Best or worst materials for coop walls

[gtaus]

What should we watch for when choosing material for the coop walls? We have access to some OSB (chip board)

I have OSB for my chicken coop walls. They have been holding up fine for 3 years now, but the outside wall was covered twice with barn paint. I'll probably have to give it a fresh painting this summer.

We have good insulation left over from another project, so we were thinking of insulating the floor and walls because of the cold winter temperatures of -30 to -40.

I live in northern Minnesota, and we typically get a week or so of -35F to -40F in the winter. Personally, unless you plan on heating the coop and have it climate controlled, you are probably wasting time and money by insulating your coop. With all the open ventilation that you should have in your coop, the inside coop temp should be about the same as outside. Insulating the walls and floor will not really get you anything when you essentially have large windows open for proper ventilation.

I use dry deep bedding in my coop, which acts as a natural insulator and gives the chickens something nice to walk on.

The most important thing, IMHO, is to provide a draft free place for the chickens to roost at night. Although you need good ventilation, you do not want any draft coming up from underneath the birds when they are roosting for the night. I have good cross ventilation just above the height of the roosting bar and more ventilation on the roof top. Chickens have a body heat of 105F, and they can fluff up their feathers to trap warm air against their body. A draft coming up from underneath the roosting chickens could defeat their ability to keep that warm body air trapped inside their feathers.

Of course, you should also get chicken breeds that are proven cold hardy for your area. Keep them healthy and they should do just fine. Good luck.

 

[CdnMaple]

I have OSB for my chicken coop walls. They have been holding up fine for 3 years now, but the outside wall was covered twice with barn paint. I'll probably have to give it a fresh painting this summer.



I live in northern Minnesota, and we typically get a week or so of -35F to -40F in the winter. Personally, unless you plan on heating the coop and have it climate controlled, you are probably wasting time and money by insulating your coop. With all the open ventilation that you should have in your coop, the inside coop temp should be about the same as outside. Insulating the walls and floor will not really get you anything when you essentially have large windows open for proper ventilation.

I use dry deep bedding in my coop, which acts as a natural insulator and gives the chickens something nice to walk on.

The most important thing, IMHO, is to provide a draft free place for the chickens to roost at night. Although you need good ventilation, you do not want any draft coming up from underneath the birds when they are roosting for the night. I have good cross ventilation just above the height of the roosting bar and more ventilation on the roof top. Chickens have a body heat of 105F, and they can fluff up their feathers to trap warm air against their body. A draft coming up from underneath the roosting chickens could defeat their ability to keep that warm body air trapped inside their feathers.

Of course, you should also get chicken breeds that are proven cold hardy for your area. Keep them healthy and they should do just fine. Good luck.

Thanks for your advice gtaus. We're looking at cold weather breeds. Cheers

 

[gtaus]

I have OSB for my chicken coop walls. They have been holding up fine for 3 years now, but the outside wall was covered twice with barn paint. I'll probably have to give it a fresh painting this summer.

At the sake of quoting myself, I would like to add that I might not use OSB on a current coop build. I was in the lumber yard last week and checked up on current prices of OSB. When I built my coop, a 4X8 sheet of OSB was less than $7.00 per sheet.
The current price of a sheet of OSB is about $45.00! Sticker shock!!!

IF I had to build a new chicken coop today, I would be looking for the least expensive material that I could find for my coup build. Chickens really don't care what material you use to build the coop, just so long as it's a safe place and draft free, but good ventilation.

Seriously, I might be considering a metal garden shed conversion to chicken coop if the price of the metal shed comes out less expensive than a wood build. The advantage to a metal garden shed conversion is that if you stop having chickens, you can convert it back to a nice garden shed. If/When I stop having laying hens, I am pretty much stuck with my chicken coop that will not be used for anything else.

 

[Jaime918]

At the sake of quoting myself, I would like to add that I might not use OSB on a current coop build. I was in the lumber yard last week and checked up on current prices of OSB. When I built my coop, a 4X8 sheet of OSB was less than $7.00 per sheet.
The current price of a sheet of OSB is about $45.00! Sticker shock!!!

IF I had to build a new chicken coop today, I would be looking for the least expensive material that I could find for my coup build. Chickens really don't care what material you use to build the coop, just so long as it's a safe place and draft free, but good ventilation.

Seriously, I might be considering a metal garden shed conversion to chicken coop if the price of the metal shed comes out less expensive than a wood build. The advantage to a metal garden shed conversion is that if you stop having chickens, you can convert it back to a nice garden shed. If/When I stop having laying hens, I am pretty much stuck with my chicken coop that will not be used for anything else.

This was our problem. Not even 1/2 inch thick was $56 a sheet. Almost $400 for just my 8x10 platform. We just finished a metal shed conversion as a last resort.

 

[gtaus]

This was our problem. Not even 1/2 inch thick was $56 a sheet. Almost $400 for just my 8x10 platform. We just finished a metal shed conversion as a last resort.

Looks like you did a fantastic metal shed conversion! Congrats!

I am fairly good at building with wood, and 3 years ago when I built my chicken coop (pre COVID-19), it was much cheaper for me to build a wood coop using lots of lumber I had left over from other projects. I paid, out of pocket, maybe $500 for a $2000 build because I had lots of lumber sitting behind my garage. As much as I like my chicken coop build, IF I had to do it all over today at current prices, I would seriously be looking at a metal shed conversion because the metal sheds are cheaper than a wooden coop equivalent where I live. So, no apologies required for your shed conversion.

