Why Raise Chickens?
Really, the question you should ask is “Why not raise chickens?” Raising chickens can be a really rewarding experience. These amazing animals eat a small amount of feed a day, and yet produce one egg about every day of the year. (Out of 365 days a year, they lay about 335 eggs.) They take a couple days off here and there, but for the most part they are great layers. Having complete control over the food you feed your family is also really rewarding. Knowing our chickens are right in our backyard and are allowed to free-range on our acre yard somehow just makes the eggs taste better. There are many benefits to free-ranging your chickens. First of all, they don’t develop diseases because they are out in the fresh air and not living in their poop. Second, they eat a LOT more bugs and let me tell you, you WANT your chickens to eat bugs. Not only does it help keep your bug (& scorpion) population down, it also increases the amount of Omega-3’s per egg. There are just some things that nature does better! The added bonus of letting your chickens eat bugs is that they will eat less of your store-bought feed which helps bring down your overall cost.
FYI, chickens that are locked up in small spaces are SUPER mean to each other. Like cannibal mean. By cannibal, I mean they will literally eat each other. Seriously. They will gang up on the weakest and peck at it incessantly until it dies and then eat it. It’s all Mean Girls up in there, I’m telling you. So, definitely free-range, okay?
A Plan is Hatched (I’m freakin’ hilarious)
The chicken coop I’m about to show you is one for FREE-RANGE chickens. This means your chickens should only be in the coop to eat feed, lay eggs, and roost/sleep at night. For the rest of the day they should be allowed in a yard so they can stay nice and healthy.
I can’t take full credit for this idea. Okay, I can’t take ANY credit for this idea. Kevin and I were talking about how to get rid of our old crib. We couldn’t really give it away to Goodwill because it has that old school drop side that has totally been recalled now for safety issues. Then Kevin mentioned on how that sliding door would come in handy for a chicken coop.
YES! Totally! I’ve been wanting to build a new chicken coop, and this thing was pretty much built for me! Well, I took Kevin’s idea and ran with it. I first drew a picture of how I wanted it to look. Yes, I’m a very visual person.
(Lydia said it was the best drawing of a crib she’s EVER seen, so that means it’s pretty dang good.)
The crib. Ah, crib you’ve served us well. You’ve kept our sweet little babes safe and sound as they have sweetly slumbered. Well, except for that one time when the drop side malfunctioned and Ethan tumbled out when he was 8 mo. old. But let’s forget about that one issue. You have been a great crib and we’re thankful for all your service. Aaannd now you will be a pooping ground for our chickens, mmkay?
Ta-da! Here’s the coop all finished! It was SUPER easy. We lined two sides with chicken wire, two sides with wains coating, slapped a roof on that mutha’ and called it a day. Okay, okay. It took a little longer than that. I had to paint it, which actually takes way more spray paint than you’d think. I was actually embarrassed at how many times I kept underestimating the amount of spray paint I needed. It was becoming a problem, how bad I was at estimating my spray paint needs. I kept going back to the store and I totally felt like the checkout lady was thinking, “Really? MORE spray paint?” And I, feeling stupid for being the worst spray paint estimator ever, imagined yelling,
“Yes, it’s for my chickens, OKAY?!!”
The drop side comes down just enough to gather eggs and fill the feeder.
I totally cut these pieces myself. I also cut the table I was using but we won’t dwell on that. Sorry Kevin! You’re still “not mad”, right???
A chicken coops not a chicken coop ’till you put an actual picture of a chicken on it, right? I thought so.
It has a simple roof made of wains coating and trim. Underneath is a simple frame of 1x2s. Did I mention it was simple?
Super cute, right? And cheap, which makes the Mr. Husband happy.
P.S. My friend Claire from The Happy Chicken Coop wrote an excellent guide on making your chicken coop ready for winter (and raising chickens in the winter in general). I highly recommend it!
Do you own chickens? Have you ever thought of raising chickens? You should! And you should totally use your old crib because, well, it’s super cheap and super cool.
If I missed it I apologize but people need to know this is NOT a secure chicken coop. This is NOT meant to keep your chickens locked up in at night to keep them safe from predators.This may be a place to sleep at night if there are roost bars and a place to lay if there are nest boxes, but only IF it is placed within a secure run which is covered in hardware cloth (1/4-1/2″) on ALL 6 sides. Then and only then will you be in business, otherwise this is a deathtrap and massacre waiting to happen.
Chicken wire is designed to keep chickens in and NOT predators out. A chicken will fit it’s head through, but not easily be able to pull it’s head out. A raccoon will easily put it’s hand through, grab the hen by the neck and rip off her head. This is what they do. It will not keep out rats and mice who will eat and contaminate the feed. It will not keep out snakes that feed on the eggs. It most definitely will not keep out the neighbor’s dog or a stray dog, both of which are the worst predator of all time simply because they kill chickens for fun. Wild animals are at least killing for food.
It’s a cute idea, but not meant for safety.
