Camper or Shed for our next coop?

[davidmpenning]

Hi friends! I’m looking for some guidance and help with our next coop!! We live in southwest Michigan - our summers can get in the 90°+F and our winters can get below 0°F.

We have the option for our next coop to be either a typical coop built with lumber (like a shed) OR to repurpose a camper trailer (for a really good price)! But I don’t which would be easier/better.

For the shed option, I’m pretty good with building, and have plenty of friends/family to help. I’ve got the plans ready and have many of the supplies ready (or easily attainable). Plus I’ve got these big beautiful windows that I’ve been saving for this! For the most part, we’d probably only need to buy some of the 2x4s and then plywood for floors. I know this will probably still cost a good amount, but I love that I can fully customize it and make the shed very easily flow into the attached run.

But now we have an older camper we could use, and I’ve heard good things about them. But we would need to add more windows for light/ventilation and we’d need to add vents on the roof. With the camper being so short inside, I’m worried about roof vents, especially in the winter time - since the roof has no overhang. And I’ve heard something about condensation in a camper? The camper is in good condition - I’m just not sure how to add more windows and vents.

Any thoughts on this? Anything I should know that I don’t know? I just keep going back and forth and I’m not sure which option to do.

Thanks!

 

[IdyllwildAcres]

I would do the new construction/shed. Build it to fit your needs and use those windows you have been saving

 

[3KillerBs]

I don't have direct experience with a camper conversion, but I have heard that it is extremely difficult to get enough ventilation into them.

If you've got the building skills and the materials I think you'd end up happier with the custom-build to suit your needs.

 

[Acre4Me]

Biggest bonus to a camper - it is on wheels can be moved. People who like to move the coop and pen around like this bc they can move it every x days to fresh area/grass/shade.

best thing about a build: customization and size. You should put the coop where there is some shade if possible for the summer heat.

 

[aart]

Biggest downside to campers is no roof overhang.
With shed you can build a great roof overhangs with eave venting, which is excellent for our winters....and will help protect the open windows in summer, even if you do top hinged windows(which IMO are the best).

I say, go with the shed!

 

[BGcoop]

I don’t have experience with campers but I would suspect they would be harder to maintain as far as cleaning them out, I vote new shed.

 

[Onyxflock]

Hi friends! I’m looking for some guidance and help with our next coop!! We live in southwest Michigan - our summers can get in the 90°+F and our winters can get below 0°F.

We have the option for our next coop to be either a typical coop built with lumber (like a shed) OR to repurpose a camper trailer (for a really good price)! But I don’t which would be easier/better.

For the shed option, I’m pretty good with building, and have plenty of friends/family to help. I’ve got the plans ready and have many of the supplies ready (or easily attainable). Plus I’ve got these big beautiful windows that I’ve been saving for this! For the most part, we’d probably only need to buy some of the 2x4s and then plywood for floors. I know this will probably still cost a good amount, but I love that I can fully customize it and make the shed very easily flow into the attached run.

But now we have an older camper we could use, and I’ve heard good things about them. But we would need to add more windows for light/ventilation and we’d need to add vents on the roof. With the camper being so short inside, I’m worried about roof vents, especially in the winter time - since the roof has no overhang. And I’ve heard something about condensation in a camper? The camper is in good condition - I’m just not sure how to add more windows and vents.

Any thoughts on this? Anything I should know that I don’t know? I just keep going back and forth and I’m not sure which option to do.

Thanks!

If you decide on a build, there are some excellent articles & posts on this site to give you ideas and help as you go.

 

[aart]

The camper is in good condition

Sell the camper to pay for what you need to buy.....

I know this will probably still cost a good amount,

 

[Folly's place]

And post your building plans for help before you build! It's easy to underestimate your future flock size, unless you have city codes to follow. Here we've added to our original shed coop three times, and only by excersizing great restraint (so far) have I avoided adding coop space in the barn and workshop...
Consider a dirt floor in the coop, or ideally concrete, so it's a walk-in structure.
Mary

 

[Onyxflock]

Hi friends! I’m looking for some guidance and help with our next coop!! We live in southwest Michigan - our summers can get in the 90°+F and our winters can get below 0°F.

We have the option for our next coop to be either a typical coop built with lumber (like a shed) OR to repurpose a camper trailer (for a really good price)! But I don’t which would be easier/better.

For the shed option, I’m pretty good with building, and have plenty of friends/family to help. I’ve got the plans ready and have many of the supplies ready (or easily attainable). Plus I’ve got these big beautiful windows that I’ve been saving for this! For the most part, we’d probably only need to buy some of the 2x4s and then plywood for floors. I know this will probably still cost a good amount, but I love that I can fully customize it and make the shed very easily flow into the attached run.

But now we have an older camper we could use, and I’ve heard good things about them. But we would need to add more windows for light/ventilation and we’d need to add vents on the roof. With the camper being so short inside, I’m worried about roof vents, especially in the winter time - since the roof has no overhang. And I’ve heard something about condensation in a camper? The camper is in good condition - I’m just not sure how to add more windows and vents.

Any thoughts on this? Anything I should know that I don’t know? I just keep going back and forth and I’m not sure which option to do.

Thanks!

To cut cost a little and go faster, you could start with a pre-fab shed then cut windows, etc. Customize as necessary. We're pretty happy with our shed conversion, and wish I'd done it from the start. Likely it's smaller than most would want, but big enough for our 5 girls and a bale of field grain.