I built our chickens a new coop+run. The run is just so that they have 24/7 access to the outdoors where they can still be safe from predators. The run is opened up (via their little "chicken door" - big enough for a chicken, small enough to at least be uncomfortable for some of the larger predators, and it gives the chickens somewhere safe they can run to in case of a hawk, which I highly doubt would land outside the coop, hop through the door, grab a chicken, hop back out the door, and fly off with it...) every morning so that they can free-range all day, then is closed up at night so they can still stretch out and get some fresh air, but remain safe.
The coop is 8 feet by four feet, the run is twelve by twelve.
Nesting area. The little roof is on hinges so we can just lift that up and grab the eggs; no need to go into the run, let alone the coop itself.
The nest boxes.
Their "chicken door" into and out of the run, which is closed every night and opened every morning.
Real house shingles!
The combo door/ramp to the coop opened up; it remains open 24/7.
And closed.
Draft elimination.
The people door opened up.
Inside, with their double roost which gives them all more than enough room to be comfortable and spaced out.
250w infrared heat lamp #1.
250w infrared heat lamp #2. Both are thermostatically controlled; on at 35, off at 45.
Yes, I realize this picture is sideways... too lazy to fix it. It was supposed to show that I built an inside frame for the door to eliminate any drafts coming through the cracks around the door.
There's also a 1/4" rubber mat on the bottom for super easy cleaning - take it out, hose it off, put it back. I'm using the "deep litter" method which you may or may not know anything about depending on if you have ever or currently do raise chickens. Essentially, you normally have to clean out a chicken coop at least once a month to keep ammonia levels down. With the deep litter method, you basically let nature do its thing. You start off with at least 6 inches of litter (in my case, pine shavings, and I'm starting with about 8 inches), and simply use a rake to turn it over once a week or so. This allows nature to decompose the chicken waste. As needed, you add some more litter a few times a year at most to maintain a deep litter. The result is only needing to clean the coop out once or twice a year, which I'm TOTALLY down with, haha. I'm also about to build a tumbling composting bin so that we can compost the litter when we empty the coop out and use that to fertilize our garden. Did you know chicken poop is some of the best fertilizer on the planet? It is, by far, the best of the "manure" fertilizers. ^.^
Oh, yeah... I decided to shingle the roof, THEN get it on top of the coop... bad move. It turned out to be somewhere between four and five HUNDRED pounds. That was fun getting up there. >.<