Exhibitionhouse
In the Brooder
Exhibition House Coop
I wanted to post our coop design here, but am realizing I didnt take enough photos of the process. I'll try to explain as much as I can remember. Feel free to comment with any questions, critiques or tips for the future.
Duration:
It took my husband and I about two weeks to build in our spare time. He's a contractor and engineer so that helped. We have 5 hens right now.
Materials/Cost:
We used a lot of reclaimed materials, including scrap 5/8 sheathing for the siding. At first we were going to use pallet boards but it was more than a pain in the bum to get the boards off. We built our house back in 2020 and are currently renovating the house across the street, which gave us lots of little bits of scrap wood and extra shingles to build with.
Total Cost was no more than $700
Dimensions:
Run+Coop: 6 x 11ft
Coop: 5.5 x 6 ft
Run: 5.5 x 5.5 ft
Height: 6 ft sloping down to 5 ft
We eded up deviating from the plan slightly.
Making sure the footing frame was level and parallel with our fence was the most tedious part. We used rolled up chicken wire as makeshift rebar.
The wood that we did have to purchase to do the frame was untreated so I sealed the bottom of each one so that it wouldn't rot as fast. Ideally I would like to keep all the wood natural but eventually I will try to seal it with a clear coat to preserve the wood.
The roof hangs off about 1ft all around. There is hardware cloth covering all he openings where soffit would be allowing for ventilation all around the coop while protecting from predators. In addition to that we have carabiners on every opening except on the human door because the lock sticks enough that its hard for us to open and theres a carabiner on the chickens door going into the coop.
Ease of use was a big concern as well. The height of the coop is no lower than a wheel barrow and is easy to scrape the bedding straight out.
I forget to seal the floor of the coop to prevent mold/mildew and had to remove all the bedding and do it today.
I installed a solar camera and fan to make sure they were okay with this intense heat. Additionally we added two holes to create more airflow. The holes can be covered in the winter to prevent a draft.
The nesting box will be built later and added to the left hand side. I plan to go off of this design https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/aarts-coop-page.65912/. Will also need to swap out the roost bars for something sturdier and I might add another one.
Lastly, we live in a high wind/hurricane area so we made sure to use tie downs and hurricane straps all around.
I think thats it!
I wanted to post our coop design here, but am realizing I didnt take enough photos of the process. I'll try to explain as much as I can remember. Feel free to comment with any questions, critiques or tips for the future.
Duration:
It took my husband and I about two weeks to build in our spare time. He's a contractor and engineer so that helped. We have 5 hens right now.
Materials/Cost:
We used a lot of reclaimed materials, including scrap 5/8 sheathing for the siding. At first we were going to use pallet boards but it was more than a pain in the bum to get the boards off. We built our house back in 2020 and are currently renovating the house across the street, which gave us lots of little bits of scrap wood and extra shingles to build with.
Total Cost was no more than $700
Dimensions:
Run+Coop: 6 x 11ft
Coop: 5.5 x 6 ft
Run: 5.5 x 5.5 ft
Height: 6 ft sloping down to 5 ft
We eded up deviating from the plan slightly.
Making sure the footing frame was level and parallel with our fence was the most tedious part. We used rolled up chicken wire as makeshift rebar.
The wood that we did have to purchase to do the frame was untreated so I sealed the bottom of each one so that it wouldn't rot as fast. Ideally I would like to keep all the wood natural but eventually I will try to seal it with a clear coat to preserve the wood.
The roof hangs off about 1ft all around. There is hardware cloth covering all he openings where soffit would be allowing for ventilation all around the coop while protecting from predators. In addition to that we have carabiners on every opening except on the human door because the lock sticks enough that its hard for us to open and theres a carabiner on the chickens door going into the coop.
Ease of use was a big concern as well. The height of the coop is no lower than a wheel barrow and is easy to scrape the bedding straight out.
I forget to seal the floor of the coop to prevent mold/mildew and had to remove all the bedding and do it today.
I installed a solar camera and fan to make sure they were okay with this intense heat. Additionally we added two holes to create more airflow. The holes can be covered in the winter to prevent a draft.
The nesting box will be built later and added to the left hand side. I plan to go off of this design https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/aarts-coop-page.65912/. Will also need to swap out the roost bars for something sturdier and I might add another one.
Lastly, we live in a high wind/hurricane area so we made sure to use tie downs and hurricane straps all around.
I think thats it!
