Coop Questions

I finally convinced my DH to let me have chickens (I grew up on a 20-acre hobby farm). We have some spare lumber that we have from taking down a wooden porch/ramp that was on our house when we bought it. I was wondering if someone with more building expertise than I thinks that the 1"x6"x4' flooring boards would be too much of a pain to use as siding? Should I buy similar boards to finish the siding, or should I try to convince DH to invest in a different type of siding? We live in Northern Arkansas, about 100 yards from MO, and winters can be cold, but summers get hot and humid. I plan on having an 8x8 walk-in, dirt floor coop with an 8x16 run. I also plan on using the deep litter method.

Any suggestions would be appreciated!

 

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I'm not sure if they are treated or not, but they are pretty straight. The caulk idea was something I hadn't thought of, and solves the draft problem I was thinking of. DH wants it to look nice, but not break the bank.

 

Here is another question...

Our entire property sits on a slope. I would like to build the chicken coop in the side yard, where the slope isn't quite as steep and there's more sun, but DH would like to build in the back, farther away from the neighbors. However, that's the steepest slope, and under a huge oak. There would probably only be 2-3 hours of direct sun on the coop, maybe more on the run. So....

Suggestions? Wwyd?

 

Our garden doesn't have a drainage problem (and it's leveled by a retaining wall) so I think the coop and run would drain pretty well. I am worried about water running through the coop though. And I hadn't thought of heat, and these AR summers get hot and humid... Yuck! Thanks for the suggestions!

 

Thanks for the tip, but I would spend way more in gas to drive the 3 hours to Springfield for the paint lol. I bet I can get some pretty reasonable around here. Maybe I could stop by the store if we were already there though!