Well after well over a year of waiting, my lovely wife got tired of me trying to find time to build a coop and she hire someone to come in and build it. My to-do list is big enough as it is, and it probably would have been another year before I got around to it. So I gave my general requirements and in 2 days it was finished. A nice little 12X16 Board and Batt sided 3 windowed coop with vinyl floors. A neighbor who works at a grocery store called me one day with a "Great find". His store was replacing their coolers, and all the walls (styrofoam with a metal cover) were up for grabs. I don't know how much I have, but I am thinking that there is enough to insulate all the walls then cover with some paneling.
The Builders did not make rafters, but rather just attached 2X4's to a board running down the center of the roof, and attached to the side walls, there is two bracer six feet from the outside walls of the coop. I was intending on Cutting the styrofoam attaching it to the rafters, and covering with plywood or the like, however the pieces are heavy and I am afraid that the weight will cause them to come down. My next thought was to take some loose styrofoam attach it too the roof (inside slanted sections), and run chicken wire under the bracers (to keep the chickens from using the bracers as roosts and allow for ventilation). What are your ideas on that?
I am going to section the coop in half, and use the other half for storage, and the future prospect of breeding pens, brooders,etc.
I have been lurking here for a while and picked up a few interesting techniques that people have talked about and was just looking for a refresher.
Someone had posted a Milk crate on cinder blocks set up some time ago. I have the blocks and the crates are incoming. I was hoping to find out more on the design. It should be easy to clean, and quickly removable for cleaning the coop.
I had read some time ago about using grass as bedding in a deep litter set up. I have 2 acres of grass that gets mowed very frequently in the summer. We have carts and carts of grass that gets piled and composted. If there are no major issues, I would like to try this. Is there any potential pit falls that people know of or can think of?
Chris
The Builders did not make rafters, but rather just attached 2X4's to a board running down the center of the roof, and attached to the side walls, there is two bracer six feet from the outside walls of the coop. I was intending on Cutting the styrofoam attaching it to the rafters, and covering with plywood or the like, however the pieces are heavy and I am afraid that the weight will cause them to come down. My next thought was to take some loose styrofoam attach it too the roof (inside slanted sections), and run chicken wire under the bracers (to keep the chickens from using the bracers as roosts and allow for ventilation). What are your ideas on that?
I am going to section the coop in half, and use the other half for storage, and the future prospect of breeding pens, brooders,etc.
I have been lurking here for a while and picked up a few interesting techniques that people have talked about and was just looking for a refresher.
Someone had posted a Milk crate on cinder blocks set up some time ago. I have the blocks and the crates are incoming. I was hoping to find out more on the design. It should be easy to clean, and quickly removable for cleaning the coop.
I had read some time ago about using grass as bedding in a deep litter set up. I have 2 acres of grass that gets mowed very frequently in the summer. We have carts and carts of grass that gets piled and composted. If there are no major issues, I would like to try this. Is there any potential pit falls that people know of or can think of?
Chris
