First coop build

[Machseven]

When my husband and I embarked on building our structure, I cruised Facebook marketplace and Craigslist for free materials. I picked up a lot of great lumber (and some that ended up in the firepit) and even some rolls of wire for free. We were on a very tight budget, though.

I had a budget, but I've blown it. Somewhere in this thread I'll tally my costs for posterity.

I wanted to get it built earlier than now, but I definitely wanted to finish by Christmas when the grandkids can see the chickens that will hopefully like this coop. That led me away from trying to do it with free wood.

 

[Machseven]

I built the door. I used a Kreg jig for joining the cross-pieces of the door. It works, but it's sagging just a bit and dragging on bottom.

I fussed a bit about how to do the hinges, ultimately lining up the edge of the round part with the between the door and the frame. It turned out pretty good I think.

 

[deidreg]

Color me VERY impressed! Thanks for sharing with us. Well-built coops are a big investment of time and treasure, but worth it for the health and safety of your flock, ease of care, and peace of mind. You're off to a fantastic start.

 

[JmeV]

I had a budget, but I've blown it. Somewhere in this thread I'll tally my costs for posterity.

I wanted to get it built earlier than now, but I definitely wanted to finish by Christmas when the grandkids can see the chickens that will hopefully like this coop. That led me away from trying to do it with free wood.

I get it. It took us over 6 weeks to do ours because we had to hunt for so much reclaimed and free stuff. Your project looks awesome, so you should be proud!

 

[aart]

and ultimately decided to finish with shingles that I had in the garage.

I hope it's an optical illusion and those shingles are on the low side of roof and not the high side.

 

[Machseven]

I hope it's an optical illusion and those shingles are on the low side of roof and not the high side.

nope, they're high.

On the top row of the shingles, I did put roof tar over the nails and the seams pretty liberally. I ran a seam of roof tar under the shingles on top of the drip angle.

 

[aart]

I'm well over six weeks. It will be four months if I get done by end of year.

Took me 6 months to build coop(in existing shed) and run,
had to clear/rearrange several sheds first,
after 6 months of research and planning.

 

[Machseven]

We want to try the deep litter system advocated by Carolina Coops. The coop will have a 12" deep litter bed, and we're going to add the industrial hemp sold by CC. A friend is hopefully going to bring me some leftover linoleum to line the bottom and sides. These next few photos show the access to the coop. The lower door will only open when I'm changing litter, which hopefully won't be that often. The upper doors are when I need to get into the coop.

Doors open:

Doors closed:

I've got the upper part of the wall cut and painted, should get it on this weekend along with the nesting box. This is pretty much up to date. I should make some good progress this weekend.

 

[Machseven]

Chickens definitely. I will be adding holes across the tops for all-season ventilation and light.

Don't worry - this thing will be very breezy, with windows on two sides for now. I do want to add one to this side.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Continuing - the roof.

The plans really frustrated me here. I'm not a carpenter, and I didn't understand the plans for the roof. I understood making the frame, but the spacing pf the joists was tailored to the supporting frame, and I think it was intended that the joists would be screwed into the ends of the studs. You may have noticed I put a 2x4 on top of the frame. The plans didn't have a solid piece on top. Pieces were to be cut and screwed in between the roof frame and the studs. If that sounds confusing, it did to me too.

This video by Home Renovision made more sense to me. It's a shed roof on a slope, just like I was trying to do. I adapted this concept and followed it for the most part. I used hurricane strips to secure the frame to the top of the studs. Some videos out there will teach you how to cut birds'-eyes for the joists, which looked interesting and honestly not that hard, but this was simpler IMO. It's just a chicken coop!

I didn't take any pictures of the frame before I started adding plywood. I recruited some help to nail in the plywood. Notice I used 16" spacing for the joists, different than the studs. This was to help keep the plywood edges on seams.

View attachment 2436352
I used the rolling roof material recommended in the video. I also got a starter strip. I put the drip-guard around the perimeter. I was never quite sure if I should have put the drip-guard over the roofing on top side, ultimately I did it first.

So here is the good news. By framing the roof as you did, 2x4 on edge, 16" on center, you've created a large, easily screened eave which can be used for venting if you should ever wall the whole run as an even larger coop. You have 7 sq ft effective venting from the eaves alone, if I calculated the length of the building correctly. Also, you can walk on it, unlike things framed 24" on center, which can get a bit "spongy".

And there is a tremendous amount of dispute on drip guard placement. I put min over. So top to bottom its Guard, Shingle, Felt, Side Guard. and your side shingles should overhang the structure slightly. Side Guards go over the bottom Guard of course.