Coop design and build

[aart]

Good points on door thickness and a stop.

 

[mclanea]

what thickness of plywood did you use?

1/2" you may have some warping
3/4" probably not.

if you see some warping, an easy fix, without replacing the door, is to put a cross, made from 1x2's, that fit inside of the frame of your grooves. I'd use cedar or another light wood, and use screws to attach to the pop door.


did you place a pulley on the outside wall of the coop for the string assembly?

my thoughts on your venting, is to add them and put a flap over them, in case you have some extra cool weather in the winter.

does San Diego ever get below 70? lol


it looks great so far.

Yes, it's 1/2 plywood, just leftover stuff from the coop floor & back wall. It'll get painted so that might help prevent some of the warping, but my experience is that the 1/2 plywood warps if it's not nailed/screwed down. We shall see! (Added the back wall yesterday as a result of conversation about drainage... if there is a drainage issue now at least the water will flow to the bottom of the coop and out the back) I was careful to make it easily removable in case I want to/need to replace it.

Cedar is a good idea. I've got some in the garage.

The pulley is straight above the door. It's a flush mount pulley, so it's screwed right into that 2x3. When I get the siding on I'll pop a hole in the 2x3 above the clean-out door for the line. There will be a stainless ring to pull with notches for open and closed positions. Need to keep it easy so the kids can do it. Think the chickens will mess with it too much? I could pretty easily run the line through 1/2 PVC if I needed to protect it from them. Plus, if they ruin it it'd be a $.20 fix.

Thanks for the input on the venting. Great idea on the vent covers. I bet a magnetic vent cover would do the trick... though I'm not too sure if we'll ever really need it. Maybe just for a big rain storm? We might have a couple nights per year that dip into the low 40s. I'd imagine with body heat the inside temp would still be in the 50s on the coldest day. I've got a outdoor thermometer I plan on mounting in there... definitely keep an eye on it.


Appreciate the input. I'm OK with the building part... just don't really know what is needed. Helps to bounce things off folks who have done this before.

 

[mclanea]

Pop door is protected from the weather...and it's mostly dry there anyway, so it may not warp...make the groove a bit loose to accommodate any warpage.

Those vents might be enough...depends on if you have good deep shade and how much of a breeze.
If it gets really hot there, you might want more windows/vents, make them closeable.

Thank you. I had to loosen up that groove a little already to get it moving yesterday. I've got my eye on one of those automatic doors, actually framed this out so I can retrofit later... but $200-$250 for a gadget is too tough to swallow right now. Start-up costs on this were about double what I was thinking.

We have a couple weeks per year where it gets over 100. I'm concerned about the heat. There used to be a great shade tree in that spot, now it's just the stump.

Appreciate the input!

 

[mclanea]

That is a slick design on the pop out door.

Do you feel that you need a stop? If you pull the door fully open, is there a risk of it coming off the runners?

Your coop project is looking great.

Yes, definitely needs a stop. I made the door small enough so I could easily take it out and replace it, which means that I need a stop. The first time my wife came out to see it she pulled it right out of the tracks... so the nob on the outside is acting as a stop. You think that nob is a problem? It was in my little miscellaneous bin in the garage for probably 10 years and figured... hey, let's use that thing. If I need to come up with another stop I can think of a couple removable options.

 

[aart]

Hot weather is when you'll want more ventilation....put in lots if you don't have freezing weather to worry about drafts.
Not sure of the orientation of coop, but the good solid run roof should help a lot.....superb if wall behind coop/run is to the south.
Just screw a chunk of wood the wall for a door stop, it's pretty easy to pull the rope too far.
Run the rope up near the rafter and outside and the birds won't bother it or get hung up in it.

 

[mclanea]

Just painted the run and coop trim.

Ready for hardware cloth... At least on some sections so I can finish the roof.

The color scheme will match my backyard tiny office.

Lots of progress and it's not even noon.

 

[Rock Home Isle]

Yes, definitely needs a stop. I made the door small enough so I could easily take it out and replace it, which means that I need a stop. The first time my wife came out to see it she pulled it right out of the tracks... so the nob on the outside is acting as a stop. You think that nob is a problem? It was in my little miscellaneous bin in the garage for probably 10 years and figured... hey, let's use that thing. If I need to come up with another stop I can think of a couple removable options. 

Currently the runners are the same length as the heighth of the door. How hard would it be to extend the rails to twice the height of the door, then put a stop on top of that?

Just thinking...

 

[mclanea]

Well poop. All along I'd assumed I was attaching this hardware cloth to the outside of the run. But then I look at other people's designs and see they've got it mounted on the inside.

Modifying, modifying, modifying. I can do that on the main part just fine. But those short sides I'll have to get a 1x2 to cover up my mistake on the bottom. Face meet palm.

 

[Leigti]

Well poop. All along I'd assumed I was attaching this hardware cloth to the outside of the run. But then I look at other people's designs and see they've got it mounted on the inside. 

Modifying, modifying, modifying. I can do that on the main part just fine. But those short sides I'll have to get a 1x2 to cover up my mistake on the bottom. Face meet palm. 

I don't know why you can't put it on the outside.

 

[aart]

Well poop. All along I'd assumed I was attaching this hardware cloth to the outside of the run. But then I look at other people's designs and see they've got it mounted on the inside.

Modifying, modifying, modifying. I can do that on the main part just fine. But those short sides I'll have to get a 1x2 to cover up my mistake on the bottom. Face meet palm.

You could put it on the outside, have to make sure edges of HC is strongly secured so maybe more screws and washers...or covered with screwed on trim.