Coop Design Idea

[Ameisen]

So, say I wanted it to be 10 feet wide and 6 feet long... 4 pressure-treated 4x4's on concrete posts would not be sufficient to hold that?

 

[BertandMary]

So, say I wanted it to be 10 feet wide and 6 feet long... 4 pressure-treated 4x4's on concrete posts would not be sufficient to hold that?

I was thinking support posts not floor joists. If running them as joists you should be alright. My old 10 x 12 was like that but had more concrete support posts and hurricane screws and straps.

 

[Ameisen]

Hmm, perhaps I'm designing this wrong (I'm not a carpenter or a structural engineer).

My thinking was that I would have 4 or 6 4x4s, about 8-9 feet tall. There would be 5 bearer beams (as the design is pentagonal), and I wasn't planning on having traditional floor joists (as I want to offer additional protection from weather and predators) but rather just 2x4s, flat to the base. If they need further support (which they would) perhaps 2 or 3 mid-span joists underneath them running from two of the bearer beams across. I worry that building a proper subfloor is beyond my skills and budget.

It sounds like it would be better for those bearer beams to be entirely above short posts (so instead of the posts going all the way to the top, it would be functionally a separate structure)?

 

[BertandMary]

You really don't need a Taj Mahal unless you want one. You could make, in effect, a pole barn using 4x4 posts and put in a sand floor. Toss sheeting around it, add a roof and build exterior access nest boxes for the hen's eggs. You could make low toward the ground exterior access nest boxes for the ducks too. My current duck is nuts. She free ranges and has decided to not lay in her normal nest box this year. She now lays in a flower bed in front of the house.

 

[Ameisen]

In the towns we are looking in, it's not legal to build a structure like that without concrete posts.

 

[Chicken Egg 17]

O ok

 

[Fancychooklady]

if you elevate the coop it leaves a good place for them to find shelter. We use marine ply over the sub floor then linoleum glued to that, makes for easier cleaning.
This is an old recycled kids fort cubby house. Underneath doubles as a naughty rooster pen, ' sin bin '.

 

[Chicken Egg 17]

Doesn't it move it the wind being that high

 

[Fancychooklady]

Doesn't it move it the wind being that high

Oh no not at all, the posts are 600 ml buried . Solid as a rock. My 6 coronation Sussex sleep upstairs and currently I have a momma and her 3 chicks living downstairs, locked up safe and sound , away from naughty Mr goss hawk.

 

[CGilbert]

That looks exactly like my new breeding pens I just built. Ok, mine is much more primitive: no concrete block and kind of hodge podged together. But it's working great. I have 2' underneath and that seems fine for the birds. Don't forget a roost. I have metal roofing over the run since it's not that big. 11' long, 5'-6' wide. You will definitely want to think about waterers and feeders because when you make pens this size, it doesn't allow for a lot of room inside. And when the birds get down from their roost, they will hit them, or poop in them while they're sleeping. That was the first things that happened. I've got a temporary fix for the moment until I can get off for the weekend again and work on it.








It is finished now, but I don't have any current pic's (and I'm at work so I can't go out and get one). I'll get better pictures this evening (if I can remember).