Bird's eye maple flooring for siding and building a coop

I'm designing a 5X5 raised coop with a 5X6 attached run. I've gotten great ideas for the design, windows etc, but our biggest question is how to use the probably 1000 square feet of extra tongue and groove solid bird's eye maple left over flooring that we bought 13 years ago at a very very good price from a mill in Minnesota. It has been stored inside and is in great condition. They are 2 inch and 3 inch widths of assorted lengths and 3/4 inch thick. We are going to use pressure treated wood for the 4 X 4 buried posts and bottom 2 X 4. We are wondering if we use the flooring in place of the 2 x 4's that you would have going vertically at the corners, roof supports, etc. We were also thinking about using the tongue and groove flooring for the roof with metal over top and the nice side of the floor showing on the inside of the ceiling. We were also going to use the flooring as the walls, trim etc. It doesn't take much to cut the tongue and groove off and still have 1.5 or 2.5 inch wide to use for trim. We also have a bunch of Kitchen Maid solid wood door fronts that were not stained properly and left for us when the new ones came in. I can use these for doors and windows. We were hoping to just use some sort of varnish vs paint as the wood is so pretty. It kind of goes against our natural instinct to put interior wood outside, but I figure it's maple which is hard wood. Wouldn't it hold up to Ohio elements, sitting in the shade and no contact with the ground. It seems a crime to use such nice wood outside, but as I said we have had it in our house for 13 years and have used it for numerous projects and would like to make use of it. Does any one have any input on using it. Any suggestions for treating it or see any potential problems that I am missing.

Thanks,
Anna
Chicken owner wannabe in Ohio

Stopped in town at Sherman Williams and started talking to him about what we were planning on doing and he laughed as he is doing the same thing with a buyout assorted bird's eye maple flooring when a small local mill closed. He suggested just using Thompson water sealer which will let is weather a nice grey that can be stained then sealed down the road. He said that the maple more than likely won't stain well at all when new. We're going to give it a coat before assembling then again when all done. Anyways, if any of you who read and didn't respond, I'd like to think it was because you didn't know the answer and like me, were hoping to find the answer-so that's the scoop. If any one has any additional info, I'd still like to hear

Thanks,
Anna

I'd go with a natural tung oil rather than Thompsens. Thompsens isn't really all that great of a product.

Great use of the maple!

Thanks for the input. We have used tung oil on an outdoor bench made of teak and I like that idea better than Thompson's. I was beginning to think I was nuts for wanting to use the maple since no one was responding. Thought no one wanted to burst my bubble
Anna

If it was easy to sell to someone, BS'er might have a good point...but if it's been laying around for 13 years and you want to build something and not spend any more money...... it's not wasteful, it's resourceful!

I'd go bigger than 5' x 5', that's pretty darn small if you can have more than 3-4 chickens.

Do ALOT of reading here before you commit to size and design.

I had the privilege of getting my hands on old tongue and groove flooring and I plan on using a lot of it on and in my Chicken Coop.I have used some of it for the peelings under my tin roof on part of it already.I plan on using it as flooring in part of my 3 part coop and I plan on using it for a stylish of a degree on the outside.I am planning on using it where it can make a different design or style as I go.I do plan on using it inside on the walls as a Wayne's coat.This may only come up a short distance,But I'm hoping it will make it easier to clean and help keep my shavings inside.

I am not big on Thompson's water seal either.It is over rated and I think you will be disappointed .I plan on getting in contact with a log house contractor or company and tell them what you plan on doing,and ask them what they would do.Yes Maple is an excellent fairly expensive wood,but if is there to use then use it.That's what I do.You can design it with the wood and then add some vinyl siding,or run the wood one way and then change it and run some another way.Use your mind and design whatever you think looks good.My 3 part Chicken House is an old playhouse on one side,I'm in the process of putting a little white Church on the other end and I have a glassed in area in the middle so that they can go from house to house.This area is my dining area and that's where they are fed,watered,have their grit and extra calcium.Some of the entire coop is vinyl siding,tongue and groove maple,glass and whatever I can afford or scrounge.I put it on hold until late spring or early summer.One more thing.I don't recommend using OBS or chip board.This material decomposes to easy when it gets wet.If you gonna use anything of this nature,use plywood exterior grade.This is more durable and is glued with outside glue

Thanks for tips and input all. I know that in a way using the maple is wasteful, but we live way out in the sticks, as in did you know there are places in Ohio with no cell service? That's where we live. Our driveway scares city folk who don't know how to deal with hills and gravel. We do like to use good quality and we'd probably end up spending more than we got from the sale and not selling is way easier. Besides if it is pretty then that has its value as well. My DH is having a fit that I am going as big as I am, of course he saw the chicken houses at TSC and is comparing to that. The overall size will be 11 X 5 and I am getting 2 or 3 to start then when they slow down on egg production I'll add a couple more. Its just the two of us so that should be plenty. If we need to add on later that is always an option at the location we chose. Thanks again.

Anna

Just realized that I never posted pictures of the finished product. Have been very happy with how it turned out, both in looks and function. I must credit the Witchata coop for the idea for my design. Had some rough plans but final cuts were calculated as we went so as to minimize ripping any of the boards. It has been interesting with the wet, humid summer. We have hat to do some more sanding as some of the doors are sticking. Then after the humidity drops, the doors are almost loose. We haven't stained or treated it as of yet. The overhang has protected most of the coop and we will wait until fall to apply a tinted stain - Sherwin Williams deckscapes weatherproof stain.

Since I can't figure out how to put more than one photo per post, I'll send a few more. This is the interior of the 5 x 5 house. I found the 'poop board convert' discussion and decided to divide the bottom of the coop by placing a board on the floor which is a sheet of linoleum over the maple flooring. We also treated the bottom and about six inches up the sides with 3 or 4 cans of spray on rubber. Half of the coop, under the roost has a few inches of PDZ which makes cleanup every am a 5 minute chore. Wish horse poop was so easy to clean . The other part has pine pelleted bedding that we also use in the horse stalls instead of shavings. The coop still feels and smells like new and we are approaching 2 months with our year old hens. They have settled in nicely

Another view of the coop from the south side. I had some plexiglass cut to fit over the hardware cloth to cover the windows in the coop when the weather gets bad. I also have the whole run and roof areas secured with hardware cloth. I went so far as to continue the hardware cloth down the floor then sewed it all together so that no matter how far a critter would dig it will come across a solid wall of hardware cloth.