Recycling an Old Door into a Chicken Coop Door

I was talking to my mom on the phone the other day about my chicken coop. As I was describing how cute it was, she expressed concern about the door to the coop since they once had a problem with raccoons trying to push through the bottom of one of their doors. It appears those crafty fellows will stop at nothing to get in your coop.

It just happened to be by accident that we were using an old heavy duty interior door as our coop entrance. I'm one of those fortunate people that has an antique dealer living next door - with an endless supply of old doors. I love old doors. So when ever I need one or she happens to be giving them away, I'll pick one up. I have an old door for my front gate and now my chicken coop.

Anyways. You'll see by the picture on the left that the door isn't finished yet. I still need to paint the door white, add the hardware cloth, add handles and locks and mount on the coop. But here's what we did to transform the door from an interior door to a chicken coop door.








To start you'll need a sturdy solid wood door.

1. If you don't like power tools then enlist the help of someone who does - cigar optional.
















2. Cut out the center of the door using a saw, like the one you see below. At first we thought we'd have two open panels but when it looked bad, he cut out the entire center panel.















3. Add additional supports at each corner to ensure the door doesn't sag over time. Then removed all old hardware.
















Now you have a door to your chicken coop that is sturdy enough to keep those unwanted critters out.