Any Half shed chicken coop ideas?

[BlueRidge150]

@U_Stormcrow , thank you very much for that response. I live in South Carolina. Near the North Carolina border.
The pictured shed is what I was considering using. I currently use it for lawn equipment only.
My dream / initial though was using all the space to right of the right door. However, now that I've read your response, and am thinking it over, thats likely not enough room.
So it doesnt like like this idea will come to fruition.

From here I'll likely try to find some good coop plans on this site or elsewhere. Ive seen some good ideas using a base/house of 4x8 which would probably be relatively easy to copy. Only issue these days is the dang price of lumber. Its skyrocketed.

 

[mamajos]

I head you on the skyrocketing prices! My husband checked pricing in July, 2020 for building a new coop. We started in September, 2020, and pricing had doubled. He still went ahead and built it, thank goodness, but it was frustrating on how much more it cost.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

@U_Stormcrow , thank you very much for that response. I live in South Carolina. Near the North Carolina border.
The pictured shed is what I was considering using. I currently use it for lawn equipment only.
My dream / initial though was using all the space to right of the right door. However, now that I've read your response, and am thinking it over, thats likely not enough room.
So it doesnt like like this idea will come to fruition.

From here I'll likely try to find some good coop plans on this site or elsewhere. Ive seen some good ideas using a base/house of 4x8 which would probably be relatively easy to copy. Only issue these days is the dang price of lumber. Its skyrocketed.

Yes, lumber is insane right now - its tripled in my area, and many of my neighbors use their acres as southern pine farms. Can't imagine what it is, further from the mills.

In better news, metal roofs (doesn't match you existing, I know) and hardieboard siding (nearly indestructible) are comparatively cheap. If you were to build a light frame "firewood shed" type building, using some PT 4x4s or 3 2x4s (whichever is cheapest) for the corners and the existing shed as the tall "wall", you could build a space of adequate size without too much in materials.

Something like this, but delete the entire floor, and use 2' OC spacing for your studs. Note that this will dump rainwater into the run - use some PVC/Vinyl gutter, and dump it onto a 55 gal food safe drum ($20-40 used). Attach a bulkhead, screw in some PVC and attach water nipples for your birds.

/edit to add Hardieboard is HARD on your circular saw blades. Something like this you can make with three boards if the structure is 4' x 8', and only two cuts. One 4' long for the piece over the door, then down the middle of that "scrap" for the left and right sides of the long wall. That of course determines your wall height, too - take a foot off the top, you have a 7' wall, and a 6' door...

Anyhow, point being, don't use your favorite circular saw blade - but you aren't making enough cuts to make it worth buying a special blade for the job, either.

 

[3KillerBs]

@U_Stormcrow , thank you very much for that response. I live in South Carolina. Near the North Carolina border.
The pictured shed is what I was considering using. I currently use it for lawn equipment only.
My dream / initial though was using all the space to right of the right door. However, now that I've read your response, and am thinking it over, thats likely not enough room.
So it doesnt like like this idea will come to fruition.

From here I'll likely try to find some good coop plans on this site or elsewhere. Ive seen some good ideas using a base/house of 4x8 which would probably be relatively easy to copy. Only issue these days is the dang price of lumber. Its skyrocketed.

Hello, neighbor! I'm in NC and also working on a new coop.

I'm going to be using an open-air design because in our climate heat is a MUCH bigger problem than cold.

If that concept doesn't appeal to you, my Little Monitor Coop, which is 4'x4', could easily be built larger as a 4'x8' and made into a walk-in instead of an elevated coop. The monitor roof style, with generous roof overhangs, is a great solution for a hot climate that gets a lot of rain.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/the-little-monitor-coop.76275/

 

[U_Stormcrow]

^^^ I actually love the monitor roof for stand-alones coops. Its a little more materials intensive than needed if you are using an existing structure as one wall of your hen house - but not a lot more intensive. It would also allow you to direct water fore and aft, like the existing shed, though some might wonder at the difference in architectural styles. And don't forget your flashing where your coop roof meets the shed, whatever you decide!

 

[NatJ]

I'm going to be using an open-air design because in our climate heat is a MUCH bigger problem than cold.

I was about to suggest the same idea


Something similar to this might work well:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/cozy-rustic-pallet-coop.74648/
I would skip the wall between "coop" and "run," and just think of it as one space with a sheltered end. (Figure 10 square feet per bird if the same space is being coop + run.) The nests and some perches would go in the more sheltered end, and some perches would also go in the more open part so the chickens can sleep cool in the summer.

You can also look at covered runs for ideas--what is a roofed run for a northern climate might be a fine year-round coop in a southern climate!

 

[3KillerBs]

You can also look at covered runs for ideas--what is a roofed run for a northern climate might be a fine year-round coop in a southern climate!

My initial hope was that we'd be able to acquire a metal, 1-car carport to use as the foundation since it would be proof against termites, carpenter ants, and the composting action of the deep litter.

That hasn't panned out, unfortunately.