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We decided to build a Dutch Door for our chicken coop so that during the hot months, we would have an easy way to get extra ventilation into the coop itself. Here you see the two halves of the door in the beginning phases. We have the them cut and the basic frame screwed to the OSB panels. We made the bottom half of the door slightly taller than the top half by design.

Here you see the lower half of the door with the first of the two trim strips in place.  These not only give structure to the door panel it self but they add a nice decorative look to the door as well.

In this photo we have the two halves of our chicken coop entry door stacked on top of each other so you can get a feel for how the finished door will look when it on the coop in it's proper location. You can now see how the framing, while added structure to the otherwise flimsy panels, but will also add a nice decorative touch to our chicken coops appearance.

Here you see the door with the bottom half installed.  Make sure your door is square and opens easily and smoothly before tightening all of your hinges.  It's just a chicken coop but we want a good functioning door so when it swells from the rain, our door still opens and closes smoothly without sticking.

The view of the door in place from inside of the chicken coop.  We used two ample sized hinges per door half which helps the sturdiness of the overall door opening and closing.  I learned a long time ago not to skimp on hinge size.  I could have used a smaller hinge but sagging doors are not fun so spend a few extra pennies and get the best hinge for your project and not the cheapest.  You will thank yourself later.

On the right side of the door, you see the slide latch that we used keep the two door halves together as a one piece door, or separated as a two piece door.

Here we have the finished door in place from the outside with both halves closed.

A photo from the outside with the upper half of the chicken coop door now open.  Remember to add a stop inside the coop to keep the upper half open until you want it to close.  You don't want any pinched fingers because the wind blew the door shut while you had your hands on top of the bottom half!

In this photo, you see our chicken coop door in it's fully open position.  Both halves are latched together in this photo and the door opens as a normal door.  Un-hitch the inside latch and now you can open each half independently.  If you lived in warm climate, you could almost omit the chicken access door we created if you wanted to and just use the Dutch door with only the bottom half open for chicken entry and exit. There are many ways to accomplish this and again because we wanted a remote control door option, we went the route of a separate chicken access door.

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