Have the chickens, now I need a coop. Please help!!!

[drangle]

I am using cheap metal sheds for my coops. If you go that route I would refine t you set them on top of rail road ties to give the shed more height so the ventilation is above their heads and to keep their bedding above the door tracks. 2 stacked on top of each other is better than just a single layer imo. (Make sure to bolt them together or drill holes through both and stake them to the ground with rebar so they don’t slip apart.

I would also recommend setting 4x4 in the corners of the shed on on the outside and running 2x4 boards vertically along the corners of the inside. Drilll holes and all thread the outside 4x4 to the 2x4 on the inside together with nuts and large washers.
This will make your shed wind proof and also let you build your roosting bars/nesting boxes off of the inner 2x4s.

You will need to cut a 1 foot tall x however long the length of your shed walls are, hole near the top on 3 sides and back it with hardware cloth. This will give you a good amount of ventilation. Trim the cuts out and make a cover a little larger than the size of the hole out of exterior grad Plywood or boards. And attach it to the top of the vent hole with hinges. This will let you cover the hole fully or prop them less than half open and act as an awning for wet weather.


Depending on the direction of your worst wind and the area you have to work with you can decide what side the sliding doors should face. If possible I would use a prop door into the run and use the sliding doors for people access outside the run.

 

[Vadard]

I have 8 baby chicks, maybe a week or two old (got them from Rural King right after birth). I had a pre-fab coop with run picked out, and was planning on adding another big run to give me 80 ft of ground space, but reading on here realized that there wouldn't be enough space in the coop area for 8 chickens to roost. I am needing suggestions on what kind of coop to build/modify/cobble together. I'm a totally new chicken owner, and sort of good with building things, but it usually takes much more time than I have available while managing small children, hence the attempt to purchase a pre-fab coop. The rejected coop: https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/precision-xl-superior-construction-annex-coop-37077d

Would you recommend I try to convert a metal shed? Maybe this one?

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Arrow-N...yQqEnNl8mMhL1QkcTcxoCL_0QAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

I am in north Alabama, where it is super humid almost all year, maybe we get a few low humidity months in the spring and fall, land of tornadoes, maybe 3 days of snow a year, but usually a month or two of below freezing temperatures. We barely have enough cold time to grow apples. I have about 1/2 acre semi-wooded fenced back yard (chain link), with a stream about 20 feet outside my fence line and vertically down 6 ft. Almost all the trees are 40-50 yr old sweet gum, with one black walnut right next to where I plan to put the coop and run. Issues with poison ivy, issues with ticks and fleas, red hawks, coyotes, foxes, raccoons, neighborhood cats, opossum, water snakes (water moccasin, cottonmounth, rattlers), king snakes, squirrels, song birds, mosquitoes. The proposed coop area gets moderate to heavy shade most of the year (when the leaves are on the trees), and on the worst months the yard is very hot and humid, and the air doesn't move much. We have mainly weeds, violets, and rye grass in the yard at the moment, due to the shade, and lots of tree roots. Heavy clay soil that dries like concrete, and some type of sad grass that looks sorta like Bermuda. Termites are bad here, and there's lots of rotting wood on the other side of my fence and stumps on my property.

For the coop I'm worried about ventilation, poop smell, and keeping the birds safe from predators, as well as having enough space for them and for me to clean it out. There will probably be a number of days they have to stay in their coop instead of their run, for various reasons (weather, etc), and I expect I won't be around during the day most days to check on them when I let them out - they'll get a morning and an evening check. I plan to possibly free range them with supervision, but may not if the run is large enough due to the constant presence of hawks.

The area I have to build the coop and run in is 24' x 48', but I I'd like to enclose 80-100 square feet, and locate a number of pallet hot compost piles nearby. I was hoping to do the deep bedding method, but not sure how successful that would be at keeping smell down in humid alabama.

For the run, should I attempt to build something with 2"x4" and 1/2" hardware cloth, or purchase one of these the chicken runs on Amazon, etc. and cover it with hardware cloth?

I have access to free pallets, but I haven't found anything else I can repurpose, so would have to buy new. Untreated wood, unsealed wood, and unpainted wood is a very bad idea here, so I'd have to do something to every wood surface, if I go that direction.

Any and all suggestions would be welcome.

Hoop coops are hard to beat in terms of meeting chickens’ basic needs while being secure and relatively human friendly — especially in warm climates. Google for a thousand different variations. Cheap, fast, easy to build, and good enough for most applications.

 

[EliteTempleton]

How would I attach the hardware cloth to the metal? For both the apron and the ventilation I plan to put on the coop sides and eves? All I can think of is metal zip ties, and that could get pricey cause I'd need a lot of them. I was thinking of pine shavings bedding.

Self tapping screws with washers for attachment.
When I had a stationary coop and run I put pavers (I got more basic cheaper ones at the store but this is the roughly the size I had) all the way around the outside, I was in the city so I mostly just had racoons to worry about. But the digging animals go up to the fence and start digging down, they don't naturally realize they can start further back and go under it. Had it that way for years without issue.
Pine shavings is probably best but this video did a good job of describing pro's and con's of the typical options depending on your drainage and such.

 

[MadGardener]

Leveling just under the blocks at the corners is what I'd do.

Another option to attach the hardware cloth would be to attach 2x4 horizontally between studs inside the coop. It would give your screws (with washers) something substantial to bite into.

