Learn how backyard chickens can do more than lay eggs and bring added value to your farm by integrating the Back to Eden Gardening Method into raising chickens.

As some of you may know, there was a time when I was keeping our chicken flock in a lean-to off my woodshop. It was meant to be a temporary solution, but three years suddenly went by, and I was still raising chickens there. My shop always smelled like chickens, and my roosters made for quite the soundtrack in all my woodshop videos.

There are some awesome benefits to the method I used when designing this chicken coop. The chickens are now working synergistically in increasing food production with the “Back to Eden” gardening method.

If you remember, I shared this in more detail in my post on How to Fix Your Soil.

I’ll explain these features as well as share a few tips and tricks I’ve learned along the way to building chicken coops and raising backyard chickens in the two-part video series below. It was a good day when the birds had an awesome new space of their own, which also meant the lean-to off my shop could be turned into a blacksmithing shop!

Back to Eden Style Chicken Coop Benefits

There are some key features that make this chicken coop design a true “Back to Eden” style coop:

No Floor
Little Maintenance
Ventilation
The Roof Design/Water Collection
Compost Distribution

No Floor

The design of this chicken coop has no floor. It’s raised up onto cement blocks with an open-air bottom. We use chicken wire around the open perimeter to keep the chickens in and predators out. Since the floor is open air to the ground, there are microbial benefits that also promote good health for the chickens.

Little Maintenance

The chicken bedding goes directly onto the ground where the chickens stir and add to it with their manure creating a deep litter method that requires a low maintenance cleaning just once or twice a year.

Ventilation

In addition to an open-air bottom, the coop needs ventilation at the top. This allows proper ventilation for the chickens, and the airflow also cuts down on the dust that causes any respiratory issues. This is a fairly open coop design, and wouldn’t be ideal in a high predator population area, but thanks to our amazing flock guardians (aka dogs, the alpacas, and donkeys) we haven’t lost a single bird to a predator in over two years.

Roof Design & Watering

The roof of the chicken coop is fashioned with gutters for a rain collection. We can use this water for the chickens, and it can further be set up to automatically feed into a chicken fountain, so there are no more daily water chores!

Compost Distribution

One of the coolest features of this coop and method is that it gives the chickens added value by taking our composting game to a whole new level. We gather up our compost daily and dispose of it in our chicken coop. If you know anything about composting, you know how important it is to keep your compost pile turning which will speed up the heating process.

Enter: chickens, and a whole lot less time spent with a pitchfork in my hand because a single bird can move several yards of compost per day! As the compost generates heat, it provides a benefit to the chickens to help keep them warm throughout the winter as well.

Backyard Chicken Coop Must-Haves

There are certain items any backyard chicken coop needs… roosting bars, nesting boxes, soft bedding, food and watering containers, and a safe place for the chickens at night.

I’m all about repurposing old things I’ve found around the farm, and I was able to find some useful items for the inside of my chicken coop.

I had an old grinding stand that needed a home, so it became my new feed holder stand. There was just enough room underneath the stand to put a tote to keep my empty egg cartons organized to use later for collection.

I found some old wooden ladders for roosting bars and repurposed milk crates for nesting boxes. Since milk crates have a flat top, I simply wedged a piece of scrap wood at an angle between the crate and the wall to provide a “roof”. This will prevent the chickens from roosting and pooping on top of the nesting boxes.

Before heading to the farm store, look around your homestead to identify items that could use a new home, be reassigned or repurposed, and before using those items, make sure they are safe and not only provide efficiency for you but also promote a healthy environment for your chickens.

Even though I am a woodworker and have plenty of wood shavings for bedding, I could potentially be working with a wood species that is toxic to chickens. Additionally, my wood shavings contain a lot of dust, which will cause respiratory issues. It may seem ridiculous for a woodworker to purchase wood shavings, but in this case, the health of my chickens comes first.

I place golf balls in the nesting boxes for two reasons. Since they look like eggs, it will direct the chickens to the nesting boxes to train them where they should lay their eggs. On occasion, there will be a hen that pecks at her own eggs. If she pecks at the golf balls, nothing happens, and it will easily break the hen of an egg-eating habit.

There are many factors such as flock size, chicken breeds, and free-range vs. confined that will determine the square feet needed when building a chicken coop. Do your research to learn about your chicken’s needs before building your coop.

If you’re looking for more of a mobile chicken coop that also requires very little maintenance or cleaning, be sure to check out my mobile chicken coop plans and videos here.

Building a Chicken Coop (“Back to Eden” Style)