I live off-grid in the interior of Alaska so when I designed my coop it was important to me to have an efficient, passive solar design. I needed to have a long side and face it towards the sun. I also knew I wanted plenty of windows for natural daylight and ventilation. A shed-roof made sense so that I could collect rainwater off the back-side; it would come in handy to water my birds and also to keep the duck's pool full.
But I didn't want it to be just a boring shed-roof building either...especially after seeing all of the incredible designs shown on this site! So I decided to try to make it look similar to an old-west, false-front town. I'm sorry that I didn't take many pictures during the project, but here in Alaska we have to try to do all of our projects in just a few short months of summer. My builder-friend wasn't overly enthused about my idea, but even he admitted that it looked pretty neat after it was done.
The coop isn't fancy; there's no metal or vinyl siding. It does have a metal roof and the OSB siding is painted, but that's about it. It only took an additional four sheets of OSB to create the roof-line. After paint and materials the cost was less than $75 to add the unique look (and that's Alaska prices). To me it was worth it; after all, I'm the one who has to look at it everyday.
In the interior of the coop there are four separate pens. I painted the nesting boxes and roosts a different color in each. It was partly to make it more fun for me, but mostly so that when I have others doing chores I can make sure the instructions are a little more clear. "Give the red pen a bucket of sprouts and 2 cups of yogurt" is a lot easier for a helper to understand than saying "give the Wyandottes...". They might not know the difference between the breeds, but I know they can tell the difference between red and yellow!
This summer I'll get signs painted to give each "building" it's own character. The middle of the coop that's painted red will be the "Fowl Play Saloon". I'm open to suggestions for the two tan and two brown "buildings"
But I didn't want it to be just a boring shed-roof building either...especially after seeing all of the incredible designs shown on this site! So I decided to try to make it look similar to an old-west, false-front town. I'm sorry that I didn't take many pictures during the project, but here in Alaska we have to try to do all of our projects in just a few short months of summer. My builder-friend wasn't overly enthused about my idea, but even he admitted that it looked pretty neat after it was done.
The coop isn't fancy; there's no metal or vinyl siding. It does have a metal roof and the OSB siding is painted, but that's about it. It only took an additional four sheets of OSB to create the roof-line. After paint and materials the cost was less than $75 to add the unique look (and that's Alaska prices). To me it was worth it; after all, I'm the one who has to look at it everyday.
In the interior of the coop there are four separate pens. I painted the nesting boxes and roosts a different color in each. It was partly to make it more fun for me, but mostly so that when I have others doing chores I can make sure the instructions are a little more clear. "Give the red pen a bucket of sprouts and 2 cups of yogurt" is a lot easier for a helper to understand than saying "give the Wyandottes...". They might not know the difference between the breeds, but I know they can tell the difference between red and yellow!
This summer I'll get signs painted to give each "building" it's own character. The middle of the coop that's painted red will be the "Fowl Play Saloon". I'm open to suggestions for the two tan and two brown "buildings"
