Ana White DIY Green House as a coop!

[Prairie Hills Homestead]

We are building these as chicken coops but instead of the corrugated plastic it will all be metal. There will be windows up front that are plastic and removable for summer but I am excited to see how this goes! I will have the 1st one done by end of next week. Anyone else use this type of coop or has ever built this for their chickens?
https://www.ana-white.com/woodworking-projects/diy-greenhouse

I plan on building 10 or 12 of them. Grow out pens as well as breeding pens. Runs will be 12x20 for 30 chickens each coop.

 

[R2elk]

We are building these as chicken coops but instead of the corrugated plastic it will all be metal. There will be windows up front that are plastic and removable for summer but I am excited to see how this goes! I will have the 1st one done by end of next week. Anyone else use this type of coop or has ever built this for their chickens?
https://www.ana-white.com/woodworking-projects/diy-greenhouse

I plan on building 10 or 12 of them. Grow out pens as well as breeding pens. Runs will be 12x20 for 30 chickens each coop.

Preventing them from getting too hot may prove to be a problem.

 

[Prairie Hills Homestead]

Preventing them from getting too hot may prove to be a problem.

They will be insulated with standard insulation and plywood. I have an 8x8 metal one that worked this summer but we have the plastic windows that we can take off that has chicken wire as well so it opens up the ventilation. We don't typically get that hot, 90-95 in August.
. South Central Montana.

 

[Prairie Hills Homestead]

Current coop

 

[Acre4Me]

You may also want to consider a Wood’s style coop. It is ideal for cold areas, lots of ventilation. Many threads on here, but I’m suggesting it bc you are willing to build from scratch. There are ways to build them to keep up the Wood’s premise, yet separate each flock/group.

Basically, a Wood’s coop has an open all-year front. Roosts are in the back. Due to the longer length design (and air tight back/roost end of the coop) there is an air cushion created that prevents wind from reaching the roosts.

This book was written in around 1920s (author Prince Woods I think), but modern alterations have been done to better fit with available supplies (8x4 plywood, for example). It was a very novel idea back in the day bc in cold regions, chickens were closed up tightly, and lacked all the fresh air.

Anyway, you may want to read up on these coops if interested in the concept.

 

[Prairie Hills Homestead]

I definitely just read some about them. I am not sure they will work for sure where we are at due to our shear volume of wind and weather. We are currently -13 degrees and yesterday we were -8 with 35mph winds (+). I do plan on leaving the plastic removable like our current coop. The plastic is all removable with chicken wire for ventilation.
Cool concepts though!

 

[nuthatched]

Don't use chicken wire, use hardware cloth and sandwich it in with wood and make permanent ventilation in the roof peak. Good idea to green house plans, I can't remember if it was her or another person but that person posted land for a truly awful joke of a cool.

 

[RojoMarz]

We have built it, but it's a greenhouse.

 

[Prairie Hills Homestead]

We have built it, but it's a greenhouse. View attachment 3413701

That is awesome! We plan on making another one as a green house. They are pretty buildings!

 

[3KillerBs]

They will be insulated with standard insulation and plywood. I have an 8x8 metal one that worked this summer but we have the plastic windows that we can take off that has chicken wire as well so it opens up the ventilation. We don't typically get that hot, 90-95 in August.
. South Central Montana.

I'm dubious about this.

I personally find that I need either DEEP natural shade or double to triple the recommended ventilation to keep my coops under 100F on a 90F day. It's very difficult to properly ventilate a gambrel roof.

Repecka Illustrates Coop Ventilation

Do consider the Woods Coop -- they're designed for flexibility in cold and temperate climates. @Ted Brown has one in Ontario and others have them in Alaska but they're nearly as well-ventilated as my Open Air coop here in the Steamy Southeast when all the vents/windows are open.