Some thoughts for converting a play structure to a coop? (Comments and criticism welcome!)

Cheep N Peep said:

Ok, thanks for clearing that up. From the pictures, the doors all looked a lot smaller. So, if the door is six feet tall, is the inside of the playhouse, too?

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Looks to be a foot or so shorter what with the steps...and they mentioned having to stoop over inside, thus the discussion about removing floor in there.



@kellysanderson I'd have to look at all the pics again to see why there is no standing clearance below the deck other than the run.
ETA: Need more pics all around from father away to see clearly.

What is your climate?
Putting your location in your profile can help folks give better answers/suggestions.

I think there's no standing clearance under the rest of the deck because the structure is built in a slope. The run looks to be on the end with the most clearance. If you look at the pic that shows the interior of the run, you can see the slope of the ground outside. The shot of the backside of the structure shows that the area the run occupies was leveled and terraced.

TalkALittle said:

I think there's no standing clearance under the rest of the deck because the structure is built in a slope. The run looks to be on the end with the most clearance. If you look at the pic that shows the interior of the run, you can see the slope of the ground outside. The shot of the backside of the structure shows that the area the run occupies was leveled and terraced.

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Ahhh Yes, I see it now.
Wonder if that could be changed?

I love seeing everyone's coop ideas. So inspirational!

aart said:

Ahhh Yes, I see it now.
Wonder if that could be changed?

Click to expand...

Are you proposing to dig out and terrace the other side? Any excavation of the area under the deck would likely remove soil from around the footings that support that side of the deck. I wouldn't want to do that, especially to a structure built on a slope.

Thanks, everyone, for your patience...it took me a bit longer to get out there with a camera than I'd planned. Anyhow...here are a few more pictures that should help. (I used the good camera!)

Here is a brighter picture of the interior. I took this standing at the bottom of three steps that lead up to the actual coop. Hard to tell, but from the wood floor to the ceiling beams, it's about 5 feet tall. As it's made right now, the doorway is big enough to make it pretty easy to get a shovel in there to get old stuff out. It would be a little harder to use a broom.



Here's a view looking eastward. If you could see through those vines that are dead center, you'd see the entryway to the coop. I'm now thinking it would be easiest to dismantle the wire at the far left of the run, and angle it in a bit more sharply to adjoin the left side of the entryway. Maybe. That would buy me an extra octagon-side worth of exterior access, but it's access on kind of a sloped part of the yard, which isn't super-easy to see from this picture.



Here's a picture looking roughly north-west. The run entrance is the door to the far left (about to be taken over by the grape vines). You can see the sloped yard from this angle, although the pitch is more dramatic from the other side.



TalkALittle was concerned about excavation causing structural issues. I share the same concern. Honestly, until I get the floor up, I can't really be sure...and I'm not sure I want to take the floor out unless I'm really convinced that digging it out is going to be a much better way to go. (Removing floor + digging + laying cement = more work than I really want to do if I don't have to.)

It also occurred to me that I could put windows in on this side of the coop, purely for the sunlight. While it's true the deck is going to block the sun, if I keep the grapes in check it shouldn't be a completely lost cause.

Feed and water in the coop IMO. I have feed and water in the coop, and then I have an extra feeder and waterer in my run under a set of chairs so the food doesn't get rained on. IF you make it where you can put some feed/water in the run where it can't get rained on then you can always have a small one out there too. I have 10 pullets and a cockerel, so it just makes it so there is less squabbling over eating.