My backyard is sandwiched between a treeline to the east, and my house on the west, so it's very heavily shaded... so much so that even shade tolerant grass barely even grows. After wanting chickens for years, and many of those years spent trying to convince my husband that we NEEDED to move to some acreage so I could have said chickens (we didn't), my city changed the ordinance and allowed up to 10 hens. Yay! I told my husband that we didn't have to move anymore (lol), but I am an impulsive woman and drove 4 hours to Cackle Hatchery "just to look." It went as well as it does any time someone goes to the shelter "just to look" haha. I got 5 and then had to do a separate order to get the breeds I wanted, so I have two little mini flocks two weeks apart.
I started with an Omlet Cube with plans to get a second one so that each mini-flock could have their own. I even had the 2nd one ordered and waiting on shipping, but I hemmed and hawed over whether it was the right decision, but decided to cancel the Omlet order. I then bought a 7x7 Rubbermaid shed (and tried to cancel *that* order a few hours later in a 4am sleepless anxiety spree), but Lowe's wouldn't let me cancel the shed so by golly, we're gonna make it work. And then there it was, a 350lb palleted box of glory in my driveway.
Anyway, other folks on here have been successful with shed renovations, which is what inspired me to buy it in the first place, so I hope mine is too! The weather is cooling down here in Kansas so the chickies will at least be comfortable until next summer, but then we'll really be put to the test with a plastic shed. I have a solar powered vent fan ready to install once I recover energy from this build, so hopefully that plus the other changes outlined below, we'll be okay. Given those changes, and that the shed will get about 2 hours of direct sun each afternoon, I'm hoping that it won't get too hot in there.
I can say this is the first time I've used a saw unsupervised, so I'm not handy at all. But I survived, it looks okay, and here's what I did:
TLDR:
Added a window and increased the size of the gable vent. Added hardware cloth instead of plastic to the door windows. Built poop board table thing and propped roll-out nesting boxes underneath, and anchored 3 of the 4 shed walls to the poop table using lag bolts for stability.
Detailed Version:
Like @Chuckie chicken did, I knew I'd need to increase ventilation, so I bought myself a jig saw and jumped right in (tool was not in operation for the taking of this photo. Safety first!).
All done cutting, and with all 10 fingers still attached! I was so proud of myself. Baby steps.
I found some scrap OSB in a corner of the garage from the original home owner, and it was JUST the right thickness to brace the openings and provide structural support down the middle. I also added hardware cloth and window screen because we have loads of skeeters here, and they're #1 on my hate list. I used 1.5" lag screws with the pointy end out hoping I never have to reach them. Should have painted both sides of the center support, but oh well. I don't think I've looked up at it once since I built the coop.
Next was putting hardware cloth on the door windows. It was pretty easy to just sandwich hardware cloth in between the panes rather than using the plastic windows, and bam, ventilation!
Whelp, now that I was done with the "easy" part, I then started the windows.
I purchased 2 brown shed windows off Amazon, one for each of the two empty sides, so that eventually each shed wall will have ventilation. They arrived with the corners slightly bent but it was easy to fix with pliers and/or my fingers. Honestly, they're good windows that will do just fine in my coop. I traced the window onto the panel, and cut it out.
I got some primed 1"x4" trim and a gallon of brown exterior paint from the local Habitat for Humanity ReStore (highly recommend you check for one in your area- amazing construction material recycling opportunities). I cut the trim to fit my windows, then painted the pieces. I used the screws that came with the windows to secure the window to the trim, and then 3" lag screws to go all the way through both interior and exterior wood trim and the shed wall. Finally, I used some brown window caulk (also from the ReStore) to seal the trim and lag bolt oopses lol.
In hindsight, I should have just waited until the shed was fully constructed, because trying to frame a window on a flexible plastic wall panel was considerably more trouble than I anticipated, especially trying to lag bolt both sides of the frame without being terribly crooked. I bought two windows, and plan to use both, but after installing one "the hard way" I decided to hold off and do the second one later when I've had time to mentally recover from that frustration.
