We had wavered a little on whether or not to build a turkey coop. After all, we have a pretty kickass chicken coop that is about 70 square feet. A few turkeys should be able to fit pretty well, right?

Hey, where’s my coop?

Well, we have learned a lot more about raising birds and we have found that they are rather territorial and since these birds weren’t raised together, it could be quite the task to try and cohabitate them. Plus, there are some diseases that chickens can transmit to turkeys, so we decided to go ahead and build them a coop.

Another factor in our wavering was the cost. To build a coop similar to the chickens’ from new wood would probably cost a good thousand dollars. We didn’t have another deck bathroom to remove so what should we do? We talked about bamboo, a hoop house, just a covered run until they were bigger and could sleep in the trees…None of these choices sounded like the right one.

Then one day as we were discussing it, I looked up at the wood house and said, “Well, aren’t we planning on removing the deck and building a new one anyway? If we are going to spend $1000+ on wood shouldn’t it be on OUR structure instead of the turkeys?” And so that is when the turkey coop decision was finally made.

Britton started by removing the bars from the window on the part of the deck that he would be dismantling. From the inside it is pretty hard to get at because it is right over the stairwell. There is a little hatch that folds over to stand on over the stairs in order to reach the window. Sometimes we feel like the house is more a big boat than a house!

Next, he started to take apart the deck itself. This process took a bit of time, but wasn’t too complicated.

Removing the deck on a gorgeous day

Once the wood was on the ground we were able to sort out which pieces would work and which were too far gone. Some of them are aesthetically worn down, but will still function in a coop. It is pretty amazing, actually how well this deck has stood up to the time and weather. It is probably about 25 years old and hasn’t had any maintenance done on it in at least 15! And yet, here it still stood! At least until we got our hands on it!

Cleaning and powerwashing the boards

The next phase was choosing a site and starting the base once more. The turkey coop will be similar in style and construction to the chicken coop, but just down the hill a ways more.

At the coop site!

Another end brings yet another beginning. We are looking forward to saying, “So long, deck and hello, turkey coop!”

The house with half its deck removed