You might recognize [Robert Dunn] from his YouTube channel Aging Wheels, where he hacks on all sorts of automotive delights. On his other channel, Under Dunn, [Robert] tends to focus on building things. In this case, his nine chickens grew a bit, and he needs a new coop for his twenty chickens, three turkeys, and two geese. The build, the video, and the outcome are all typical of [Robert Dunn]’s videos- that is to say fun, informative, and easy to follow along with.
Rather than building on to his existing coop that was designed for less than a dozen chickens, [Robert] decided to start from scratch. Using CAD to overcomplicate matters at every possible step, the build flies together with impressive speed- but never quite takes off until the very last moment.
The video highlights all the things we want to see: The CNC’ing, the fails (including one very large fall-flat-on-your-face moment), the recovery from the fails, routed butt joints, and screen door handles. It’s also got all of the overengineered goodness we’ve all come to love. You’ll also enjoy his solution to moving, then fixing, then finally installing the coop.
If you enjoyed this, and watching people fail, check out [Robert]’s Fail Of The Week that we featured a while back.
Thank you [hackbyte] for the tip!
I enjoy his silly approach to his builds but i bet site safety guys would freak. he was also dang lucky not to break any windows in the move.
The fox in charge of the Hen House?
“Chicken McMansion” or more like a “McChicken Mansion”?
I have never in my life witnessed a farmer build a coop inside of a garage first, and then shuffle it outside. They always wait for good weather and then build a simple shed on the site where they want it. They do this for several reasons; it’s easier and you can build bigger, you can change the interior layout and add boxes as the flock expands, and you can add fans and filtration. But most importantly, yard birds are messy and you need to be able to clean the coop regularly, so the structure needs to be just as easily accessible to humans.
Livestock generally have minds of their own and will inevitably dirty, degrade, and break down their pens and beds. You should assume that anything you build for use by livestock will need to be serviced, rearranged, or upgraded in the future, so it’s best to build for human access and not to make it too complex.
Chicken Run. Does it fly? Boris is out, we have to pull together for victory.
Brooding over a CAD program is indeed excessive. Surely hatching a plan for something like this doesn’t require more than pecking a few numbers into a calculator.
Ahh I see what you did there… Impeckably punny
Not sure if it was made needlessly complex just to show off his CNC, or what. 20 2×4’s, OSB, siding, corrugated metal, random glass and nails/nuts/bolts, and I still can’t see how he got above $1K not too mention $2K…
I’m barely passable with tools and framing, I can’t see how this could have taken 6 months of free time unless it was 2-3 hrs per week.
To top it off, at the end you see him remove a prefectly good steel frame within which he could have built a larger, secureable McMansion, perhaps fenced off with a secure foraging area outside the coop….
I’d have been to embarassed to admit I spent that much $$ and time, on something so simple.
Not only does Youtube show you how to do it. They also show you how not to do it. With the current prices of lumber that is not surprising.