Help me change this into a coop

[wingman2008]

ok i have to get in on this...

1. on the enclosed back wall i would add storm door for you to get inside
2. on same wall at top cut a vent out like a 16 height by 24" long and hinge bottom so you can close the opening back (using piece you cut out) with hinges on bottom and wire on out side to keep chickens from flying out when open
3 on same wall install nesting boxes you can get eggs with out going inside
4. make the chicken run on the open side
5. use existing bricks to fill all the holes at bottom (concrete them as needed)
just my 2 cents

good luck

 

[Trefoil]

That ought to make a great coop. Without knowing the dimensions I would put your access door in the front and also put the run to the front so you don't have to cut into the sides/back. If you think you may have to heat it for them, I would use a heat lamp in the back part and have roosts under it. Use roosts that you can move to make cleaning easy. Because it gets so cold there, I would use the 4" side of a 2 x 4 for roosts, so they can cover their feet when they roost. For summer, the easiest thing would be to place it under trees for shade, but failing that you could paint the top with bright reflective paint. If you bury wire or galvanized panels 12" all around the outside of the coop & run, you won't have to worry about digging predators. Good luck and enjoy..

 

[dmclalin]

It looks pretty heavy. If you could jack it up so you could provide some sort of a critter-proof barrier and increase the height so you can comfortably walk into the coop would be one approach. By all means add plenty of vents. If you finish off the front to include an all weather screen/storm door this could provide more ways of climate control. Also a window and vent in the back wall or another door. I think you won't have a s much trouble keeping the coop comfortable in the winter, but it the coop is in direct sun in the summer you could use one of those shade screens over the entire coop. This is a very unusual design, but that should be the feature! Make it functional before any cosmetics.

 

[wolftracks]

Man I come up with ideas and by the time I get back to this thread, I'm too exhausted to type.

BUT! The hay idea is one of the first I was going to mention. Adds a lot of warmth to the simplest of shelters, like open-air coops, so would work well in your case.

Remember that if you add heat and them lose power for some reason, it can be very hard or dangerous for the birds if they aren't aclimated.

OK time for bed.All I can come up with right now.

 

[Th0mmyV]

What about setting it up on a slighter higher concrete slab? Maybe with the structure some inches in the concrete.
Then making a frontwall, some feet wider than the structure, with the door and (ventilation)windows.
Drill a hole on the back and connect a exhaust pipe for ventilation.
Then covering the hole structure with min 5 inches of ground and put grass on it

So you would have good insulation, more run space (also above) and no painting ever to do on the outside

 

[Eznet2u]

It was a Bomb Shelter. It looks like it was never "Dug In".











Just 4 Chickens...That's funny.

 

[joan1708]

Maybe adding a copula at the top would take care of your ventilation issues, but it would have to blend with the structure. maybe made out of sheet metal and look "retro". A traditional wood structure wouldn't do, IMO. I don't think you should paint it, either. Black hardware might look cool (gate latches, hinges and such). The structure has a lot of cool potential, as long as it doesn't become a "hot box" in the summer.

 

[fiddleblue]

It's a curious structure but am not sure it would be more work just building a coop from the ground up rather than try to adapt your metal quonset hut to become a coop. I think you'll need to do a bit of work on the structure you have to make it work as a coop...it's do-able, but think what you'll have as a result. A coop that looks pretty much like the picture you have now...but with some holes in it...

First you'll need to make a floor, so as some have mentioned predators can't get in. What I recommend, since you say the structure isn't level, is jacking up one side at a time and digging underneath each wall to either set the whole hut a bit into the ground (say, 4 to 6 inches) to prevent animals digging under, or maybe do something like put hardware cloth under each wall to prevent digging in. Then, get the whole structure level.
Then, you'll need to cut windows or vent holes. Cutting into thick metal walls isn't fun. Cutting into thick CORRUGATED metal walls is even less fun, and can become seriously annoying. You can easily injure yourself on the metal edges of whatever parts you cut. You might cut vent holes in the top, so heat could escape in the summer: you could also later put a fan in there to help air escape out the top in summer.
You'll need to have a door on the front, which you could make of wood and screw it on with hinges. Inside you just need roosts and next boxes. You could screw the wood for the roosts to the metal walls.

And when you finish all that you'll still have a coop that looks like a nuclear bomb shelter.

I suggest you start working on that metal and see how it feels. If you don't like cutting holes in thick corrugated metal maybe you'll want to use this quonset hut just for a toolshed and build a coop from scratch: which would allow you to have a more attractive coop that looks more like a cute lil' house. I think if it were me, that's what I would do.

Deborah

 

[joan1708]

If it is a bomb shelter and intended to be in the ground, then maybe you could pile soil on it to make a hill over it, and plant grass and wild flowers on it. That would keep it cooler, and take care of the open bottom edges. You could cover the dirt with chicken wire to help hold it in place. You could still have a cupola sticking out at the top of it. You'd have to water it a lot in the summer. But I think, that would look fantastic. It's not to close to other buildings is it?

 

[ll]

I do agree with the above member, fiddleblue, regarding tough cutting/sharp edges.

You need the right tool for the job... and to attach some sort of framing around the door/window cutouts for safety.
I know this from experience, we cut apart our metal shed to make a coop for our birds.
We bought a special tool for the job - a jigsaw.

My DH framed the whole interior of our metal structure and we went from there.
Probably not something you would want to do with a dome shape.
But I have a suggestion for the sharp edges for example a window:
Slice hose and slide it over the window edges

Also would have to agree that it may be easier to start a coop from scratch. You can make a great coop that can sit inside the structure protected from winter, and then be able to push it out on unbearably hot days/nights if the ventilation turns out to be not quite right. Then while having a coop inside the structure (it needs a name! Do you call it anything special?) you can also use it for storage.

I really am excited to see what ends up happening. Just don't get the birds until you're done!
(Everyone wishes they got their birds first...
though it's a nice push to complete the project, it can become stressful in different ways when you already have the birds and no coop to put them in.)