Totoro Chicken Coop Progression

I don’t very often spend money on brand new things for myself (other than food)–usually anything I purchase has to do with investments, and anything else if I can get them second hand I will (I LOVE a good bargain.) So this new chicken coop is one of the few presents to myself (Adam helped because “What’s my share of eggs?”)—and it doesn’t hurt that it was also a great deal. I lost my previous flock to a gang of raccoons earlier this summer that ultimately ripped up the sheet metal roof and massacred my poor chooks. To say we were devastated was an understatement, and while I ordered and incubated more eggs, I made the decision to get a really robust coop, large enough to keep the chickens contained without crowding if I’m not around. We ended up with 18 chicks, and if half are hens we’ll keep 10-11.

I know I said that I didn’t want to keep chickens, as I have a very unfortunate history with them: from getting chased by a rooster as a child, to all my chickens having been absolutely ruthless (getting dropkicked by them was not fun), to having them all gang up on me and attack me because I didn’t know if you grabbed one chicken (to test it for diseases) and it screams, the rest will come to its rescue by mobbing. They smelled and the roosters are loud and mean and I thought I was just #teamduck forever…. That is until I found bantam cochins. They are small, soft, and fluffy, come in a variety of colors, and most importantly: cuddly. I didn’t know chickens could be so sweet, despite having kept production breeds on and off over the last decade or so. I was in love, and wanted a coop that was strong enough to protect them. The unfortunate thing is that urban raccoons tend to be smarter and stronger, and are one of the few animals that teach their young generational knowledge, so it’s a constant battle of the wits with them, the my starting point was a bigger coop.

The coop came built as a 6×8, but as rough sawn wood (which is true dimensions and therefore structurally stronger) and needed to be painted.

I really want this to last long, so I requested it be put on pavers so the bottom would take longer to rot (all material eventually break down.) For the interior, I first used a staining and waterproofing penetrating oil and then went over it with a coat of water based polyurethane because the penetrating oil didn’t give the type of coating I was looking for. While it already had fiberglass flooring, I wanted to make sure the walls could hold up to moisture and the caustic properties of poultry poop. For the outside, I used an exterior white primer and paint.

My original intention was to do a mint green trim for a cute cottage core vibe, but then the trimwork was a little weird in terms of orientation, so ultimately I decided to do…. a Totoro theme! And honestly I’m really happy about that choice because it adds a touch of whimsy to the garden. I first sketched it out in pencil, and then outlined everything in an exterior black. The puffballs were the most difficult because the paint brushes plus the texture of the wood wasn’t really great for unbroken thin lines.

Then I colored it in with tinted exterior paint. I will likely still have to touch up spots, but I’m really happy with the way it turned out! I still plan to add a layer of linoleum to both the floor and the nest boxes, as well as liners for the nest boxes so that it’s easier to keep clean. I hope to enjoy this chicken coop for years to come!

I still have to do some reinforcements including putting hardware cloth over the windows so they can be functional in the summer, and putting hardware cloth in the roof, so no snakes or weasels can squeeze through (or little birds, which could bring in diseases to the flock. I can’t wait to have the chicks in there!