Coop Suggestions

[3KillerBs]

Oh, and a question, I've read several places that PT wood is a no go yet, in my research here and elsewhere I've seen folks use it.

Whats the flocks opinion here?

We used Pressure Treated wood for all ground contact because in this climate with all the termites and carpenter ants if we hadn't done that we wouldn't have any wood at all in 5-10 years.

 

[aart]

Been looking at free plans since I got home this afternoon. There are so many out there. Not sure if I'm going to use someone else's or design my own.

Take the time to figure out what a good design is before buying or drawing one.
There are a lot of bad designs out there.

 

[3KillerBs]

Take the time to figure out what a good design is before buying or drawing one.
There are a lot of bad designs out there.

So many coop plans are woefully short on ventilation and have no roof overhangs to shelter the vents when you add them.

I already mentioned the Open Air coops, but these are some of my favorite small and medium coops:

Small Coops

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/the-little-monitor-coop.76275/
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/dallas-urban-coop-single-slope-design.72422/
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/yakisugi-coop.76398/
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/coreys-coop-de-doop.55619/

Medium Coops

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/my-barn-red-and-white-coop-complete-build-photos.75458/
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/my-coop.74322/
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/egg-song-music-factory.74019/
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/perkolators-modern-chicken-estate-2019.75345/

 

[Ridgerunner]

A coop is just a shed with nests, roosts, ventilation, and a pop door. You can make it as pretty as you want, the chickens won't care. If you go to the "Articles" tab at the top of this page and look under "Chicken Coops" you can get all kinds of plans and ideas.

Much inexpensive building materials typically come in 4' and 8' dimensions. If you incorporate those in your design you can usually eliminate a lot of cutting and waste.

For six hens in Virginia, I'd look at a 4' x 8' coop. I personally like a walk-in coop so I'd make the front side with the human door 8' tall. Make the back 6-1/2' tall so the roof has a good slope. Make the roof 6-1/2' also so you can have enough overhang front and back to put ventilation under the overhang and keep rain out. Use the cut-offs to make nests.

You have a lot of different options for the run, depending on how predator proof you want it. If you want it fully predator proof put an 8' x 8' run on the front of the coop so when you open the human door they can't escape. Maybe rip 8' 2x4's so you get 2x2's to build it. I can't think of anything easier or more basic. With paint and gingerbread trim you can make it look really fancy.

 

[saysfaa]

Oh, and a question, I've read several places that PT wood is a no go yet, in my research here and elsewhere I've seen folks use it.

Whats the flocks opinion here?

I don't know what the consensus is but I don't hesitate to use it. The chemicals used are much less toxic than they were.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I also use pressure treated wood for anything touching the ground.

 

[Raptor Chicken]

So I'm looking at designing something like these two.

The things the wife and I want are, a walk in run and walk in coop. The slant roof keeps things simple.

But doing the "chicken math" I would need a 6' x 16' with 6x6' being the coop and 6x10' for the run if we did a walk in coop. As a raised coop could reduce that to 6x12', but the wife really wants to be able to walk in.

I realize 36 square feet for the coop is over the minimum but thats what I'm going for for the coop. Everyone says build bigger than you expect and I want the birds to have plenty of room.

As for the PT wood, so you guys would be OK with the whole structure being PT or just the ground contacts?

 

[aart]

As for the PT wood, so you guys would be OK with the whole structure being PT or just the ground contacts?

Just the ground contact.
Why spend the extra bucks to make it all PT?

 

[Raptor Chicken]

Just the ground contact.
Why spend the extra bucks to make it all PT?

So it will last?

But really the question was is it ok.

 

[saysfaa]

I think pressure treated is okay for anything.

Perhaps I should say, though, that the only place it is used on my coop is the skids. That is because my design was built by the Amish who sawed all of the dimensional lumber themselves. They bought plywood for the floor and osb for the roof in bulk for all their sheds. I asked about it for all of the parts under the floor (that I couldn't reach with stain. They would have done it at full by-the-piece retail price. This was spring of 2021 - the height of lumber prices. They said there is no need for it around here except the skids.

I think they are right. We don't have termites at all. All wooden-building-munching insects and microbes are pretty tame around here. Our biggest risk is dry rot; that can be completely avoided pretty easily.

Edit to add. I forgot that we did put some pt inside our coop - some braces and divider walls and such. We used scraps without either avoiding pt or requiring it.