Converting metal shed to chicken coop

[QuebecChick]

Hello everyone,

I'm a newbie so forgive me if the answer to my question is obvious. I don't know much about keeping chickens.

I was a vet tech for 10 years before I became a special ed teacher. After I got separated last year, I bought a house in the country on my own with my two children. I do have neighbours but there are many many farms in my area. It's pretty rural even if my own yard isn't that big.

Anyhow, I have always wanted chickens. When I was young I would spend hours in our neighbour's coop ''taming'' the chickens.
Since I live in the country, and especially since I am the only boss in this house, I'm finally allowed to bring in chickens! Yay!

I was looking into buying a coop made by a carpenter but soon realized the 800$ they charge is way beyond what I can afford.
I do have two metal sheds on my property and was wondering if converting one of them into a coop is something that could be done?

The one that would be best situated in about 4 feet wide by 7 or more feet long. I was thinking of cutting out a hole on the side and building a little door to give them access to chicken wired area. When I am around I would let them free roam the yard. I was planing on having 6 hens. Is that okay?

I would isolate the inside with foam and finish it off with wood. The only problem I see is that there are no windows and I'm not sure how the sliding doors will work with the litter and all.


My last issue is our never ending dead cold winters. I have read a lot on this board and others about heating lamps or no heating lamps and I think I would go for a normal bulb to minimize fire hazards while trying to keep a decent temperature.

Has anyone made this work for them and the chickens?

Thank you so much!


Marie

 

[theoldchick]

Metal buildings work great so long as they are well ventilated. I live in the south so I have to deal with hot summers, and to be perfectly honest my chickens need more care during the summers months. However, we did have single digit temps this winter so I closed the north facing window and slit the ones facing west. Ventilation even during cold weather is important since living creatures exhale moisture, and if you have a large number of birds in a small unventilated space you will have condensation that will freeze. That is about the extent of my extreme temperature knowledge so I'll let the folks who live in cold temps give you more advice in that area.

Having windows is nice, but if you have sliding doors you can have a screen door made of hardware cloth to fit over the existing doors to allow you to keep cool in the summers. Those sliding doors are a pain but if the top of the door remains intact you can deal with the lower part. Having a small automatic door is really helpful.

And remember healthy, well fed chickens are incredibly hardy. If protected from wind they do very well. Pick breeds known to be hardy in cold weather, and stay away from the 'exotic' breeds: Silkies, various bantams. Starting small is always good, but beware of chicken math. For example you want six but start searching and suddenly realize you have 15 chicks in your box. YIkes!

Glad you joined!

 

[QuebecChick]

Thank you so much for your answer!

Here we have double digits in the minuses. More -30F sometimes so I don't think mesh anything would work in our coop. Ill keep looking and maybe find a way to install a window on there.

Thanks again!

Marie