Coop Upgrade!

[hollymh]

We are upgrading from an 8x6 modified shed to a 6 hole 24ft long breeding pen so we can separate our silkies and polish/polish frizzles by color. I found Jebs breeding pens and we based our plans off them loosely. We built a small mix-pen coop as we are calling it a few months ago, and decided instead of doing 7 of them, we would do one big coop as it is the most cost effective. Out of all of our coop plans we searched, we found that some lacked info where it would have been helpful, i.e. measurements, supply list, ect. so we are hoping to add as we go with helpful steps that we feel, as amateurs, are needed. Im going to keep this and add to it as we go so it's all in one place, wish us luck!

Here are the supplies we are starting with, we of course had to go back after we found out someone put 92.5in wood in the 96in pile and we didn't catch it until we were home, check your measurements before you leave~ total cost for supplies was $923 at Home Depot, it can be done cheaper, but we opted for long-term lasting wood, ect. We will be using Hardware cloth(cost not included in total) on all wired areas of the coop that have access from outside to prevent predatory problems as much as possible, chicken wire is known for it's lack of withstanding larger animals, even raccoons. Chicken wire will be used for the interior walls/separators. All wood is going to be painted before we start to speed up the process a bit!

 

[ScottandSam]

Awsome this is something I was drawing up last night. We actually just the silkies breeding coop and run but I need more areas for marans and Americana.

Scott

 

[aart]

Great! I love a good build thread.

 

[Folly's place]

Sounds wonderful! I have Belgian d'Uccles and EE bantams, and the chicks are tiny! They can walk through chicken wire, so I would avoid it for pens having chicks of any bantam type bird. Grit your teeth and use hardware cloth! Mary

 

[hollymh]

Awsome this is something I was drawing up last night. We actually just the silkies breeding coop and run but I need more areas for marans and Americana.

Scott

Love the silkies! We have been planning it for at least a year, it has just taken us this long to commit. We have a good amount of experience building hutches but this will be our first big overhaul of a coop, it should get interesting .

 

[ScottandSam]

Love the silkies! We have been planning it for at least a year, it has just taken us this long to commit. We have a good amount of experience building hutches but this will be our first big overhaul of a coop, it should get interesting .

Awsome I'm excited to see the progress.
Scott

 

[hollymh]

So we have made some progress, even with the horrible unseasonably hot temps! The coop is up for the most part, needs doors, paint and trim, we also have to wire the interior dividers.


We got the floor frame down, we used 2x4's, in order to cut cost we used cheaper wood so it did require some manipulating, the frame is 24ft long, 8ft deep, each run is 47.5in wide, and 96in deep. The frame of the run and coop is all 2x2s, the dimensions are 48in tall, 96in deep, 16in tall in back and 60in across the top. For support we ran 2x2s across the entire 24ft face of the runs. It's so important to do all the frame work on level ground, we did everything on a concrete slab to ensure levelness and moved it to the location of setup. On all side we left a half inch gap to allow to wood to sit flush with the framing. The pitch of the roof is roughly 3in, we cut the wood at a 15 degree angle. The supports for the roof are 47.5in, 35in across and 38.5in down, we did 7 supports, one everywhere the run meets the coop. We waited to cut the doors and vent holes, I don't think it makes a difference if you cut them beforehand, it may speed up the project, but in our case it makes it easier to cut with a jigsaw being suspended where it will stay, and I haven't decided what type of door shape I want. The hardest part of building this is keeping it level, ideally the ground should be leveled where it sits.


Getting the roof right was a little trickier than we thought, we used scraps from when we cut the floor and did a 7in overhang on the sides and a 6in overhang on the front and back. We actually did the center portion of the roof first, then on each side added a 7in wide piece to give us the overhang, theoretically it would have been better to use a whole sheet and cut it down, but we didn't want to add another sheet to our cost, so we improvised. Either way, it seems to have worked. The underside of the front of the coop will have a trim to fill the gap you see. It will be functional and aesthetic. We will be shingling the roof to match my other two coops.