Chicken Coop Modifications

Last week, I had to do a little work to the movable chicken coop. It ultimately had two major design flaws: The folding, latching door was not secure enough, and the nest boxes had no backing.

Problem #1 was made evident as the sheep matured (and got heavier...and continued to try to walk on the chicken coop door....and eventually broke the wood). I ended up cutting some thicker wood, and got some 3.5 inch screws to attached the wood, through the hinge hole, and out the back of the metal panel of the door.

The thicker plank supporting the door make the overall structure more sturdy.

The second modification was necessary after I lost an egg.  :(

Last week, we started getting eggs.It wasone a day,9 out of 11 straight days. Yesterday and today, we got three a day. So yay,our chickens are not defective.

But I did lose one egg. I opened the doors, and it rolled straight off the coop and cracked on the ground.The design flaw was not having a backing to the nest boxes.

The bottom row is not yet repaired with a backing.The top row is.
The day's egg is in the lower left box
The white thing is a ping pong ball. It helped the hens find the boxes.

I took some 2x2x2 blocks of wood, some screws, and some strips of thin wood to attach the backs.

The modified, safer nest boxes. I topped them up with straw bedding, too, after retrieving the egg.

Other than these two things, the coop design has been a resounding success.