The frame pieces are all cut and ready, just gotta work myself up to it! For now, the north wall has no big ventilation but that's where most wintertime precipitation in Kansas comes from, so I'm a-okay with that for the time being. The south wall has my operable window that I can close when precipitation is coming from that direction. When it starts to get warm again (or maybe sooner, who knows), I'll put in that second window for airflow.
Then it was time to put together the shed. I don't have pictures of that process, but as a short woman, help was desperately needed for the roof, which came in the form of my husband with a ladder.
Fast forward to the shed being built. Lots of folks make their poop boards as shelves, but I was worried about the plastic walls bowing, so I went with a table format. I screwed 3' long 2x4s perpendicular to 30" deep sheets of plywood to make a basic table. The plywood was bits from ReStore that were roughly 30" by 4' or 6', and in order to make the L shape I had to brace them together with wood repair bracket thingies. Then I screwed on 1x4 trim all the way around the edge to contain the Sweet PDZ chicky litter. It's basically a big litter box table. I made the roosts out of 2x4s, and they're 8" above the poop board. Much of the wood came from ReStore or was leftover bits from the previous homeowner sitting in a corner of my garage, but I did have to buy a little bit more trim from Lowes. The ladder rungs were cut from a stair railing I found. So far, the girls haven't used it, but it's there The autodoor is from Omlet. I've been very happy with the one I have on my Eglu Cube so I went with that again for the shed. I was going to hang the HenGear Roll-Out Nesting Box next to the autodoor so it'd be more shaded, but with the table legs of my poop board in the way, I can't reach back there to get the eggs. Bummer. Just decided to prop it up on some cinder blocks and call it a day, because life's too short to fret about it. There's also a board across the doorway to contain the bedding. The girls are sure interested now! Peekaboo!
Last bit I did was install a solar panel and a camera, so now I can spy on my birdies! Oh look- our first adventurer is Marshmallow the white leghorn!
The first night I had to move them in one by one and put them on the roost because they were sitting by the closed Omlet coop, chirping forlornly in confusion. But on night 2, little trendsetter Marshmallow popped in and hopped up as if she'd lived in this coop every day of her life and the rest eventually followed.
So far, so good, but I'm only 3 days in! I will update with how it holds up in the weather as the seasons change, as well as when I eventually make more modifications. So far the plans are to 1- install that second window, and 2- install a solar vent fan, since my main concern is heat in summer. Love my girls!
I started with an Omlet Cube with plans to get a second one so that each mini-flock could have their own. I even had the 2nd one ordered and waiting on shipping, but I hemmed and hawed over whether it was the right decision, but decided to cancel the Omlet order. I then bought a 7x7 Rubbermaid shed (and tried to cancel *that* order a few hours later in a 4am sleepless anxiety spree), but Lowe's wouldn't let me cancel the shed so by golly, we're gonna make it work. And then there it was, a 350lb palleted box of glory in my driveway.
Anyway, other folks on here have been successful with shed renovations, which is what inspired me to buy it in the first place, so I hope mine is too! The weather is cooling down here in Kansas so the chickies will at least be comfortable until next summer, but then we'll really be put to the test with a plastic shed. I have a solar powered vent fan ready to install once I recover energy from this build, so hopefully that plus the other changes outlined below, we'll be okay. Given those changes, and that the shed will get about 2 hours of direct sun each afternoon, I'm hoping that it won't get too hot in there.
I can say this is the first time I've used a saw unsupervised, so I'm not handy at all. But I survived, it looks okay, and here's what I did:
TLDR:
Added a window and increased the size of the gable vent. Added hardware cloth instead of plastic to the door windows. Built poop board table thing and propped roll-out nesting boxes underneath, and anchored 3 of the 4 shed walls to the poop table using lag bolts for stability.
Detailed Version:
Like @Chuckie chicken did, I knew I'd need to increase ventilation, so I bought myself a jig saw and jumped right in (tool was not in operation for the taking of this photo. Safety first!).
All done cutting, and with all 10 fingers still attached! I was so proud of myself. Baby steps.
