Best way to adjust this coop

[Obsessedchickenmum]

Hey everyone
The property I bought had a chook pen already here, it’s a big chook yard with an enclosed yard inside it for protection from predators at night, it has this triangle thing made out of tin for protection from weather and where they lay their eggs. Do any of you have any ideas that won’t break the bank on how I can upgrade this? I want to pull down the triangle thing, and enclose the walls and roof that are made of wire and metal beams to make that whole area bigger and easily accessible (I have to crouch to get to some of the eggs and it’s killing my back ) plus I’m adding to the flock so by turning the walls and roof weather proof it’ll give much more space for them.. hope that makes sense.. basically changing it into a big house for them

 

[MarkRainbolt]

If it was my chook area, I would pull the whole thing down discard and start from scratch. That’s what I would do .

 

[Obsessedchickenmum]

If it was my chook area, I would pull the whole thing down discard and start from scratch. That’s what I would do .

Why? It’s a perfectly good predator proof area, I just want to get rid of the triangle thing and turn the whole thing into a weatherproof coop for them by using the frame and walls that’s there

 

[SnackMeat]

If you know someone with a mobile sandblaster (too expensive to pay for) you could sandblast that rust. Otherwise there or rust converters and then paint or you can grab some Rust-Oleum (not as good as a converter and then paint, but doesn't have to be perfect.)


I would dismantle the A-frame and use those metal panels on the roof, or as wind protection (unless wind only comes from one direction where you are, I would do two different walls to broaden the chance of wind protection.) you would likely need some metal drill bits but if you have to do it on the cheap you can get them on the roof, hammer nails through and then line up a 2x4 or whatever you have that's thick enough so no nails are going to poke out and then hammer the wood into the nails. Helps if someone is on the roof to hammer back and forth as they loosen. If you live in a very windy place though, you would want bolts.


I would give them visual breaks and different levels to climb. If some chicken is chasing another, you want them to be able to break the sight line of the bully.


Also, some 2x4s and some hardware cloth to make "salad bars," where you turn and seed the ground covered by these framed squares, and then the fast growing greenery can poke up through the wire but can't get scratched out by the root. They can only get what they can peck through the screen so there's some greenery and enrichment.


If the property has a lot of rocks, I would start lining the outside edges of the run with rocks. Like a most, but it makes it harder for predators to dig. Unless chain link has been buried, anything thinner like hardware cloth will have rusted by now. So you can dig a new apron, or lay an apron down and seed something that will grow quickly (and if it's tall and leans that can help provide some salad bar greenery for the chickens to peck through the fence), or you can create either a buried or an above the ground moat of rocks or metal.


If you have any old tires, or something that could work as nests, you can paint those (or leave them as is after a good hose off) and then stuff with dirt, or straw, or ashes for bathing. It would be good to have some sort of roofing to keep those spots from getting soaked in the rain.


Otherwise just framing up random roosts and stuff for them to climb, even using downed tree limbs for them to use.

Just depends on what you have available. I would try to stay away from anything that's on the thinner side for plastic as it will get brittle in the sun. But thicker grocery milk crates would be fine. I probably wouldn't use anything thinner than that if it's plastic.

 

[Obsessedchickenmum]

If you know someone with a mobile sandblaster (too expensive to pay for) you could sandblast that rust. Otherwise there or rust converters and then paint or you can grab some Rust-Oleum (not as good as a converter and then paint, but doesn't have to be perfect.)


I would dismantle the A-frame and use those metal panels on the roof, or as wind protection (unless wind only comes from one direction where you are, I would do two different walls to broaden the chance of wind protection.) you would likely need some metal drill bits but if you have to do it on the cheap you can get them on the roof, hammer nails through and then line up a 2x4 or whatever you have that's thick enough so no nails are going to poke out and then hammer the wood into the nails. Helps if someone is on the roof to hammer back and forth as they loosen. If you live in a very windy place though, you would want bolts.


I would give them visual breaks and different levels to climb. If some chicken is chasing another, you want them to be able to break the sight line of the bully.


Also, some 2x4s and some hardware cloth to make "salad bars," where you turn and seed the ground covered by these framed squares, and then the fast growing greenery can poke up through the wire but can't get scratched out by the root. They can only get what they can peck through the screen so there's some greenery and enrichment.


If the property has a lot of rocks, I would start lining the outside edges of the run with rocks. Like a most, but it makes it harder for predators to dig. Unless chain link has been buried, anything thinner like hardware cloth will have rusted by now. So you can dig a new apron, or lay an apron down and seed something that will grow quickly (and if it's tall and leans that can help provide some salad bar greenery for the chickens to peck through the fence), or you can create either a buried or an above the ground moat of rocks or metal.


If you have any old tires, or something that could work as nests, you can paint those (or leave them as is after a good hose off) and then stuff with dirt, or straw, or ashes for bathing. It would be good to have some sort of roofing to keep those spots from getting soaked in the rain.


Otherwise just framing up random roosts and stuff for them to climb, even using downed tree limbs for them to use.

