Ok, so we just had a contractor finish up building a deck for our home and we decided right underneath would be the perfect spot for a deck, coop, and run. We're unoriginal, so it's just called the Coop Deck unless you guys can think of some cute and clever name for it. But that's not what I really need help with. We need to finish doing some minor adjustments to it this weekend, and we need some suggestions for a few things. So, here is the setup! Upstairs for the humans/dog, and downstairs for the chickies and duckies. For reference, we're located in the Pacific Northwest, near Seattle. We have a very temperate climate but it is quite damp. This is a suburban home in a suburban neighborhood. Our predators are raccoons, coyotes, transients, and birds of prey. The entire backyard is enclosed by a 6' fence. The coop and run is 26 x 10 x 6 all together. Entrance door under the stairs. This is the inside looking out to the run. There is a door there. Clearly we need to cover those slats by the stairs and over the door with hardwire cloth. No problem there, I was thinking we could use that as ventilation. Not sure if it's too much though. The electrical conduit in the center there can't be moved, so we'll figure something out to protect it. Maybe make that the feeding/watering station. The run. This is the side of the coop. It's made of fence section. Do we need to worry about those gaps? Ok, this is where we really need help. This is the roof...which is also the underside of our deck. As you can see, there are wide gaps in the deck to allow water to drain through. Since it's been raining the past few days, you can see the support beams there are wet. I need some ideas on how to keep the interior of this coop dry. Also, the coop needs ventilation. Are the slats back there enough? Do they need to be covered? Please feel free to make any suggestions. The chickies like it very much and can't wait to move in!
This is a tough one for me. I like chickens, but not enough so as to have them live under me. I hope it works for you and your birds. The ventilation holes you query about just need hardware cloth on them, they are not too much. With the gaps in the deck board spacing, you should not have stale coop air, the top is open. But in being open it will become quite damp down there, a lot of decks don't support grass under them due to poor sun angle, hence being damp and not able to dry out. Birds need to be in a draft free, dry place. Dark, dank, damp places are not for healthy birds. To stop the water/rain from getting in, you will most likely have to put a sloping tin roof under the deck or on top of the coop as you prefer. Then you will need a lot more ventilation than I see. It is going to be dark under there, are you planning on windows or how to get some light into this room? As a perhaps temporary stopgap method, you could put heavy clear plastic under the deck, you will still need a method to run the water off. This sorta of looks like one of those unsolvable puzzles, a true paradox, when you fix one thing, you might break another. I suppose it can be done, I won't say it can not be. I don't know of others who have done this with success. I have seen it tried a time or two but never have I seen one come back on BYC and say they made it work with satisfaction. Bird waste, be it feed and or the other, when exposed to damp conditions make for a nasty smelling place. I am supposing you are going to clean it daily or at the very least often. The litter for the coop is to be the deep litter method, or shavings, or sand? I might be tempted to take the lumber used and put it toward a free standing coop. It may save you a lot of irritation down the road. But your management style is just that, yours and it only need to work for you. I am unsure rather I have helped or not, I can only comment on things I have either seen or done, how different setups have worked for me. Best to your and your new coop & birds, RJ
Corrugated plastic roof sheeting should do the trick. Attach tapered PT furring strips to the underside of the joists and fasten to that. You dont need to be completely watertight. You could also use a series of washers, Increasing the number down slope to space and pitch the roofing off joists. The snow load shouldnt be significgant but ice build up could. Also check local building supply center for products specifically designed to go under decks but these can get pricey