Hi! Can you share what you use on the bottom of the crib, the wire part. Is there flooring? I’m going to attempt this but we live in a very wet client so I think it may rot without a tin roof. So I’m going to try that! Also did you make roosting bars for them?
Hi Melissa-
The bottom of the coop, it just the bottom of the crib (no mattress). And no, DaNelle did not put a roosting bar in.
Thank you -Bobbi (DaNelle’s Assistant)
Hi,
I am totally going to steal this idea to make a coop. I can’t quite figure out how to calculate the square footage properly, though. I just took the length and width of the bottom of the crib and I only got 11.25 square feet (I’m not sure if this is the correct square footage). That would mean I could only house 2-3 chickens, correct? I was wondering how many chickens you house in your crib coop. I was hoping for closer to 5 or 6.
Hi Alex-
Yes, to figure area you multiply length x width. And that is the typical area of a crib. The minimum space a chicken needs is between 2 to 3 square feet inside the chicken coop, and about 8 to 10 square feet per chicken in the outside run. So technically you could put 5 chickens in there. Just be careful not to crowd them too much as this will stress them and can create too much competition and aggressive behavior (none of that is healthy for chickens). I hope that helps! Best of luck! Thank you -Bobbi (DaNelle’s Assistant)
How many hens would this work for do you think?
Hi Cammie-
This really depends on the size of your chickens. For larger breeds (not bantam) you need at a very minimum of 4 square feet per chicken. So if you get a crib, measure it out and see how many square feet it has. That should tell you how many hens fit into the space. Best of luck and Happy Chicken Raising! -Bobbi (DaNelle’s Assistant)
Just found your blog. We made our ‘coop’ from the bathroom cabinets we removed when remodeling, Just knocked out the front panels on the doors and the the drawers and replaced with chicken wire. Used a piece of recycled plywood for the top. Put a piece of wood in the back so it gave the roof some angle plus ventalation. Girls have decided to sleep on the small shelf and lay on bottom. FREE!
I’m thinking of doing this. So what did you do with the drawer area? Is it just more vertical space and then chicken wire in the fronts? And what’s the small shelf you’re talking about?
love to see a picture of your DIY
Hello Jeanne,
I noticed your idea with the bathroom cabinets as a chicken coop. Do you have any details or pics on how you created this?
Thanks
Julie Speas
Darling use of a crib! I used my son’s twin bed–for under 20 bucks–found a lot of items and salvaged them. My daughter used her baby bed as part of the fencing and gate around their chicken yard last year. See my chicken house at my website…if you care to look!
I have an old changing table that is just sitting in the attic waisting away. I wonder if this would work just as well?
I would definitely try it!
Did you try this? Am pondering…
I’ve been reading your BLOG for about 3months now.
I’m 22, my fiance is 28, my son is 4,his son is 8- We’re from OHIO 🙂
I live 10 min from Downtown, but where We are we have 1 Acre OF Land.
I’ve been wanting to be more self sufficient, stay away from the store bought processed foods, GMOS, and hormones. It’s such a fun idea knowing that I can provide my family a MUCH healthier lifestyle, it just takes a Little time Researching.
So far, I’ve managed to make HOMEMADE spray/dust cleaner for our home (SCREW all the CLEANER that is SO BAD BAD BAD for US)
I’ve Only spent $11 on cleaning products which I put together myself, and I’ve made 15 bottles so far with plenty to go. Healthier AND cheaper!
SO.. I have been WAITING to do this Crib Chicken Coop.
And WHAT DA YA KNOW. I was driving to the grocery store yesterday and there was a CRIB on the ROAD, brand new, EXACTLY like this.
I said heck yeaaaa, stuffed it in my trunk! Got it
Finally. lol We’ve got Rabbits so far, and they Have babies.
So theyre inside the house for now- which means I have to clean their area, literally all the time so it doesnt stain or smell up that spot!
CANT WAIT for SPRING to get the RABBITS out in the FRESH AIR, and get the CHICKEN COOP made with the BABY CRIB. Gosh so EXCITED & I LOVE YOU blog. If it wasnt for YOU i would be stuck with this NEW FARMING idea.
How exciting!!!
What did you use to make the roof?
Hi Elise, I used wainscoating.
Can you tell me how you installed the roof- like what did you attach it to? I pinned this several years back and finally got chicks! I have the coop partially made but trying to figure out roof.
Hi Kim-
DaNelle said that she had a 2×4 across the top, then built an A-frame roof on it.
I hope that helps! Best of luck with your chicks and your coop!
Thank you -Bobbi (DaNelle’s Assistant)
I love this idea! Just wondering, where do they roost at night?
They just hang out on the main floor in front of the nesting boxes.
What did you use for litter/bedding? It looks like depending on what you use it could fall out the sides.
I get my chicks in 2 weeks and got an old crib for free so I am trying to make this myself! Awesome idea!
I buy some pine shavings, but I only place in the nest boxes.
Neat idea, although I doubt it work for me as we live in a humid climate with lots of rain. Don’t think the spray paint would be enough to keep the cot from rotting??!!
