The coop adventure begins....
After living for a 4 by 8 "playhouse" style coop for a year, and spending too much time on BYC, I was more than ready to upgrade to a larger, "walk-in" style coop. I started with a shed kit, built the foundation/floor, then got fed up with the kit.
The platform sat in the driveway with a tarp over it for 2 months before my husband felt sorry for me and got a carpenter to do the framing. In the photo below you can see the walls framed up and ready for siding (the top plate ends sticking out were cut off later).
(Please see the coop design page for the framing plans)
Then everything sat like that (with a tarp over it, of course) for 3 more weeks--my husband liked how simple the construction was, and the cheap siding I found, so much, that he put the carpenter on to building another shed! I was not happy....
**3 more weeks pass** the chicks are growing...
Since the new coop was going in the exact location of the old coop, we had to have everything prefabbed to move into place quickly. I didn't want to keep the chickens in the small quarantine coop any longer than necessary. So the walls were pre-finished with some siding I found (at a good deal!) and then on the chosen day we moved the old coop, set the skids into place, moved the platform and started assembling the walls. Here's the platform in place (and pre-fabbed walls):
After working feverishly for a few days, we finally got to the point where it was chicken-ready. I was co-inciding this with a chicken integration, so I let them all pick their own place to sleep. After a couple of days--they all picked the new coop--yaaay! Here's the finished coop:
Here's the coop from the side:
I'm going to try and put together another page with plans that I drew to scale. Here's a few notes about the construction:
--I was concerned about the small size of the joists (2 by 4) in the floor framing, but with the skids, the floor feels very firm.
--The roof is covered with tar paper and rolled roofing, so that kept the weight down and made for quick roof installation.
--The floor platform was covered with vinyl (glued down) before the walls were attached.
--The door is very simple construction-a hole was cut out of the siding for the door, THAT piece was trimmed just slightly, and trimmed out with 1 by 4 white wood. The door sits flush, and backs up to the framing, here is a detail:
I do not like the board that keeps litter from the door sill--it is a tripper, and I'll probably just build up the sill with another 2 by 4.
--The nest box is a community nest box 12" high by 40" wide and 14" deep. It sits half in and half out of the coop. I pulled it from the old coop because I loved it so much.
--Windows are very simple--a piece of double thick glass, cut to fit, sits inside the framing and is sandwiched between 1 by 3 white wood trim, and 1/2" quarter-round on the inside.
--I actually only did vents on half of the top wall, but I wish I had done the whole stretch as shown on the plan. The location is great and lets in a lot of light in the morning. The carpenter set the siding that was cut from the hole aside for a cover, now where did that piece go....
--The roof overhang is about 10" on all sides except over the entry--that overhang is 18" so I can stand out of the rain when checking for eggs, spying on them, etc...
--There is no sheathing under the siding, siding is sheathing. Trim is 1x4, 1x2 and 1x3 white wood.
**What I would have done differently--not a lot, I did a ton of research (mostly here on BYC!) and learned from the first coop what worked and what didn't work . I do wish I had put ventilation across the entire length of the top wall (as shown on plan), and I will be adding that next summer. I am also considering adding another ventilation intake at the bottom of the short wall for hot summer days. And hopefully it will be insulated soon.
After living for a 4 by 8 "playhouse" style coop for a year, and spending too much time on BYC, I was more than ready to upgrade to a larger, "walk-in" style coop. I started with a shed kit, built the foundation/floor, then got fed up with the kit.
The platform sat in the driveway with a tarp over it for 2 months before my husband felt sorry for me and got a carpenter to do the framing. In the photo below you can see the walls framed up and ready for siding (the top plate ends sticking out were cut off later).
(Please see the coop design page for the framing plans)
Then everything sat like that (with a tarp over it, of course) for 3 more weeks--my husband liked how simple the construction was, and the cheap siding I found, so much, that he put the carpenter on to building another shed! I was not happy....
**3 more weeks pass** the chicks are growing...
Since the new coop was going in the exact location of the old coop, we had to have everything prefabbed to move into place quickly. I didn't want to keep the chickens in the small quarantine coop any longer than necessary. So the walls were pre-finished with some siding I found (at a good deal!) and then on the chosen day we moved the old coop, set the skids into place, moved the platform and started assembling the walls. Here's the platform in place (and pre-fabbed walls):
After working feverishly for a few days, we finally got to the point where it was chicken-ready. I was co-inciding this with a chicken integration, so I let them all pick their own place to sleep. After a couple of days--they all picked the new coop--yaaay! Here's the finished coop:
Here's the coop from the side:
I'm going to try and put together another page with plans that I drew to scale. Here's a few notes about the construction:
--I was concerned about the small size of the joists (2 by 4) in the floor framing, but with the skids, the floor feels very firm.
--The roof is covered with tar paper and rolled roofing, so that kept the weight down and made for quick roof installation.
--The floor platform was covered with vinyl (glued down) before the walls were attached.
--The door is very simple construction-a hole was cut out of the siding for the door, THAT piece was trimmed just slightly, and trimmed out with 1 by 4 white wood. The door sits flush, and backs up to the framing, here is a detail:
I do not like the board that keeps litter from the door sill--it is a tripper, and I'll probably just build up the sill with another 2 by 4.
--The nest box is a community nest box 12" high by 40" wide and 14" deep. It sits half in and half out of the coop. I pulled it from the old coop because I loved it so much.
--Windows are very simple--a piece of double thick glass, cut to fit, sits inside the framing and is sandwiched between 1 by 3 white wood trim, and 1/2" quarter-round on the inside.
--I actually only did vents on half of the top wall, but I wish I had done the whole stretch as shown on the plan. The location is great and lets in a lot of light in the morning. The carpenter set the siding that was cut from the hole aside for a cover, now where did that piece go....
--The roof overhang is about 10" on all sides except over the entry--that overhang is 18" so I can stand out of the rain when checking for eggs, spying on them, etc...
--There is no sheathing under the siding, siding is sheathing. Trim is 1x4, 1x2 and 1x3 white wood.
**What I would have done differently--not a lot, I did a ton of research (mostly here on BYC!) and learned from the first coop what worked and what didn't work . I do wish I had put ventilation across the entire length of the top wall (as shown on plan), and I will be adding that next summer. I am also considering adding another ventilation intake at the bottom of the short wall for hot summer days. And hopefully it will be insulated soon.
