How would YOU fix up this coop?

[SparkMonkey]

This is the chicken coop that came with the house we bought last year. It's fairly large, about 7 1/2' square and very tall--maybe 9' to the peak of the roof? We didn't measure that, but the door opening is 6 1/2' tall, and there's enough head room that we're considering building a small loft for feed/bedding storage. Anyway, as you can see, the coop is in rough shape. This is the south face of the building.




Here's a closer view of the inside. That shelf/"nest area" is the only raised surface in the structure, and it extends the length of both of those sides. There are no designated areas for roosting or nesting, and the shelf is constructed in such a way that it's impossible to take apart for thorough cleaning. The door and that window flap are the only openings--when it's shut up against the elements, there's no natural light except the small amount that comes in under the eaves.




I don't know what that pipe is, coming out of the floor--it looks like a capped-off line of some sort and a grounding rod? I have no idea, do you? The coop is wired for electricity, but it's newer wiring, and thankfully it appears to be in fine shape other than some cobwebs to be cleaned up, so no updates to worry about there. Anyway, that stuff could be an obstacle for putting things along that wall.




So. What we know we need to do:

• New roof. The shingles were badly applied, and as you can see, we lost a lot of them over the course of the long, brutal winter we had. The sub-roof appears to be in good shape, but it'll need a new surface of some kind (I'd rather go with something that stands up to wind a little better--we have no windbreak to the west and the wind just howls through here most of the year).
• Real windows. I'm going to replace that OSB flap with a sash window (either a bought one or a plexi one we frame ourselves), hinged at the top to prop open. I also want to cut a window in the west wall. I don't plan on putting the hens under lights in the winter, and there will be some days they can't be let out into the yard, so I want to allow as much natural light as possible. Also, that chicken wire will be replaced with sturdier hardware cloth.
• The door needs to be properly framed and stiffened. It's just a sheet of 1/2" ply. I think a simple 1x4 framing will be sufficient. Also we'll attach the hinges with proper lags or bolts, rather than the un-washered wood screws that keep popping through the hinge holes. And they won't be so overly-long that there are chicken skewers poking through the back.
  
• Proper nests.
• Proper roosts.
• Pavers around the doorway so it doesn't become a quagmire in the rain.

Predators are only a small concern. We have foxes, coyotes, and loose neighbor dogs, but the lower parts of the coop are definitely canine-proof (a bear might be able to tear through the plywood, but we don't have bears). I have never seen a raccoon on or near our property, but that doesn't mean they wouldn't venture over to visit a snack bar, so we'll be building tight enough to keep them out. Hawks are not plentiful, but they are around--hopefully the tree cover on our backyard and the presence of a rooster will help ward them away. We have tons of kestrels, but they are very small; I doubt they'd pose a threat to an adult chicken, so I'm not really worried about them (also they keep the rodents and starlings in check, so they are welcome neighbors).

Mostly what I can't decide on is how to lay out the interior. I plan on using the deep-litter method for bedding, and I like the idea of a "poop shelf" that I saw in another thread (which means I could situate the roosts above the nests, right?). We weren't planning on building a completely-enclosed run just yet; we'll also be fencing a large area around the house which will include the coop, so our chickens can run around the yard when we're home. Maybe next spring they'll get a predator-proof attached run that they have free access to, but with all our other projects I'm not sure that will be possible for this spring.

How would you go about the interior layout? And have I missed anything? It does get quite cold here; should we insulate the building (I'm aware that we need to keep in ventilated)? We plan on having 8-10 birds. Thanks, everyone!

 

[ydkjenn]

I'll be watching this thread because I'm trying to convert an old shed into a chicken coop and it has more height than floor space and I don't want waste the space. But I have no idea what to do with the height to maximize usage.

 

[Ridgerunner]

That has a lot of promise. It does need some work like the roof, but you can manage with that building.

The nests look almost exactly like Dad used except his had taller sides and front. In the 35 years or so that he used them, he never took them apart or really cleaned them. He didn’t have to, just occasionally added some hay for bedding, like every three or four years. You can tear those out if you want to replace them, but you really don’t have to unless you need to make room for roosts.

I built a permanent brooder under my roosts and use the top as a droppings board. You can certainly put a shelf to use as a droppings board over those nests and put the roost above that. I think that would work great.

The way that roof is sloping you will get soaked if you try to go in when it is raining. You might consider a gutter. That could help keep that area drier too. I think building it up with pavers, gravel, or something will be a good idea.

I don’t know where you would build the run eventually, but I’d put a pop door in now that will access that area. You could fix that human door so you can lock it open and they’ll use that, but that might let a lot of rain blow in. That’s the advantage of a pop door. It lets less weather in. In any case fix it so you can lock the doors open as well as closed. You don’t want a door slamming shut and locking them out of the coop and nests. You especially don’t want the wind slamming them shut when a chicken is standing in the way.