I actually used my old cot for the chickens, too, but made a huge laying box out of it (it sits inside a shed, so no worries regarding rain). Seems to work well.
Now I want chickens…..
But I live in an apartment… so my chicken dreams will have to wait… lol. If I ever own my own home (or I wonder if we rented a house, if the owner would kick us out for having “pet” chickens instead of a dog… lol) and find a cheap old baby crib (im sure a family member has one somewhere)… this will definitely be a project to do!! Awesome idea!! Thank you for sharing!
Seriously? This post just pushed me off of my waffling post (Should we get some? We should, but then we have to build a coop and where are we gonna put it, and so on and so forth) and SERIOUSLY? Our youngest is moving out of the crib like RIGHT NOW. FOR REAL! Thank you for the Awesomest. Idea. Ever.
I’m totally searching craigslist for an old drop side crib RIGHT THIS MINUTE!
How effective is this coop from predators? Have you had to change anything about it since you built it?
What keeps the chickens from freezing in the winter with the sides open? Maybe you live in a warmer climate than here. In Kentucky it gets really cold and I’ve lost chickens to frostbite or just found them frozen stiff in the mornings even with a draft-free coop stuffed with straw. I need your source for $24 a bag organic feed! It’s about $47 per 50 pounds here. The regular feed is $17.50 per bag!
We throw a tarp over it during a couple cold months in the winter, but yes since we’re in the desert, we don’t get too cold!
A group of us chicken owners do a group purchase from an out-of-state company. Here’s our little facebook page…maybe you could start something similar
https://www.facebook.com/BackyardChickenFarmersUnite/info
What keeps the chickens from freezing in the winter with the sides open? Maybe you live in a warmer climate than here. In Kentucky it gets really cold and I’ve lost chickens to frostbite or just found them frozen stiff in the mornings even with a draft-free coop stuffed with straw. I need your source for $24 a bag organic feed! It’s about $47 per 50 pounds here. The regular feed is $17.50 per bag!
I am so happy I found this post! Thank you for sharing! It will be a couple of years until my farm dream becomes a reality, but now I know to save our crib. I think we have the same one 🙂
This post had me laughing out loud. I love your humor! Great idea with the re-purposed crib too!
That is so cool! As a matter of fact, we have a crib just like that, doing absolutely nothing, and we also happen to have some land and want to invest in some chickens so I see a project coming up. What a great way to repurpose and I love the paintwork and artwork. Hopefully you will take a picture of your future chickens in there someday, too!
Mo, you had great questions. We have about 50 hens and never have too many. We sell our extras for way less than we should, $3 a dozen. However we do have times that we don’t have enough. Right now my hens are molting, losing and then growing new feathers, and they have all decided this is a great time to take a break. We have plenty of eggs for us but my egg customers are not happy. Eggs will last 5 to 6 weeks in the refrigerator. If we find that we have more than we will sell in a week, we have breakfast for dinner. Also, I make up breakfast burritos and put them in the freezer.
If you are able to start with chicks, there are many good hatcheries such as Ideal Poultry. You can buy online and they will come in the mail a couple of days later. It will take 6 months for them to start laying but it is worth the time. There is nothing better than farm fresh eggs. Well, maybe a glass of fresh milk with those eggs!
DaNelle, what a great chicken coop. I’m always on the look-out for cheap ways to build coops. I hope you didn’t mind me answering some of Mo’s questions. I love my chickens and would like to see others raising a few in their back yard.
Great blog!
Regina
I don’t mind at all! I am always learning and I love to hear what other people are doing too! I hadn’t heard of Ideal Poultry, I want to order some meat chickens in the spring!
Cackle hatchery is also a very good site. I just ordered from them and recieved the chicks this week. All are very healthy.
Awesome! Thanks for the recommendation!
Regina, would you share your breakfast burrito recipe? I LOVE those!
Great idea! I am going to email this to my mom, who loves her chickens and repurposing things!
this is so cool! I’m really impressed with your work. the chicken emblem on the top totally brings it together 🙂
how many chickens do you have? do you ever find yourself short on eggs when you’re baking or anything? or do you have a good supply? how long do the eggs last after they are laid? do you ever end up with too many and wind up wasting them?
also, how much do the chickens themselves cost? and how long do they live? do they ever get to a point where they are no longer productive (egg-wise)? do you eat the chickens eventually?
sorry for all the questions…this is very interesting to me!! thanks for sharing!
We have five chickens, which means we get 35 eggs a week when they are laying. Right now they just finished molting and are starting to lay again. Right now I have to buy organic eggs at the store. It kills me to spend $6 a dozen, but I can’t do anything about it! I never have too many! They last such a long long time in the fridge that we’re always good!
Chicks cost about $3 each. Pullets(6 month old chickens that are starting to lay eggs) are $20. They lay for 2-5 years and then their egg production starts to decline. After that you can eat ’em!
That is SO SMART. We are currently building our forever house on a few acres and I am 100% pro chickens. My husband is taking some convincing, but I LOVE this idea!
Fun! Keep workin’ on that husband!