Building 4x4 Barn style coop with 4x8 run

[PapaChaz]

That's our coop. The box is 4x4x4, the nest boxs started 24" up and slanted down 9" to a 15" cut. If you only want four chickens, I think itd be fine to only have one side of nesting boxes. I have a door the opens half way up in the back part for easy cleaning. And it's completely framed, no insolation, but sturdy. If you made one similar with all the siding and shingles and such, three men lifted carried the co-op to be put on the stilts. I'd also recommend using a sled to move it around. That coop with six nest boxs, two roost bars at various heights, cost me under 200.

you only need 1 nest box per 3/4 birds anyway, use the other side for storage or do away with the time, materials and labor to build them and just leave them off

 

[tbatz11]

There will only be 2 nesting boxes on one side. This thing is going to be huge, at least it seems that way to me.

Yesterday we talked and decided that we will Not be storing the coop under the deck during winter like we originally planned. There is just not enough height available under there, even though it's 5 feet 4 inches high.

We might still cut down the 20" legs a bit.
The walls will be 30" high, plus 2 more feet for the barn style roof. Giving the inside a little over 4 feet of space.

We'll keep the water and food inside the coop because of how often we get rain and thunderstorms.

In the 2-3 hours of time we had to work with yesterday we framed 2 walls and part of the nesting box.
My husband is a precision mechanic/machinist so everything is measured 4+ times and is cut and squared off to the 1/32 of an inch.
This coop is going to be built better than our house lol!

Only the nesting box frame is screwed down.





We made the entrance to the nesting boxes 12" square. There will also be a window to the right, just not sure how big yet.

 

[PapaChaz]

There will only be 2 nesting boxes on one side. This thing is going to be huge, at least it seems that way to me.

Yesterday we talked and decided that we will Not be storing the coop under the deck during winter like we originally planned. There is just not enough height available under there, even though it's 5 feet 4 inches high.

We might still cut down the 20" legs a bit.
The walls will be 30" high, plus 2 more feet for the barn style roof. Giving the inside a little over 4 feet of space.

We'll keep the water and food inside the coop because of how often we get rain and thunderstorms.

In the 2-3 hours of time we had to work with yesterday we framed 2 walls and part of the nesting box.
My husband is a precision mechanic/machinist so everything is measured 4+ times and is cut and squared off to the 1/32 of an inch.
This coop is going to be built better than our house lol!

Only the nesting box frame is screwed down.





We made the entrance to the nesting boxes 12" square. There will also be a window to the right, just not sure how big yet.

this looks great!

one suggestion, if I may. Instead of putting it on legs, if you're going to put wheels on it to make it easier to move around, take the legs off and put it on skids, attach your wheels to those and it will then be able to slide under the porch in the winter.

even if you put wheels on all four legs, moving it around is going to stress the walls and roof

 

[tbatz11]

Skids would be great, but I think it'll be too heavy to move by hand. There will also be an 8 foot run attached to the coop making it long and awkward for skids. We're going to frame in the legs with 2x4's and fence it all in.

This is the progress from yesterday:
Got the other two walls framed in.



We would have done more but I went and picked up our chicks!



Dusty, protecting his flock. (At 10:30 last night he somehow knocked off one those bricks on top of himself. He wasn't happy, But he's ok.)

 

[BonRae67]

Looks great. Chicks are so cute.

 

[tbatz11]

We got a LOT of work done on the coop since I last posted. Here are the pics.

We didn't screw in two of the wall frames until after putting up insulation, so that we could staple it in place.



Framing the nest boxes.



Used a jigsaw to cut holes for the 2x4's. That's the one tool my husband can't seem to master. i'll fill the gaps in with some silicone and hope that when the siding goes up we can make better cuts.



The start of sheeting the outside and insulating the inside.



I'm pretty sure most of the corners were broken when we bought the sheeting panels, it had nothing to do with me dropping the boards, at all.



This is the side that will have the run attached to it. We put the chicken door in the center so it's away from the nesting boxes and roosts.



The insulation we used was 15" wide, but the spaces between the 2x4's werent, so some of it had to be stuffed in a bit.





When sheeting the inside we first cut a board to fit the whole wall, then traced all the openings for windows, doors, and nesting boxes. Then removed the boards and cut out the necessary pieces. I wanted to do it this way so I could staple 1/2" hardware cloth to the windows and then sandwich it between the frame and wall sheeting.



Today I primed the inside. And spilled some on the coop floor. I bought a roll of vinyl flooring that will go on the floor and inside the nest boxes.







The thin strip of wood in the cleanout door is going to have foam weatherstrips to keep out any drafts. This side of the coop will get all the wind blowing at it. So yea, even the door will be insulated. The windows will have some sort of door too. But we will also make a vent above the large door that will always be open for fresh air.



After the framing went up we stopped following the coop plan that i printed out. It just had the basic information that we needed to get started and then we kinda plan and decide on things as we go. We are however still following some of the suggestions from the coop we saw here.

When I was done priming my husband came home and cut all the pieces for the roof before he had to leave for a FD meeting. Can't wait to get that up tomorrow!

 

[Hummingbird Hollow]

Looks like great work!

 

[jetdog]

Looks great, what are you going to use for the windows perhaps plexiglass? If so I recommend you have them hindged from the top so you can leave them open without the rain coming in.

 

[tbatz11]

Yes for the plexiglass. But I'll put that in when it gets colder. I was thinking i'd cut a tight fitting piece and use silicone to hold it in place, then remove it when it warms up again. Good idea to hinge from the top. We can get pretty heavy rain at times and the roof won't be hanging over much. I was originally thinking to hinge it on the side and have a latch to hold it open. But I like your idea better!

 

[twfernandez]

Hello @tbatz11! I am also in the process of building a chicken coop - and I wanted to thank you for this little gem:

Quote:
That is such a simple and brilliant idea! Thank you for that!