I have no idea by what you mean by “quite cold”. Chickens can handle really cold temperatures quite well. I’ve seen them sleep outside in trees in a protected valley in zero degrees Fahrenheit weather. Heat is usually more of a threat. Heat kills a lot more chickens than cold. I seriously doubt you need to insulate that, especially against cold, but I don’t know where you are. In some climates insulation against heat may be more valuable.

 

[JackE]

It sounds like you are on the right track, with the improvements you want to do. I would install the roosts,with poop board, to the right of the entrance door, against the wall. I would install the nestboxes (4) under the poop board. I would check out that wiring job. The coop was not built by a pro. So the electric might be suspect. Better to check it out now, and avoid a possible barbecue later. I would not mess with any insulation, it is not needed as the chickens already come with perfect insulation of their own, they don't need any help from us. Along with a new proper people door, I would build a hardware clothed screen door, for the summer months. My coop has one, I just hook the solid door open, and use the screen door. It's a good thing to get as much fresh air as you can in the coop. And if it doesn't already have them, I would add some vents up by the roof peak, both sides.

 

[thomasboyle]

I think you're off to a good start with the shed! I like lots of windows in my coop. It help regulate temperature in summer by opening them more or less, and in the winter, southern facing windows provide natural heat for the birds. I would consider adding at least a small fenced in run, as you don't want to keep the birds cooped up for too long in bad weather, and the coop will stay much cleaner and dryer if you can keep their food and water outside the coop, but away from other critters. I would also recommend you upgrade the wire on the windows and doors to 1/2" hardware wire. Chicken wire will not keep predators out.

Post pics of your progress!

 

[SparkMonkey]

Ridgerunner, a gutter is an excellent idea, and one I hadn't thought about at all. "Quite cold" in a normal winter here (central Indiana) means there's about a month where the daytime highs are a little above freezing, and nighttime lows get down into the teens. This past winter, as probably everyone knows, was worse--we didn't get above 20 for weeks and weeks, and there were multiple days that never got above 0, with windchills way down around -35, but that's fairly rare for us. So it sounds like the birds will be fine... I'll just have to figure out how to keep their water unfrozen.

JackE, you're not kidding the coop was not built by a pro. Not one of the studs is evenly-spaced, the fasteners are a mish-mash of drywall and wood screws, lags, and enormous hammered-over nails, and the "door" is just hinges and a latch slapped on a sheet of 1/2" ply. I'm pretty confident about the wiring, though. The building was constructed 2 owners ago, and the wiring was done by the previous owner, who was a lineman and (hopefully) should have known what he was doing. My FIL is helping us with the carpentry, and he's done quite a few home construction projects, so he should be able to check out the wiring and make sure it's all good to go. I think there's enough ventilation under the roof; the eaves are not at all sealed, and there's about a 6" gap between the underside of the roof and the top of the walls. We'll cover that with hardware cloth (it's easily big enough for a raccoon or cat), but otherwise it'll be left open.

 

[SparkMonkey]

Thomasboyle, we'll definitely be tearing out that chicken wire and putting something more substantial up! We might be able to build a small run off the front; I definitely hope we can. What would be a useful size for 10 or fewer chickens?

 

[1muttsfan]

I actually quite like your building, and it has generous openings for light and air.

1. Change to hardware cloth from chicken wire on all openings. The windows could be covered with clear plastic panels in the winter; i would leave them uncovered in the summer for lots of ventilation.

2. Pull those boxes out, they look difficult to clean and not very convenient height-wise. If your coop is around 7" square you could house up to 14 birds comfortably, you really only need 3-4 boxes for that many birds.

3. Dogs, foxes and coyotes are all serious predators, even during the day (especially so for dogs). And where you have those, you will also likely have weasels, raccoons and other wildlife. So far there has not been much to attract them, but everyone loves a free chicken dinner. Hawks travel widely and during migration in the spring and fall are much more likely to be an issue. Everyone has their own tolerance level for bird loss, but you might want to consider a predator-proof pen for times when predator pressure is higher.

 

[The Lazy L]

... "Quite cold" in a normal winter here (central Indiana) means there's about a month where the daytime highs are a little above freezing, and nighttime lows get down into the teens. This past winter, as probably everyone knows, was worse--we didn't get above 20 for weeks and weeks, and there were multiple days that never got above 0, with windchills way down around -35, but that's fairly rare for us. So it sounds like the birds will be fine...

Northern Indiana here with 8 + 1 BOs. They will be 2 years old this coming May
No heat or insulation in the coop, south facing windows were tilted in and the Chicken door left open all winter long.
Rooster lost a bit of his comb.
When the day highs remained in the single digits they stopped laying.
Now they are laying 4 or 5 eggs a day (one day it was seven!).

 

[thomasboyle]

The rule of thumb for chickens in a run is 10 feet per bird, so 10 chickens would need a 10x10 run. But even if you don't have that much space, any outdoor run is better than nothing!