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i’m intrigued by the idea of backyard chickens, but i don’t use eggs or meat in my kitchen. plus my wanna-be-bird-hunting dog would torment them! more than the fantasy of having chickens though, i think i’m actually more obsessed with which fantasy coop design would be the best fit in my garden.

elisabeth bentz recently moved herself and her menagerie, including the chickens and their coop, from portland to ashland, oregon.

i love the simplicity of the coop design above, and the mini green eco-roof!

CLICK HERE for the rest of Jill’s post after the jump!

there are plenty of drool-worthy modern-ish coop designs and chicken-raising information online here and here.

henspa.com has some great simple, modern coop designs.

the mother of coop design porn is backyardchickens.com.

some designs here are amazing, others not so much! but it's great to see a ton of different design ideas all at once.

in portland, my favorite place to get supplies for my fantasy chickens would be pistils nursery. they have a coop and chickens onsite and offer lots of info., classes and custom coop design. and also worm composting and beautiful custom worm composters. and beekeeping. and, you know, plants and such. there's lots of excuses to visit this place!

on my reading list for today are farm city and coop.

These coops are awesome! I don’t have chickens, but I’ve been toying with the idea of building an outdoor aviary for my parrots. These designs are a great place to start, they wouldn’t take that much modification to keep my three green scream machines happy.

My uncle keeps chickens, and I’ve had the fresh eggs. Really nothing you can buy in the store compares!
Love these, although they don’t top my favorite coop ever:
http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=53034.msg493142#msg493142

i LOVE these. thank you thank you. we just lost several chickens to coyotes and i’ve been so sad. (I sniffle a little every time I buy eggs at the store). My husband and I have been looking at designs for a new coop and these are fantastic. Thanks for helping us egg people out.

I also love chickens/coops. I have to say Right on Jill! even though you are a vegan you wrote and gave great information for those of us who do. There is nothing worst than say a server when asked for a suggestion and they say they don’t eat meat or don’t drink wine. Obviously your world doesn’t consist of living in a box – thank you for the book suggestions also!

We had chickens for several years but are taking a break. When I was first researching having them I too was taken with all the coop designs. (Those roof gardens are adorable.) But we have a coop attached to our barn which my husband rebuilt and it works perfectly because I can go from house to barn to coop without going outside to take care of chicken duties early in the morning. I do miss them and maybe we’ll do it again in the spring. PS-Novella’s book is awesome and her sister’s flickr is fascinating (thesedaysinfrenchlife.)

Thanks for linking to my chicken coop page! We’ve had our girls for almost 3 years. I wrote about the pros and cons and what I wish I’d known before we got birds here:

http://www.digginfood.com/2009/03/backyard-chickens-101-a-few-considerations/

And an a post on backyard chicken basics here:

http://www.digginfood.com/2009/03/backyard-chickens-101-an-introduction/

Great blog. A year ago, I built a coop using the designs from this site:

http://www.isthmushandyman.com/Chicken%20Coop%20Designs/index.html

It’s going strong. It works well for us because we’ve got limited space in our San Francisco backyard. Also, I really like being able to walk into the coop to clean things, without having to crawl in or stoop over. We’ve got five chickens in their now, letting them roam about the backyard during the day. They’re happily resting on the bar in the roosting box by the time I’m home from work.

thanks everyone for all your great comments and suggestions in this post!
david: i’d forgotten about the eglu, thanks for the link!
madame beatrice: that coop design is amazing!
amberlee: sorry for your loss! we had chickens on the farm growing up who met a similar fate. it’s heartbreaking.
willi: excellent advice!
mike: good point about being able to stand upright inside for cleaning!

I’ve never even given a split-second thought to raising chickens, but after reading this and seeing all the cute little coops, I’m looking in my yard wondering how I could do that. Well, maybe I’ll just read the book and continue to purchase local farm-fresh eggs at my food co-op.

This is a really nice selection. A couple more modern designs to add, especially for those interested in building their own coops — The Garden Coop and The Garden Ark:

http://www.thegardencoop.com/

And another great mod design from Portland:

http://www.moderncoop.com/

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