 

[EliteTempleton]

Guess I need to plant another pine tree.

That reminds me of a water management thing I did. Plant a water hungry tree/bush in your standing water area so it will help drink up your problem. I'm nowhere near your climate so I don't have suggestions but around here weeping willows are used for this. I found a bush at the hardware store that grows some 8' tall with orange flowers and the tag said it required lots of water, also it was 30% off so that was the one!

 

[3KillerBs]

Build for the most miserable weather in July and August. Heat kills more chickens then cold.

YES!

Though I must say that metal is not necessarily hot if proper airflow is provided for. Metal animal housing is very common here in the Steamy Southeast because it's resistant to both rot and termites.

Airflow is key:

 

[EliteTempleton]

Can you post a link to an example of a hoop coop? I'm looking at the metal frame only options, but I'd have to cover all of them with hardware cloth, which is discouraging.

Here's a pig version but you get the idea. You can do tin for the coop and I guess you might have to hardware cloth the run. I think you said you wanted a covered run so you could do a tin roof and hardware cloth from the edge down?
I used plastic lattice on my last coop I think I had just regular chicken wire under that except some hardware cloth along the bottom.

 

[Percheron chick]

Can you post a link to an example of a hoop coop? I'm looking at the metal frame only options, but I'd have to cover all of them with hardware cloth, which is discouraging.

You do but the hardware cloth is pretty simple and fast. Cover the top with metal for rain protection, shade and secure the top of the hardware cloth. The hard part is framing the ends and making the door. You can cheat and buy an extra cattle panel and cut it down for the back end.

 

[Justso]

You do but the hardware cloth is pretty simple and fast. Cover the top with metal for rain protection, shade and secure the top of the hardware cloth. The hard part is framing the ends and making the door. You can cheat and buy an extra cattle panel and cut it down for the back end.

I agree a hoop coop would work well, especially in the South. I think there may be a tendency to over protect chickens, they can bear colder weather for a little while without a building. I'm in a colder climate and and I keep the run door open in their house year-round.
Another advantage is you can move hoop coop easier, allowing you to rotate to new areas and fresh soil.

 

[LizThumm]

I have 8 baby chicks, maybe a week or two old (got them from Rural King right after birth). I had a pre-fab coop with run picked out, and was planning on adding another big run to give me 80 ft of ground space, but reading on here realized that there wouldn't be enough space in the coop area for 8 chickens to roost. I am needing suggestions on what kind of coop to build/modify/cobble together. I'm a totally new chicken owner, and sort of good with building things, but it usually takes much more time than I have available while managing small children, hence the attempt to purchase a pre-fab coop. The rejected coop: https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/precision-xl-superior-construction-annex-coop-37077d

Would you recommend I try to convert a metal shed? Maybe this one?

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Arrow-N...yQqEnNl8mMhL1QkcTcxoCL_0QAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

I am in north Alabama, where it is super humid almost all year, maybe we get a few low humidity months in the spring and fall, land of tornadoes, maybe 3 days of snow a year, but usually a month or two of below freezing temperatures. We barely have enough cold time to grow apples. I have about 1/2 acre semi-wooded fenced back yard (chain link), with a stream about 20 feet outside my fence line and vertically down 6 ft. Almost all the trees are 40-50 yr old sweet gum, with one black walnut right next to where I plan to put the coop and run. Issues with poison ivy, issues with ticks and fleas, red hawks, coyotes, foxes, raccoons, neighborhood cats, opossum, water snakes (water moccasin, cottonmounth, rattlers), king snakes, squirrels, song birds, mosquitoes. The proposed coop area gets moderate to heavy shade most of the year (when the leaves are on the trees), and on the worst months the yard is very hot and humid, and the air doesn't move much. We have mainly weeds, violets, and rye grass in the yard at the moment, due to the shade, and lots of tree roots. Heavy clay soil that dries like concrete, and some type of sad grass that looks sorta like Bermuda. Termites are bad here, and there's lots of rotting wood on the other side of my fence and stumps on my property.

For the coop I'm worried about ventilation, poop smell, and keeping the birds safe from predators, as well as having enough space for them and for me to clean it out. There will probably be a number of days they have to stay in their coop instead of their run, for various reasons (weather, etc), and I expect I won't be around during the day most days to check on them when I let them out - they'll get a morning and an evening check. I plan to possibly free range them with supervision, but may not if the run is large enough due to the constant presence of hawks.

The area I have to build the coop and run in is 24' x 48', but I I'd like to enclose 80-100 square feet, and locate a number of pallet hot compost piles nearby. I was hoping to do the deep bedding method, but not sure how successful that would be at keeping smell down in humid alabama.

For the run, should I attempt to build something with 2"x4" and 1/2" hardware cloth, or purchase one of these the chicken runs on Amazon, etc. and cover it with hardware cloth?

I have access to free pallets, but I haven't found anything else I can repurpose, so would have to buy new. Untreated wood, unsealed wood, and unpainted wood is a very bad idea here, so I'd have to do something to every wood surface, if I go that direction.

Any and all suggestions would be welcome.

I just got 6 to add to the 2 I had. So we ended up building this shed out of scrap wood the roof is a hard plastic the door is an old one we had in garage. The only money we really spent was on the floor of the shed the poles for the run and chicken wire.