Free Downeast Thunder Farm Chicken Coop Plans

The coop flower box - let's hope they don't eat the flowers!The chicken coop project is finished! I like to think that we’ve built this like Fort Knox. We have plenty of predators that would love to make a meal of our hens: eagles, hawks, fox, bear, bobcat, weasels, coyotes, racoons, and more that I probably don’t want to know about (Like the rat I recently discovered! Eeeewwww.).

Here are some of the features of this little coop we built.

  • 4′ x 8′ footprint – the size of a piece of plywood to make things easy
  • the chicken yard is 8′ x 12′ with chicken wire buried 2′ deep to discourage predators from digging under
  • deer netting over the top of the chicken run
  • a locked outside door for egg collection (and peeking at the girls)
  • clean out door
  • north facing opening windows covered with chicken wire for added security
  • south facing stationary windows to allow a little sun in the winter
  • electricity at the coop for an outside motion sensor flood light
  • electric receptacle inside for the winter water heating pad
  • inside wiring is in steel conduit and steel electrical boxes so the birds cannot peck through the wire insulation
  • switches and receptacles have water proof covers
  • slanted steel roof to facilitate snow removal (it’s a Maine thing)
  • a seasonal water  hook-up near the coop (see more on this here).

Click here to download the free plans for this chicken coop, courtesy of Paul!

Click on the thumbnails below to view a slideshow of our project going together.