Just depends on what you have available. I would try to stay away from anything that's on the thinner side for plastic as it will get brittle in the sun. But thicker grocery milk crates would be fine. I probably wouldn't use anything thinner than that if it's plastic.

That’s some amazing ideas! Thankyou! We have most tools to do things, like metal drill bits, tech screws etc, my husband has collected many tools etc over the years which are handy, I was thinking the A frame sheets would be good on the roof for some shelter, but it can get very windy and wet here at times, also stinking hot at other times.
Would a waterproof sheet cloth work on the sides and back wall to add that extra protection from rain but allow air flow during summer?

I absolutely love your ideas of the tyres and ‘salad bars’! I would never have thought of those! We get plenty of old tyres as we own the mail run and post office so the amount of tyres we go through is insane, never thought of using them for those ideas! And I’ve been trying to work out how to get greenery in their coop for the days they don’t free range, but they always scratched it up, that’s a brilliant idea!

I’m lucky that the previous owners knew what they were doing as both the inside enclosed are and the bigger area outside it both have the wire dug deep into the ground along with a deep concrete ‘moat’ for dig proof protection.

This was a lot of help! Thankyou heaps!

 

[LaurelC]

This isn't the greatest photo, but this was my coop setup when we lived in the suburbs. We had a run and in the back left corner I built a small roosting loft right under the roof (just corrugated plastic, but I would get metal as it won't get broken by branches coming down). The 2 outside walls were permanent, but the 2 inner walls could be removed and set aside during the warmer months, and the floor was a removable sheet of plywood covered in a shower curtain so i could slide it out and scrape the poop off. For eggs, I found a doghouse on craigslist and hinged the lid, turning it into a big community nest box.

 

[RojoMarz]

If the a-frame is secure enough, what about just raising it and adding two side walls and one back wall under it.

 

[SnackMeat]

I've seen hoop coops that used the cut rubber siding of above ground pools for roofs. Since it sounds like the posts for the whole run are set deep, wind tearing off the roof probably isn't that big of a threat. If you do decide to put both metal pieces on the roof, I would put a short space between them so wind has a small outlet. For shade, you can grow vines or sunflowers, and weave them through if you want the dead plant material to act as an organic looking shade/wind break.


Another thing you might consider is if you want to try your hand at deep litter method (once again, depends on rain amount) you can line the bottom sides with 1x12s or similar so the bedding material can't be scratched out. The nice part is that the chicken poop attract black soldier flies, which lay eggs and become larva which the chickens then scratch and eat. And then all the bedding becomes compost and you'd probably want to do a muck out once a year.

I have read that horse bedding pellets can be good for rainy times, but having that 12 inch lip at the bottom can also help if you're in a location that gets small amounts of snow as it should keep out some of the snow.


Otherwise think about the space as a 3D jungle gym, or catio for chickens with places to climb, hide, and explore. You'll still be able to walk through the space and if you have the nesting boxes high enough, won't have to bend down.

 

[Mother of Chaos]

Hey everyone
The property I bought had a chook pen already here, it’s a big chook yard with an enclosed yard inside it for protection from predators at night, it has this triangle thing made out of tin for protection from weather and where they lay their eggs. Do any of you have any ideas that won’t break the bank on how I can upgrade this? I want to pull down the triangle thing, and enclose the walls and roof that are made of wire and metal beams to make that whole area bigger and easily accessible (I have to crouch to get to some of the eggs and it’s killing my back ) plus I’m adding to the flock so by turning the walls and roof weather proof it’ll give much more space for them.. hope that makes sense.. basically changing it into a big house for them

What's your climate like? (In other words, very generally, where do you live? State, province, region, etc.)

How hot are the summers, and how cold are the winters? And how humid does it get in all the seasons? Do you generally have breezes? Do you have winds that blow cattle off their feet? Is the air mostly deathly still? Daily rain, never rain, mostly gentle rain, torrential downpours?

Your run looks like an easy candidate for a coop/run combo. This is my end plan for my chickens. If the run is secure (really really secure, including overhead), you don't have to build a Fort Knox coop that you also lock up at night.* Figure out where your wind (especially winter wind) generally comes from, and add wood cladding of some sort to that end of the run, on three sides. If you have access to pallets, you can break them down to get cheap wood planks. If you haven't read up on the BYC Gospel of Ventilation yet, read around - you want to let air circulate through the coop, even in deep winter, but not have drafts blowing directly on your chickens.

Chicken coops don't have to look like human dwellings. Chickens in the wild roost off the ground on tree branches. An area that is covered on top, the back wall, and two shallow side walls will provide them with a place to sleep and lay, which are the two jobs of a chicken coop. (Leave a gap between the top of the walls and the roofing to allow warm, moist air laden with ammonia to escape.)

*It took me a while to get settled with this idea. It seemed like tempting fate, but it has worked out very well. If we're late getting up and attending to chickens, they don't have to stay in their coop - they have a decent-sized run (smaller than yours, but five pullets) and access to food before we finally wobble out and let them into the backyard.