporate all of these genius hacks into my personal chicken coop! And speaking of my personal chicken coop, next week I will be giving you guys an exclusive tour of my chicken coop and sharing the hacks we have used to make our chicken coop functional, safe, and fun! You don’t want to miss this! Stay up to date by following us on Facebook and Instagram so you don’t miss a thing!
Thanks for the great ideas.. It will keep me very busy next weekend…?
Oooooh! You are gonna have a fun weekend! ??? So glad you enjoy the ideas!
Great ideas. Thanks for sharing
thanks for inspirations, keep em coming!
I think I love you. Just sayin’ ??♀️? I’m three weeks fresh in the chicken game & had no clue I would love it so much! I just wanted some fresh eggs,lol. I have 8 lovely ladies, a rooster & a male duck (?shhh, he thinks he’s a chicken) & they are my 1st step towards homesteading my 10 acres. I can’t wait to learn more & expand! Thanks for all the amazing info ?????????
Aww you are too sweet! ? Congrats on being a new chicken mama! So exciting! And, yes, they definitely sucker you in! You have no idea how many times we eat dinner outside on the back step so we can be in the company of 20-some chickens ? It’s fantastic that you have 10 acres! I bet you turn it into your dream homestead in no time at all! ♥️
Do you have any problems with your rooster ? I have 6 hens and 1 rooster and three baby ducks..my rooster just won’t let me by the hens or the coop. My husband has to collect eggs..just wondering what the problem is.
Hey Kristina! We have had many roosters over the years and let me tell you: some of them are amazing and some of them are complete jerks! It honestly just comes down to each individual rooster. I have found that I generally prefer to keep roosters that are from breeds that are generally more docile. For instance, I’ve had better odds with Cochin roos and we currently have a Polish who is wonderful. Since we hatch many of our own eggs we always end up with a handful of roosters. My rule of thumb is that if a rooster is nice to us and the other chickens, he can stay. If not, he has to go! Unfortunately, some roosters are just too aggressive.
You need to get rid of him Our Rhode Island Red rooster was mean so we dealt with it for a while and then got rid of him We have had great luck with many rooster since back then Some breeds are like that We have a nice Polish and a Silver Laced Wyandott now They should be protective of their hens with predators but never to humans
You need to watch your male duck he will kill your hens trying to mate with them.
Love your ideas! Really want to make the auto feeder but I can’t find the instructions:/
I know! Sadly, it looks like that website has been converted to focus on a different topic. I believe that to make it, they drilled holes in the bucket and the tray. Then, they used a bold with wing nuts to bolt the bucket to the tray. Then, they cut some small holes in the bottom of the bucket to let the feed flow out. Hope that helps! 🙂
We’re in the middle of building another coop, a few of these ideas were pretty cute (like the curtains!) I was planning on adding the grass boxes for them in the run already, and I intend to plant some winter hardy greens in them. They’ll love it!
We live in east central Illinois. What plants would b considered winter hardy? Would like to build fresh green boxes for them
Hi Becky! Some cold-hardy greens that you might consider are kale, mustard, collards, arugula, spinach and even certain varieties of lettuces. You will want to protect the greens from hard frosts. You can do this using cold frames or greenhouse plastic. This will also help extend your growing season by keeping the ground warmer so that it doesn’t freeze solid as early in the year. I have a post all about Fall gardening that will give you some more in-depth info on how to grow veggies and greens during the fall/early winter (link below). Another great option might be to sprout some grains and grow microgreens for your hens. This is what we like to do over winter because it’s cheap, easy and they can be grown inside. Best wishes to you and your hens! 🙂
https://rootedrevival.com/growing-a-fall-garden/
love all these tidbits of fun!
I agree! Can you ever have enough fun ideas for your coop?! ?
I know prob dumb question. We are wanting to become chicken parents for eggs. We have twelve acres and want chicken to be able to roam during the day. If we get a rooster then can we still have edible eggs??
Welcome to the wonderful world of chicken keeping! To answer your question, you can definitely keep roosters with your hens and still eat the eggs. The eggs will be fertilized (if your too is doing his job anyways!) but they are still completely edible as long as you are gathering them regularly and not letting them be incubated by a hen. Here’s a post that will be super helpful for you and it also goes more in-depth on that very issue. 🙂 https://rootedrevival.com/10-answers-beginner-chicken-questions/
Love the ideas I’m going to try them
How does having curtains on the nesting box help stop brooders? I have two hens trying to brood for the last three weeks. I can’t snap them out of it.
It’s different with every bird, and a lot of breeds have a much higher tendency to go broody than others – and sometimes nothing will stop them! But, the idea of the curtains is that it provides privacy while laying. With some broodies, if they even see another chicken (or even just eggs in the nesting box), it can be enough to trigger them to go broody! So the curtains help give them that “out of sight, out of mind” effect. 🙂
My 4 girls will not go in their individual boxes! They sleep on top of each other in the same box! They are 4 months old, I just got 4 new babies and am not sure when to introduce them into the hen house and don’t want all 8 to sleep on top of each other, any ideas
There’s a joke that asks how many nesting boxes you need for X-number of chickens. The answer is always 1 (regardless of the number of chickens) because they will all insist on laying on top of each other! In reality, it’s good to have a few boxes, but chickens will usually pick their favorite spot and it’s usually the same spot! I have seen one of my chickens physically lay an egg on top of another hen that was in “her” box! ? Now, if they are sleeping in the nesting boxes, try installing some roosting poles. It’s much better for them to sleep on roosting poles than in the nesting boxes. For the first several nights, you can sneak out once they area in bed and move them out of the nesting boxes and onto the poles until they get the hang of sleeping on the poles. Chickens are just little weirdos sometimes and there’s only so much we can do about it, but I hope this helps! 😀
This is great! Thank you for sharing. I am wanting to add ducks to our farm in Ohio. Do you have ducks? I am looking for similar ideas for my water loving friends. We do have a pond. Thanks a bunch!
Hi Cindy! We don’t currently have ducks, but we did for many years! You can check out the duck coop/chicken coop that we had. Ducks can be super messy – especially with their water source! But, they are also super endearing, generally very hardy, the eggs are delish and they are great for slug control! We do plan to eventually get 2-3 runner ducks again to have near our garden area. That way, we can release them into the perennial garden area to hunt for bugs a few times a week. It’s nice that, unlike chickens, they don’t scratch at the soil. They will however trample young plants. So it’s best to use them in the garden once things have matured a bit. All in all, ducks can be a great addition to any homestead when they are managed correctly. It’s awesome that you have a pond already! Watching them do their little “zoomies” in the water is my favorite! 😀
thank you very helpful