Help me design a coop! (includes pictures)

[owlett5]

Hey everyone!

I just moved into a new house and the yard came with this fantastic playhouse for kids, but to me it's prime chicken housing! Question is, how should I go about converting it? I want to do chickens in the top, and take the space in the bottom and turn it into a duck pen. I'm planning on free ranging most of the time, but winter will mean I need a covered run.

here's what the house looks like. It's about 5 foot long and 5.5 ft wide. The space under it is about 4.5 feet and the roof is 7 ft tall. I can stand in it easy.

inside has wood flooring. thinking about painting with sealer and placing stall mats on it to keep it dry.

directly behind this house is a slope with a marsh at the bottom. PERFECT for ducks right??

Inside shot. Window opens. The roof has ventilation between the walls. Nice and airy but not drafty!

 

[Chickenshoe]

I'd recommend you cut a section of wall out at floor level up about 15 inches, length determined by # of nesting boxes u have.. once its open place sheet of plywood to hang out about 20 inches. ie- take say 40 inch by 40 inch piece, screw it to floor rest hangs outside, that's base for your nesting boxes, build around it.. gives u access to eggs from outside house.. make roosts at 45 degree angle from wall at one end of house, cut a slot out for a poop tray, linoleum through out too.. easy clean up.... have fun

 

[owlett5]

That's a great idea. I am certainly going to build an external nest box, Maybe have three laying nests in it, maybe 4.

Anyone have any ideas how to integrate a duck pen underneath though? My main concern is that when we get snow, it's all going to slide off the metal roof of this thing and end up with 4 ft. high snow piles. So the run will likely be in the front, and that leaves the nest boxes on the back I would guess, unless I carve them out under the window on the front, and set it up on the little porch thing.