Last year we move to a new (really old) home, with a bit of land to get a little homestead going. In the move my previous coop was damaged by my husband and his buddies. Since thenm our girls have been living in sectioned off portion of our garage. While I was repairing the damaged coop, chicken math took hold and our flock of 5 expanded to a flock of 20. So the repair became an expansion.
In my excitement I forgot a few major things and now find myself with some unexpected "creative opportunities" for this coop and would love your advice and suggestions. Here are the stats:
Southeast Iowa temp extremes -20 to 100F degrees, average temps single digits to 85 degrees, (actual temperature).
The coop is 14" x 8" with an additional alcove which adds 18 sq', total 130 sq' plus a run which will be at least 200 sq' and eventually partially covered.
the height of the North and East walls is 8', the South and west walls are 6' high (creative opportunity #1)
The entrance is on the south side. The south side also has 2 massive pine trees. (Not possible to place the coop so the trees where on the north)
I was hoping to do a somewhat open air design, so the west wall is adapted from the previous run of my old coop. Hence the height difference, and is made of hardware cloth.
the top 18" of the east wall is also open with hardware cloth.
Roof material will hopefully be clear corrigated plastic panels.
My biggest concern is with roofing this beast. I could raise up the south wall to 8' with an extension and do a single slope down to the 6' height of the west side. This sounds easiest to me but I have never roofed anything like this before so I dont have the experience to see the potential problems.
I tried to add pics but I couldnt get them to be the right size. I will figure that out and add them below.
In my excitement I forgot a few major things and now find myself with some unexpected "creative opportunities" for this coop and would love your advice and suggestions. Here are the stats:
Southeast Iowa temp extremes -20 to 100F degrees, average temps single digits to 85 degrees, (actual temperature).
The coop is 14" x 8" with an additional alcove which adds 18 sq', total 130 sq' plus a run which will be at least 200 sq' and eventually partially covered.
the height of the North and East walls is 8', the South and west walls are 6' high (creative opportunity #1)
The entrance is on the south side. The south side also has 2 massive pine trees. (Not possible to place the coop so the trees where on the north)
I was hoping to do a somewhat open air design, so the west wall is adapted from the previous run of my old coop. Hence the height difference, and is made of hardware cloth.
the top 18" of the east wall is also open with hardware cloth.
Roof material will hopefully be clear corrigated plastic panels.
My biggest concern is with roofing this beast. I could raise up the south wall to 8' with an extension and do a single slope down to the 6' height of the west side. This sounds easiest to me but I have never roofed anything like this before so I dont have the experience to see the potential problems.
I tried to add pics but I couldnt get them to be the right size. I will figure that out and add them below.
