• 
  THE PROJECT BEGINS
  Mark eager to begin.
• 
  MOVING IT OUT
  Walls were framed in the garage and then carried to house site in backyard. All hands needed.
• 
  WALL FRAMING
  Colin lends a hand with framing the walls.
• 
  FRAMING A WALL
  Peter hammers with confidence, putting together a wall.
• 
  BIG MISTAKE!
  We learned by almost knocking down the framed structure why siding should go up before roof sheathing.
• 
  COLIN AT WORK
  Nailing up the shiplapped siding.
• 
  DOOR UP
  Mark and the kids get the door on and with a level swing.
• 
  INSIDE VIEW
  As clean as it will ever be, before the chickens move in.
• 
  WORK IN PROGRESS
  With shiplap up, the framing becomes sturdy.
• 
  ROOFING
  Ian and Mark get the shingles up.
• 
  NEARLY COMPLETE
  The remaining opening is for egg box access, it will receive a door shortly.
• 
  HOME SWEET HOME
  Finished pen has top and sides of heavier gauge wire, and an 18" skirt of chicken wire under the ground. Foxes, coyotes and other predators frequent our woods.

The Love Nest

Our second project, the Love Nest, was built to house our Dorking rooster and two hens. This ancient but now threatened breed of chicken preserves the instinct to set on eggs and mother chicks. A chicken occupied with these tasks is not actively laying, so the instinct has been bred out of many laying breeds. This is our first spring with the Dorkings; we will continue our slide show with pictures of the new family if things work out. To learn more about livestock breed conservation visit The American Livestock Breeds Conservancy.

The Love Nest design is one example of a small coop that can be built to house just three or four chickens. A flock this size could produce enough eggs for a small family during much of the year.

2009 Update on Love Nest

I’m still using the Love Nest for raising young chickens for a few months before they move into the regular pen. I wouldn’t really want it to be my regular pen.

Some things I don’t like about the design:

• There isn’t enclosed space that I can stand in to catch or handle the birds
• It isn’t all that spacious
• Bedding tends to come out when the roof is lifted, and also tends to fall to the pen underneath when the ramp is down
• It was a pain to find material to cover the hinged top; a building store gave me a scrap of a black roofing material that is working so far

Doing it again, I would build the Garden Coop or the Playhouse Coop. I'd love to hear from you if you build one of these designs.

As to the Dorkings... I didn't really have appropriate housing for a breeding pair or trio. We were able to hatch one chicken, but it died at a few weeks when mom brought it back to the larger flock. For now, my support of livestock conservation is limited to membership in The American Livestock Breeds Conservancy.