7x7 Resin Building as Hen House, Includes Ideas for Interior Pls Help

[MayoShawna]

I got this shed on craigslist used for $495. It was in near perfect condition and was relatively easy to install with the instructions I downloaded and printed from Rubbermaid's website. This picture is after I reassembled the building in a fully shaded area of my yard.

The scans below are how I was planning to kit the shed out to be used as a hen house and for Chicken related storage. Those of you who are way more chicken-tastic than I am, please tell me if I am just completely off base with this... Thanks





South wall... cut off when scanning.

 

[Judy]

It looks good! That is plenty of nests for 20 hens, which is a few too many for that coop, IMO. One thing, I'd get a larger vent area at the high point of the shed if possible. The humidity and ammonia you're trying to vent out are warm so will go to the highest place. https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/...-go-out-there-and-cut-more-holes-in-your-coop

I have two metal garbage cans to hold feed, oyster shell, etc. They aren't in a separate, walled off area. I wish I had a little cabinet, maybe the size of a medicine cabinet, up high on the wall so they couldn't roost on it, to hold small items such as something to cut the feed bags open with, box of trash bags, fly strips, etc.

If you do make a separate room for storage, I'd suggest chicken wire walls so you can use it for a broody, an injured chicken, etc. if the need should arise.

 

[Hokum Coco]

Here is a look at my set up you may see some ideas you may want to incorporate.

I have been around the sun 63 times.

It is not my first "Rodeo!"

Heat???
Nobody "I know" heats a chicken coop.
Healthy "cold hearty" chickens die from heat not cold.
I live in Canada last year was subject to -40º (C or F take your pick) no light or heat in coop NO PROBLEMS. You have to feed heavier during cold snaps with extra corn I find.
Chickens have been raised on this continent for over a hundred years without heat.
If you feel you must supply heat to your chickens I suggest keeping your chickens in the house that way you can huddle with your birds when the hydro goes out.

Acclimatize
Chickens will die from cold if not given the chance to acclimatize. Hydro is more apt to go out in an ice storm or blizzard when subject to below 0º temperatures in my opinion.

How would you supply heat then to your un-acclimatized birds ???

Diary of last winter cold snap check out the link:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/738994/chickens-arctic-conditions-prolonged-period

Watering
For along time I used heater tape around a bucket with chicken watering nipples. It worked excellent. However me being me I neglected to change the water as often as I should.

Last year I switched to white rubber contains the wife found somewhere. The freeze solid every night but the ice just pops out of them in the morning and I replenish them with fresh warm water. They have black ones at the feed store that are similar but large than mine.

The chickens congregate around them like people having their morning coffee. The only draw back is my yard is pepper with small ice bergs the size of the buckets.

April looks after that however..


My Coop is a salvaged 4x8 metal shed here are a few tips and a quick look at my set up.
My floor are planks with a layer of tin for rodent proofing. On top of the tin I have a piece of vinyl flooring cut one foot longer than the length and width of my coop (roughly). Six inches squares are cut out of the 4 corners of the vinyl flooring. This allows the friction fitted flooring to travel up the walls six inches around the perimeter of my 4x8 salvaged metal coop. Shovel out the heavy stuff into a wheel barrow. Pop out the vinyl flooring hose it off pop it back in.
Easy Peasy!

Bedding
I have used all types of litter for coops.

I have not tried sand (sand gets good reviews on this site).

Of all the things I tried to date wood pellets have been the best. (I tried wood pellets as a last resort when pine shavings were not available.) They are super absorbent and swell up and eventually turn to saw dust. The droppings just seem to vanish and turn to dust when it comes in contact with wood pellets .

Replace my litter and clean my coop every October after I harvest my garden.


Works for me in my deep litter method.

I do add to pellets from time to time.

I have anywhere from 10 to 15 birds housed in my 4x8 coop.

Through the winter months the pellets froze harder than concrete with -40º temperatures. The poop froze before it could be absorbed by the pellets and there was like a crusty layer of poop in certain areas where they collectively took aim (no smell, messy feet or flies @ -40º). Come April things started to look after themselves.

POOP BOARDS are the "BEST" addition yet. Handles well over ½ of the poop in my set up keeps ammonia smell in check 3½" below roost excellent for catching eggs laid through the night (roost are in cups for easier removal and cleaning). I recently friction fit a piece of vinyl flooring over my poop board.it makes clean up even easier; Pop out; Scrap; Hose; Pop in.

Nest boxes
In my nest boxes I fold a feed bag to fit (nest boxes are 1 ft³). When a bag gets soiled; fold a new one; pop out the soiled; pop in the new.

Easy peasy!.












I house an assortment of birds in this baby barn (¼ inch veneer plywood between birds and elements) no heat no light no problems.

