Coop windows?

[Firefyter-Emt]

I guess I could go the expensive way and buy house windows, but they need to be modified for hardware cloth and what not anyway so I was thinking, how many design your own? Something as simple as a sheet of plexi in a frame than can be opened would work fine, right? This would be a one pane window that would lift up much like a typical home window. Because looks will not matter inside the coop it would be fine to have the window open all the way and just on the outside of the wall. Imangine a frame that the window can run in on the inside of the coop, but this frame channel runs twice as high as the window above it. Add in a couple spots for a pin to lock the window in place and it's adjustable and lockable.

Thoughts???

 

[speckledhen]

Yep, I have one in two different coops. Plexi with wood frame placed on outside of an opening covered with hardware cloth, hinges on top so it can be propped upward, thereby not allowing rain inside. Works well.
Here's one:

Here's the other:

 

[Firefyter-Emt]

How much of an issue is it if it rains? I had planned to have these on the inside and work much like a house window. I could plan on a larger over hang for the upper portion of the window frame on the outside..

BTW, in case no one has noticed... I tend to plan things to death and it drives my darling wife nuts too!

 

[speckledhen]

You will want a big overhang to keep rain out. I like mine on the outside so they block the rain even when open. Your channel/pin/lock idea will work fine as long as you can make it where blowing rain doesn't soak the coop floor and all your shavings inside. Dampness in the coop is a no-no.
Hey, you can't have too much planning! And starting ahead of the building phase gives you time to work out the kinks in your mind.

 

[Chelly]

Quote:
Now you're sounding like my husband!!

(he's still thinking about the coop)

 

[Mac in Wisco]

I used aluminum, double hung, mobile home windows from Lowes. I think they were $35 a piece. They just drop into an opening in the sheathing and have a nailing flange. I nailed hardware cloth over the lower half of the window that opens and then trimmed with 1x3 pine.

 

[Firefyter-Emt]

Thank's Mac... I have photos of your coop saved already as I am debating the wall vent you have thinking that it might be perfect on the back side of the coop with the same window and door layout that you have in the front.

 

[Dawn419]

Quote:
My DH is the same way and although it drives me nuts, I am sooo thankful that he's willing to go that route for my babies!

Research is the most important part before you actually have the chickens. I knew I'd be a chicken mom last November and spent from that time right up to May 14th (when my day olds arrived) doing research on what they would need. My only regret...not having the main chicken yard finished sooner.

 

[patandchickens]

I dunno, plexiglas is not cheap, and I think it would take a good bit of fooling around to manufacture your own pseudo sash window that did not either a) jam every time the humidity changed or bits of yutz got into the works, or b) rattle like crazy in the wind.

Actual "house windows" need not be expensive. You don't need new and you don't need any special thermal pane type thing. Seems to me the simplest thing is to find someone remodelling a home or replacing their old windows... they can often be had for FREE that way! Or if you really want to spend money <g> check to see whether there is anywhere around you that deals in used building materials - one place to start is to see whether Habitat for Humanity has one of their "ReStores" near you (google for it). Then just staple hardware cloth over it.

Just a thought,

Pat

 

[speckledhen]

We did happen to have several small sheets of plexi around, including the window in the hexagonal coop, which was an etching my DH did in his artistic days in college. The small window in my original coop was one of those working model windows that Lowe's and Home Depot have to demonstrate how certain windows work. We got it from a building contractor who had a bunch in his possession, but I bet the big stores sometimes change those out for newer models.