I found some scrap OSB in a corner of the garage from the original home owner, and it was JUST the right thickness to brace the openings and provide structural support down the middle. I also added hardware cloth and window screen because we have loads of skeeters here, and they're #1 on my hate list. I used 1.5" lag screws with the pointy end out hoping I never have to reach them. Should have painted both sides of the center support, but oh well. I don't think I've looked up at it once since I built the coop.
Next was putting hardware cloth on the door windows. It was pretty easy to just sandwich hardware cloth in between the panes rather than using the plastic windows, and bam, ventilation!
Whelp, now that I was done with the "easy" part, I then started the windows.
I purchased 2 brown shed windows off Amazon, one for each of the two empty sides, so that eventually each shed wall will have ventilation. They arrived with the corners slightly bent but it was easy to fix with pliers and/or my fingers. Honestly, they're good windows that will do just fine in my coop. I traced the window onto the panel, and cut it out.
I got some primed 1"x4" trim and a gallon of brown exterior paint from the local Habitat for Humanity ReStore (highly recommend you check for one in your area- amazing construction material recycling opportunities). I cut the trim to fit my windows, then painted the pieces. I used the screws that came with the windows to secure the window to the trim, and then 3" lag screws to go all the way through both interior and exterior wood trim and the shed wall. Finally, I used some brown window caulk (also from the ReStore) to seal the trim and lag bolt oopses lol.
In hindsight, I should have just waited until the shed was fully constructed, because trying to frame a window on a flexible plastic wall panel was considerably more trouble than I anticipated, especially trying to lag bolt both sides of the frame without being terribly crooked. I bought two windows, and plan to use both, but after installing one "the hard way" I decided to hold off and do the second one later when I've had time to mentally recover from that frustration.
The frame pieces are all cut and ready, just gotta work myself up to it! For now, the north wall has no big ventilation but that's where most wintertime precipitation in Kansas comes from, so I'm a-okay with that for the time being. The south wall has my operable window that I can close when precipitation is coming from that direction. When it starts to get warm again (or maybe sooner, who knows), I'll put in that second window for airflow.Then it was time to put together the shed. I don't have pictures of that process, but as a short woman, help was desperately needed for the roof, which came in the form of my husband with a ladder.
Fast forward to the shed being built. Lots of folks make their poop boards as shelves, but I was worried about the plastic walls bowing, so I went with a table format. I screwed 3' long 2x4s perpendicular to 30" deep sheets of plywood to make a basic table. The plywood was bits from ReStore that were roughly 30" by 4' or 6', and in order to make the L shape I had to brace them together with wood repair bracket thingies. Then I screwed on 1x4 trim all the way around the edge to contain the Sweet PDZ chicky litter. It's basically a big litter box table. I made the roosts out of 2x4s, and they're 8" above the poop board. Much of the wood came from ReStore or was leftover bits from the previous homeowner sitting in a corner of my garage, but I did have to buy a little bit more trim from Lowes. The ladder rungs were cut from a stair railing I found. So far, the girls haven't used it, but it's there
The autodoor is from Omlet. I've been very happy with the one I have on my Eglu Cube so I went with that again for the shed. I was going to hang the HenGear Roll-Out Nesting Box next to the autodoor so it'd be more shaded, but with the table legs of my poop board in the way, I can't reach back there to get the eggs. Bummer. Just decided to prop it up on some cinder blocks and call it a day, because life's too short to fret about it. There's also a board across the doorway to contain the bedding. The girls are sure interested now! Peekaboo!
Last bit I did was install a solar panel and a camera, so now I can spy on my birdies! Oh look- our first adventurer is Marshmallow the white leghorn!
The first night I had to move them in one by one and put them on the roost because they were sitting by the closed Omlet coop, chirping forlornly in confusion. But on night 2, little trendsetter Marshmallow popped in and hopped up as if she'd lived in this coop every day of her life and the rest eventually followed.
So far, so good, but I'm only 3 days in! I will update with how it holds up in the weather as the seasons change, as well as when I eventually make more modifications. So far the plans are to 1- install that second window, and 2- install a solar vent fan, since my main concern is heat in summer. Love my girls!