 

[MayoShawna]

It looks good! That is plenty of nests for 20 hens, which is a few too many for that coop, IMO. One thing, I'd get a larger vent area at the high point of the shed if possible. The humidity and ammonia you're trying to vent out are warm so will go to the highest place. https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/...-go-out-there-and-cut-more-holes-in-your-coop

So should I ADD a large went on the east and west walls (the only walls where they could feasibly get any higher) or IN PLACE OF the vents I have added in the plans? I'm going to go read that link, but I had to ask my questions before I forgot them

Quote:
Originally Posted by flockwatcher

I have two metal garbage cans to hold feed, oyster shell, etc. They aren't in a separate, walled off area. I wish I had a little cabinet, maybe the size of a medicine cabinet, up high on the wall so they couldn't roost on it, to hold small items such as something to cut the feed bags open with, box of trash bags, fly strips, etc.

I'm doing the seperate area more for making sure I can get in and out without them escaping out into the unenclosed portion of my lawn. The chickens will have an outdoor run off the south end of the building, but I can't let them free range because I have 5 dogs and we have a lot of predatory animals in my area, including but not limited to: Raccoon, Coyote, Chicken Hawks, etc.

 

[MayoShawna]

I don't really think heat will be much of a problem where I am. I am in Coastal Mississippi and I generally wear flip flops comfortably all year around. I was more concerned about making sure their area was shady enough that they wouldn't get too hot during the summer and fall.
I definitely like the idea of the vinyl floor covering and was thinking of doing that as well. This forum always has the most helpful folks!

 

[Judy]

You will want plenty of ventilation, especially since you are in the south. In the south, cold is never a problem for them, but heat definitely is. That article I believe has a formula, so many sq ft of ventilation per chicken, but remember that the writer lives in Canada, and it will not be enough here. Actually, I usually give folks who live down here this link, to a thread showing open sided coops with attached runs for the south. Every summer, people are scrounging for ways to keep their chickens cool enough, and every summer, some lose chickens to heat. Shade and breeze are necessities in summer here. My coop has 4 sides but there are so many large open air sections that it might as well have only 3, and I still run a fan all summer, and do other things when they start panting or lifting their wings away from their bodies.

 

[MayoShawna]

My phone is being a jerk so it will be tomorrow before I can check out that link. There will be a large outdoor run with lots of roosts an shady areas and water and such as well. I told my father in law that that was too many nest boxes but he has it in his head that I should have 10 so I just gave up on that front

 

[Judy]

While I think the thread is well worth looking at, if only for fun, you no doubt get the idea from the description. Sounds like they will enjoy their outdoor area, with all that entertainment; that's great.

On the nests -- lol! Maybe you can put a door of sorts on one and have my cabinet. They will enjoy having the selection, anyway -- taking their time picking out the "best one," for sure! The rule of thumb is one nest per 4 hens, by the way. I have three nests, plus two popular corners, for 9 hens. Usually all the eggs are in one spot, though which one varies. That's about how it goes for most people here.

 

[bairo]

Looks great to me, but I would definitely save some space and go with 4 nest boxes. The poop board mentioned is usually my number one recomendation and I now consider it the most important aspect as far as optional additions. Any place you can fit vents with the exception of cross drafting the roost, do it. I did the sand thing for a while on the entire floor and will say it was truly a miracle ONLY If you are out there every single day with a kitty litter scoop and bag. Now grant it.. I could scoop a 200 Sq. Ft. Coop in 15 minutes, but if you even skip one day your in for a job, skip 3 days and you may as well pull it all out and start over. IMHO the best solution is 3 inches of shavings on the floor with a good sized poop board below the roost filled with 1 inch of sand and topped with half to one inch of stall dry. Scooped every otherday it will take 5 minutes and will clump just llike kitty litter.. It will never smell. Since they do 80 percent of their pooping on the roost, your shavings will likely only need changing 2 times a year. I did not see how many chickens you planned on getting, but Ithought iI saw 20? I would calculate about 12 for that space but I figure differently than many people. If you click on my Coop below my signature some other pages will come up, one of those is a space article I wrote that some agree with and some don't.... It's information to consider though

 

[MayoShawna]

You will want plenty of ventilation, especially since you are in the south. In the south, cold is never a problem for them, but heat definitely is. That article I believe has a formula, so many sq ft of ventilation per chicken, but remember that the writer lives in Canada, and it will not be enough here. Actually, I usually give folks who live down here this link to a thread showing open sided coops with attached runs for the south. Every summer, people are scrounging for ways to keep their chickens cool enough, and every summer, some lose chickens to heat. Shade and breeze are necessities in summer here. My coop has 4 sides but there are so many large open air sections that it might as well have only 3, and I still run a fan all summer, and do other things when they start panting or lifting their wings away from their bodies.

That link just brings me right back to this thread. I thought I was crazy the first time, but the second and third, I figure maybe it's a bad link. LOL