Building my first coop and I have a couple questions... can you help?

[flagg6805]

Hi All!

I just recently joined the BYC Forum after my wife and I bought our first chicks (for those of you who want to know: 3 ameraucanas, 1 speckled sussex, 1 black australorp and 1 cuckoo maran). Anyway, I'm in the process of planning out the coop and I wanted to run some things by all of you who are much more experienced than I. The coop will be 8 x 8 which will give us a little over 10 sqf per chicken and the run will be 10 - 15 ft long for about 13 - 20 sqf of run space per hen. So, I know that I have enough room for the hens. My initial question though is the following....

I'm trying to build the coop as inexpensively as possible due to some financial issues so I'm thinking of using some scrap 2 x 6s that I have in the basement. The problem though is that many of them have mold. I know that mold is NOT GOOD for birds so what I was thinking was to sand down the wood to get rid of the mold then priming it with Killz or some other outdoor-rated primer. Figure I'll give it two coats before painting the wood. It'll then be used for the floor joists and studs. So my question is... is this ok or should I avoid wood that's gotten mold on it all together?

I'm sure I'll have many more questions in the days so ahead... for now, thanks for your help!

-rick

 

[jerseygirl1]

Hmm, I myself wuold use the Kilz, since I've used it before, butlet's see what everyone else says...

 

[luckyramu]

A possible cheap way to do it would be mix bleach with water, and spray/brush it on. Set it in the sun and presto-done. 99cents.

 

[MotherJean]

Luckyramu beat me to it. I second his advice. Bleach, water, and UV sunlight is the answer. Kilz isn't necessary for the floor joists (assuming you're covering those over with plywood). Not necessary on the wall studs, either, unless you're planning to leave them exposed and painting them.

 

[flagg6805]

Thanks all for your advice... I def. feel better about using that wood. I'm gonna bleach it and set it out in the sun. Since I'm gonna paint the inside and outside of the coop I'm gonna prime with Kilz or something similar. Yeah, not the floor joists, that makes sense!

I was also thinking of collecting rain water to give the the hens. My idea is the following.... The roof of the coop will be pitched towards the run so I'm gonna put a gutter at the end of the roof. The gutter will be connected to a downspout which will drain into a 45 gal. trash can. To keep mosquitoes out and clean up the water I'm gonna run a submersible filter with activated carbon. The garbage can already has a spigot attached to the bottom with a screen filter since I was using it to collect rain water for my fish. So here's the question.... how do we keep the water from getting contaminated? Can't use shingles as there's the possibility that contaminants could leach out. Metal is too expensive. Fiberglass the same. Wood has too many nooks and crannies where bacteria could grow (I've done my research!) So what about covering the plywood roof with 3 mil. plastic (like a vapor barrier or agricultural plastic)? I'd seal the plastic around the edges with aquarium sealant and staple the plastic to the bottom of the roof to help hold the plastic in place. Thoughts on this? Would it work? Any chance of getting any kinds of contaminants from the plastic film? Is there anything I'm not thinking of?

Thanks in advanced!

-rick

 

[Omran]

Heck use the wood, no worry.

 

[nelgkel]

Quote:
I agree! I got a piece of furniture grade 3/4" 3'by8' plywood for $5 from the ReStore...it had mold, used sprayer with bleach couple of times, left it in sun and presto...all gone!!!

 

[foxinachickenhouse]

I think the plastic will be ok but you may have to replace now and again, especially if it's windy. Can you keep an eye out on the free section of craigslist or at building sites and see of you can get a hold of some scrap metal roofing? That's what I did for my dog house. Or a recycle building center, habitat restore or something like that? Sometimes people just want to get rid of a an old green house or metal garden shed. You could take what you want and dump the rest. Or have you thought about painting the plywood roof?

You could secure the plastic with wood ferrule strips or something along those lines. Wrap plastic around strip and secure to underside of roof. Might rip less that way if wind kicks up. Good luck and good on you for recycling the rainwater!