Converting old shed into chicken coop?

[CrazyGoldsberry]

We just bought our first chicks! My husband is deployed and with his type of deployment we can send him plain text emails but he is unable to respond so I can t bounce ideas off of him. Can you all be my sounding board?

We have a lot that is 3/4 of an acre and half of that is woods. on the edge between the woods and our yard there is a bit of a hill/drop-off. On that edge there's an old shed that is falling apart but I love that thing! It looks awesome. It probably isn't structurally safe for people, although my husband has gone in there before) but could we convert it into a chicken coop? Here are some pictures:
It is being taken over by ivy, but isn't it rustic and charming!

That's a full size door, just to give you an idea of the size. It is full of random wood pieces that will of course be taken out. We live in the Seattle,Wa area so it rains alot and there's a lot of water damage.

You cant see it very well but the whole roof is caving in. the plywood is all curved and falling

From what I can see of the floor it looks mostly intact. not pretty but there...The broken wood is other pieces...i think.

the posts, supporting it in the woods look like they might be decaying some but if you look closely there are cinder blocks under neath supporting it as well.

I'm thinking this side we'd have an opening for the chickens to come down one of those plank things and have a 6x12 foot chicken run in the wooded area.

Am I crazy? Will my husband have more work converting this than he would making a new coop? He has all the tools and is perfectly capable of building things. Wood working is a hobby of his.
I'm thinking the roof would need completely redone and such but it looks so cool! I also really want something easy to clean and maintain...

What do you think?

Thanks for reading and helping me decide!

 

[aart]

If it's not structurally safe for people, I wouldn't use it.
But it might need to be partially deconstructed before deciding if it's good enough to refurbish.

 

[teach1rusl]

Yeah, until your hubby (or someone else with building/structural knowledge) examines what's there to see what's salvageable, there's really no way to say whether it would be cost effective to remodel/rebuild this vs just building a new coop. If the frame wood is good, then I'd think it'd be cheaper to refurbish this one. But you want it safe for YOU an your chickens.

I will say that for the location in the pics, you will NOT want to skimp on building a highly secure run (meaning strong ceiling/roof too - no chicken wire - no gaps). It's a pretty setting, but looks to be a paradise for raccoons and other critters.

 

[CrazyGoldsberry]

Hubby is home! He wants to convert the shed too. But he thinks it will take a while and a lot of work so he wants to Build a temporary coop first..'

 

[Birdydeb]

We bought a used coop/chicken house from a farmer and it was moved on a trailer to our property. To be quite honest I wish I had never laid eyes on that thing. I call it the bottomless pit of repair and remodel. The only thing it had going for it was the very old and sturdy wood that it was built with. It ain't going anywhere. For starters we replaced the roof and found a dead squirrel, bird and a snake skin under the rafters. Inside I gutted it completely and we just started over. For some odd reason the windows which at one time had slide up and down windows with glass and lined with hardware cloth on the outside were nailed and boarded to keep them from opening. It took an entire afternoon to tear out and clean up those openings and remake them into safe windows. I can't even remember how much time was spent sealing or covering cracks and gaps in the walls. Then spraying it out, disinfecting and finally painting inside. Tomorrow morning my handy man is coming and we are tackling one of the never ending redos ....changing the door so that it will open to the outside instead of the inside. I've dealt with the door opening to the inside for over two weeks and I have had about enough. We couldn't run the deep litter all the way to the door because of this and nailed a 2x4 across the coop to allow the door to swing in and to put the litter up to the 2x4. The result is a nasty mess just as you step in the door and chickens being chickens they kick/scratch enough litter into the area that the door hangs up anyway. Sorry didn't mean to unload on you but your pic of your shed set me off. What seems like a little bit of cleaning and a little repair here and there can turn into such a huge project that it can seem never ending. My handyman was laughing today and said for all the work put into it to make it safe and dry....we could have built a coop. And that is the truth. First time chicken owners all we saw was a sturdy building....it most definitely is and now with all the repairs is pretty close to being Fort Knox. LOL What we didn't see due to our inexperience was how impractical so much of it was and how it would be a shell that had to be completely redone. Supposedly it was built in the 60's and housed 30 chickens. I have 12 in it and am still scratching my head wondering how 30 chickens lived in that chicken house. Just a very poor design and use of space. I am just so very sorry we have expended(and will continue to expend) so much energy into it when that energy(and money!) could have been better spent.

 

[CrazyGoldsberry]

Thanks. Yah, we've decided that it will be cheaper to build a chicken coop. Plus then he can build it exactly how we want. Lol

 

[RingosGarden]

What a pretty area! Your chickens are gonna be so happy surrounded by so much green in their new coop!

 

[Birdydeb]

Thanks. Yah, we've decided that it will be cheaper to build a chicken coop. Plus then he can build it exactly how we want. Lol

Good luck with it! I do think you will be happier in the long run. I hope I didn't come across harsh but I would rather warn someone to keep them from making our mistake. Now we need to see pics of your chicks!

 

[CrazyGoldsberry]

You are too totally fine! My husband likes how the shed looks too but he thinks almost everything needs replaced.
We found a plan for an easy to clean coop online. I can't get it to upload a picture of the chicks... I'll try again later.