And, like I mentioned, if you ever stop having chickens, you can convert that right back to a nice garden shed for future use.

 

[Jaime918]

Looks like you did a fantastic metal shed conversion! Congrats!

I am fairly good at building with wood, and 3 years ago when I built my chicken coop (pre COVID-19), it was much cheaper for me to build a wood coop using lots of lumber I had left over from other projects. I paid, out of pocket, maybe $500 for a $2000 build because I had lots of lumber sitting behind my garage. As much as I like my chicken coop build, IF I had to do it all over today at current prices, I would seriously be looking at a metal shed conversion because the metal sheds are cheaper than a wooden coop equivalent where I live. So, no apologies required for your shed conversion.

And, like I mentioned, if you ever stop having chickens, you can convert that right back to a nice garden shed for future use.

Thank you! I'm using every bit of scraps I had left from the base. For that price, I'm not wasting any. Definitely makes me miss the Midwest, lots of trees and friendly neighbors with wood mills.

Words of warning if you go the metal route, don't screw your frame into your base until last so if you need to shift or resquare a little to get things to line up, it makes it so much easier and definitely have some help in the first couple steps. We really needed a 3rd person but toughed it out with a little help from our 6 year old. (For arrow shed, the intial 4 corner walls are free standing and don't do well without support). One of our corners fell a couple times, but it didn't damage it to much and we were able to bend it back.

 

[gtaus]

I'm using every bit of scraps I had left from the base. For that price, I'm not wasting any.

I don't have a budget for keeping my chickens, per se, but I try to use as much free resources as I can. I don't throw out scrap lumber with a current price of what - $4,000 per 2X4 stud!? Just kidding, but it seems that way. Instead of buying new lumber, I am screwing boards together to make them longer (non structural use) and resizing some projects so I can use my scrap lumber (two 4X4 raised garden beds instead of one 4X8 raised bed).

In fact, I am now using galvanized corrugated sheet metal panels for my raised beds instead of making them 100% out of wood. Just used scrap lumber for the frames. Saved me a lot of money last year.

Don't know what OP is going to use for coop material, but wood prices are so high where I live that lots of people are now building with metal - or just waiting for a year or so to see if wood prices come back down to a more "normal" price.

 

[Jaime918]

View attachment 3064236

I don't have a budget for keeping my chickens, per se, but I try to use as much free resources as I can. I don't throw out scrap lumber with a current price of what - $4,000 per 2X4 stud!? Just kidding, but it seems that way. Instead of buying new lumber, I am screwing boards together to make them longer (non structural use) and resizing some projects so I can use my scrap lumber (two 4X4 raised garden beds instead of one 4X8 raised bed).

In fact, I am now using galvanized corrugated sheet metal panels for my raised beds instead of making them 100% out of wood. Just used scrap lumber for the frames. Saved me a lot of money last year.

View attachment 3064242

Don't know what OP is going to use for coop material, but wood prices are so high where I live that lots of people are now building with metal - or just waiting for a year or so to see if wood prices come back down to a more "normal" price.

100% understandable. We've only been here a little over a year so we haven't really aquired a stash of much yet. I think I'm going to start stashing cheap pallets when I can find them though.

I love your plant beds! It has a clean yet rustic look. I might have to steal from this idea a little.

 

[gtaus]

I think I'm going to start stashing cheap pallets when I can find them though.

I find some pallets laying around the back of the garage to have tremendous value. In fact, OP might be able to build a chicken coop from pallets. I mainly use pallets to make compost bins for things I don't want to throw into my chicken run compost system - like old, moldy food that I would not let my chickens eat.

I love your plant beds! It has a clean yet rustic look. I might have to steal from this idea a little.

I am very happy with my new corrugated steel panel raised beds. Last year I wanted to build some new 100% wooden raised beds, like always, but discovered that the price of lumber has gone up so high that it would cost me something like $5,000.00 each instead of my normal budget of around $75.00 each for a 4X8 bed!

I went on YouTube for ideas and found the concept of making raised beds out of corrugated steel panels instead of wood - because who could afford lumber last year? Once I had the idea of making corrugated steel side panels, I just went to my scrap pile of lumber behind the garage and looked through whatever I had. I did not have enough scrap long lumber to make a 4X8 raised bed, but I did have enough scrap lumber to make two shorter 4X4 raised beds.

Anyway, using scrap lumber, I was able to make each 4X4 raised bed for less than $25 each, whereas I was looking at about $200.00+ (no joke) for my typical 100% wooden raised bed.

I appreciate the "clean yet rustic look" comment on the raised beds. I had considered buying some good quality, nice looking lumber for the wood panel frames, but decided to go with my scrap lumber to save money. And, from what I know about gardening, the plants don't really care. In the end, the "clean yet rustic look" raised beds passed the Dear Wife approval and are now sitting in my backyard.

I don't know if this has anything to do with the OP request for Best or Worst materials for coop walls, but I guess it shows that somethings might have to be reconsidered as useable material given a person's budget and what they have available. When you can buy corrugated metal sheet panels for less than OSB sheet panels, then maybe one needs to rethink the design of the coop. I would think the corrugated sheet panels would last much longer than OSB.

And if you have free pallets to use, then maybe it is worth all the time and effort to breakdown and reuse that pallet wood.