Coop/Storage Shed

[linneamae]

So I recieved a lot of help with my last question, and now I have another one. The two major projects in front of us this year are the coop and I'm also in need of a garden shed in a bad way. Now that you fine chicken people have helped me realize that I'm better off putting the coop/run closer to the house and abandoning my previous plan, I had an idea.

Would it make sense to do an all-in-one with the garden shed and coop? I was thinking we could just pick up a decent sized shed from home depot, build a wall halfway through it, and convert one side into a coop and leave the other side as my garden shed space.

Does this even sound like an idea to pursue? I know we'd have to do a lot to the coop side to get it right, but it can't be more work/money than building one from scratch and then still having to purchase the garden shed on top of it all. Any reason why this wouldn't be a good a idea? Any particulars I should look for in a shed if I do go this route? I'm thinking it has to be wood in order to make all the alterations easier, but anything else? I live in Minnesota if that makes any difference on what your answer would be.

Also will my garden shed stink to high heaven even if I completely wall it off? I mean I think I could deal with it either way but I wouldn't want to be miserable in there as it would be somewhat of a workspace - not just storage.

Thanks in advance to anyone who wants to weigh in!

 

[bj taylor]

i have what is essentially a hoop house.(about 12 x 20). 1/4 of it is chicken coop. i have a human door in the coop that opens into the rest of the hoop house, a place where i can get the eggs without going in the coop. they have their automatic pop door leading out into their yard. i have a clean out that allows me to really easily sweep out their coop when i need to & the three raised beds (fenced off from the darn chickens)(4 x 20 each) get the used chicken litter.
it seems like a really good system for me.
the only time it stinks is if i've been too long cleaning out their coop.
oh, i forgot to say that i only have five birds. four lovely big girls & a huge black australorp rooster. charlie's a great guy

 

[Anirtj]

We did exactly the same thing. We built a 10' x 12' shed and made the last 4' the chicken coop. We have an automatic chicken door and a human access door. I have photos of it on my info page. We also live in Minnesota. It does not smell at all. We did put 2 vents in the roof of the coop portion. There is a wall separating the shed and coop and we sealed the cracks with expanding foam to prevent fumes from the lawn tractor from getting to the chickens. It has worked exceptionally well. What part of MN are you in? I'd love to chat more.

 

[linneamae]

. i have a clean out that allows me to really easily sweep out their coop when i need to

Thanks bj - if you don't mind, what is a 'clean out' exactly? I hope that's not a really dumb question.


Anirtj - I'm about 25 minutes west of Brainerd. You?

 

[TheDuffields]

Neato! I'm originally from Holdingford, MN!

We are looking to do a similar idea for our coop. I feel that it would be safer for our future chickens to protect against predators.

 

[PostgeStampFarm]

We did exactly that!...I purchased a display model shed from Home Depot...it is 10' wide but only 3.5' deep as it was a unit that was placed against the front of the store as display. It has double barn doors and I built a wall where they meet dividing the shed in half. In the divider wall I put a recycled window, a mesh vent and a trap door to access the nest boxes. All of our garden tools and bedding supplies live on the right, and our 6-9 hens live on the left. It works great!

 

[Anirtj]

I'm in Nowthen, MN (East of Elk River). Our chickens have been predator proof in the shed coop. We used branches for roosts and buckets for nest boxes. I'm going to add a poop tray under the roosts once the frozen tundra thaws out.