We’ve fallen behind in chicken sedan updates.  Skip installed the door a week or two ago, and then Robin painted the interior with VOC-free paint.  We felt indecisive with regard to the floor for a long time (this is why simple coops don’t have floors), but finally decided to just caulk it thoroughly and apply 3 coats of primer to seal it from moisture.

Robin painted the door, and I installed a wood frame into the window.  Today we stapled a screen of hardware cloth onto the frame, boarded up the chicken door (for now), and installed a door stop at the top of the people door (to prevent over-extending the hinges).  It is now raccoon proof (we hope) and ready for customers.  We’ll finish the remaining detail work as we have time for it.

We choose the classic farm color of red and white. I still have some touch ups to do and I need to finish painting the eves. Of course I also need to paint inside to seal the wood up.

We haven’t posted about the chicken sedan in a while, but progress has been slow.  Skipper made it by a couple weeks ago and added the nesting boxes.  Then we both started puzzling over how to deal with the hinging lid.  The last time I saw him he proposed a perfectly workable solution, so I suppose that’s on the todo list, along with trim, a rough door, interior sheathing, and blocking around the top.

Funny how quickly your opinions change.  When we started on this design I thought it was the perfect box for 12 to 15 hens (Robin has 25 on the way), but since then I read Open-Air Poultry Houses for all Climates, a 1912 book on the subject which you can find as a free scan by Google.  You can also find a similarly titled 1924 book available as a modern reprint.  The basic idea is that people build coops too tight, and that an open-front chicken house will greatly reduce the risks of disease and still provide sufficiently shelter from poor weather.  So now I’m not sure if I should put a glass window in our coop, and were I to do it over I would build several smaller more mobile units.  But then again, maybe our design is more suited to an integrated chicken-coop / greenhouse, as suggested by Introduction to Permaculture, another book I’m reading.  Live and learn, eh?

My Chicken Sedan has walls and it’s metal roof on. Still a bit left to do on it but I am very excited  and can hardly wait to get my chickens in it.

The coop has been started. I am so, so very excited. The chickens have been ordered. They won’t come for another month or so. I am getting 25 chicks in five different breeds.

• 4 Silver Laced Wyandottes (my first pick was sold out so I got this breed instead)
• 4 Araucanas/Ameraucanas
• 4 Speckled Sussex
• 4 Dominiques
• 9 Delawares

Our coop isn’t designed for 25 birds so the extras will either be given to our family members, sold, or eaten. Our extra fancy coop is designed for 15 birds max. Still not sure what I am going to be doing with all the eggs other then making lots of omelets, pound cakes, and palming eggs off on family members. Lee says I should try selling some. Not sure how that will go. Anyways I am still very excited about having my own eggs and chickens at last.

Here is the completed base. Right now it is on blocks as trailer wheels will be added later on. That way we can move the coop around to different spots on the property as wanted

It’s got a frame up. We are going to use one of the windows we will be replacing from our house in the coop. For the door way we are going to make one for now and maybe later on also recycle a house door into the coop. On the right side of the picture there are going to be nesting boxes cantilevered out from the wall. I have to say that when I told Lee I wanted a chicken coop I didn’t know it was going to be so fancy. He told me ‘we might as well build it to last since we are going to have to spend money on it anyways’. So since the coop will cost so much my brother-in-law suggested calling it “The Chicken Sedan“. Thanks Skip. I am very happy with the new Chicken Sedan.  The name seems apropos–no back seat, but lots of laying going on.