Coop design, wood or brick?

[CurvyCoop]

I'm designing my own coop for the future, no chickens yet, but hopefully soon. My first design was just going to be a wooden coop. A frame set up and then siding on both sides of the frame. But I've been doubting my choices recently for two reasons.
Firstly: MITES! I've been reading up on how to prevent red mite infestations in your coop and the pictures of really bad infestations have burned themselves onto my eyeballs I'm not usually affected by a few bugs but... YECH! Apparently red mites especially like to live in cracks and if I'd put siding up both sides of a frame I can be sure that I create a nice space for them I can't EVER reach again... not ideal to say the least. A coop with brick walls would have way less hiding space. Even if the inner structure is built up out of wood it would have far fewer nooks and crannies for icky mites to hide.

Secondly: we just had a really big storm pass through yesterday and while it's definitely not the norm around here and very much a freak event, we all know that climate change is a bitch and who can say if freak storms like these aren't going to become more normal? We made it through problem free but all around the area there is massive damage and I just couldn't stop thinking of how one little wooden coop would stand up to winds of almost 80 mph. A solid brick coop would be much more secure and I'd be far less worried of it blowing over. (yeah this storm really got to me)

Brick feels more sturdy and less parasite-y, but there's a good reason wood's more popular. It's cheaper for one, and easier to put up. Easier to modify too, cutting through some siding to install an extra pop door is a lot easier than breaking through a brick wall. Decisions decisions

What are your thoughts?

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Most of us choose wood. Its less expensive (generally), much more low skill user friendly than setting mason lines, mixing mortar, and stacking bricks, its lower thermal mass means we aren't building ovens for our chickens to live in (admittedly, greater concern for some climates than others), and mites will live anywhere. If you but a wood "face" on the inside of your brick, mites will live between the wood and the brick. If you don't there's every reason to suspect the mites will make homes in the irregularities of the brick, just as they tend to do so on the irregularities of the wood.

Additionally, brick is very strong in compression, but much less so against lateral forces (like high winds). Thicker walls help - like CMUs instead of brick, since forces can be distributed over larger areas. Frost heave, of course, is of greater concern for brick/cmu construction than wood - it has less give and flex before failure.

Some of us use modified materials - my own coops use 4x4 PT lumber set deep into the earth to keep them "grounded", and conventional wood framing, but the walls are made of a product called "HardieBoard" - it comes in sheets like plywood, but is made from concrete and fiberglass. Even so, a thrown object at high enough speed, or with enough force, will punch right thru it. True of all materials.

The last thing you can do is keep your building heights low, and your roof angles relatively shallow to reduce wind resistance, then either put the narrow side of the building facing into the winds which seasonally most concern you, or try to build squarish structures, rather than long narrow ones, so the building isn't weak against lateral forces in any particular dimension.

Mostly, I think you are over thinking it. As I just did, above.

 

[saysfaa]

Edit to correct: wood breaths at about 20 times the rate brick does (200% of dry weight vs 9% or less if you want to avoid frost damage; just enough that you get problems if you paint brick so it can't breath). Therefore wood is dryer and more comfortable.

A double wall gives hiding spaces to rodents as well as mites. A single wooden wall is enough in all of the Americas but the most northern parts of Canada and Alaska (think sustained temps of somewhere below 20F - I'm not sure how much colder). As long as you have good ventilation. A minimum of 1 sq foot per bird, is the rule of thumb. Cupolas or monitor roofs are ideal but eave vents, ridge vents, open sides, work well. Windows, too, although I think they are harder to design well and more expensive.

Caulk, paint, or whitewash will fill many of the cracks the mites like. Whitewash will also be inhospitable to mites because of something or other (pH, maybe).

Wind can be worry-free even at those forces. You may need to add some hurricane ties (less than a dollar or so per piece - maybe a tie or two per rafter or every other rafter) and such - there will be information easily available online with the right search terms.

 

[DobieLover]

Brick does not.

Brick breathes.

If you are concerned about the wind, anchor the coop to the earth; don't float it. Either send concrete piers down below the frost line with flared feet to anchor your floor framing to or use a steel anchor kit. And use rafter ties to secure your rafters to the top plate:

I've never had mites and I have a wood coop.

A lot of folks with those nasty infestations that have burned images into your brain also have too many birds for the space they are provided and the birds cannot take proper care of themselves for lack of good dust bathing options. And the keeper is typically lax on proper husbandry. Nuf said.

I would not put walls up inside the coop. Just leave the framing open with sheathing on the exterior.

 

[mowin]

We've gotten some 60mph winds, and my two 6x8 wooden coops didn't move. Neither are staked or tied down in any way. Not sure if 80mph would have different results.

No inside walls in my coops. Didn't want hollow places rodents could call home.
Haven't had any issues with mites or any other bugs. Hopefully, I never will.

 

[CurvyCoop]

If you but a wood "face" on the inside of your brick, mites will live between the wood and the brick. If you don't there's every reason to suspect the mites will make homes in the irregularities of the brick, just as they tend to do so on the irregularities of the wood.

I hadn't even considered that

Additionally, brick is very strong in compression, but much less so against lateral forces (like high winds).

Also something I didn't know, I just figured it's heavier so it'll stay up better.

Mostly, I think you are over thinking it. As I just did, above.

You are probably right, I'm nothing if not a worrywart
It's just, they're going to be my first chickens. Something I've wanted since I was a little girl. There's still a long time before it can happen, but I want to make sure they get the best, you know?

 

[CurvyCoop]

Brick breathes.

If you are concerned about the wind, anchor the coop to the earth; don't float it. Either send concrete piers down below the frost line with flared feet to anchor your floor framing to or use a steel anchor kit. And use rafter ties to secure your rafters to the top plate:

I've never had mites and I have a wood coop.

A lot of folks with those nasty infestations that have burned images into your brain also have too many birds for the space they are provided and the birds cannot take proper care of themselves for lack of good dust bathing options. And the keeper is typically lax on proper husbandry. Nuf said.

I would not put walls up inside the coop. Just leave the framing open with sheathing on the exterior.

That's.... a good point actually.

 

[AGeese]

How about a good strong treated or cedar wood frame with sheet metal roof and siding?

 

[U_Stormcrow]

I hadn't even considered that

Also something I didn't know, I just figured it's heavier so it'll stay up better.


You are probably right, I'm nothing if not a worrywart
It's just, they're going to be my first chickens. Something I've wanted since I was a little girl. There's still a long time before it can happen, but I want to make sure they get the best, you know?

I live in a hurricane zone. Have almost all of my life - coastal FL, all but about 9 years.

I've seen trees thrown thru wooden buildings, brick buildings, cmu buildings, brick faced CMU buildings (in fairness that pretty well stops most trees). At some point, you just have to accept some level of risk.

Which is why the house I'm building is ICF (8" of solid concrete and 5/8" rebar sandwhiched between a pair of 3" thick inulation "walls"), with most of its sides buried in (what passes for) a hill (around here).

Not practical for chickens - massive humidity issues.

 

[Suri]

Personally, I go mobile.. I had stationary coop before and I found that its just too heavy and my animals just stay in there for sleeping and laying eggs coz they are free range so they don't spend a lot of time in the chicken house. Also I use Premiere 1 electric fence in case I decided to move them.. I've been raising chickens and other flocks for more than 5 years.. and this works well for me..