I want to build a coop, but I've never built anything. Need advice!

[21hens-incharge]

Alright folks, these birds are almost 5 months old and will be approaching lay soon. I'm thinking about building a small nesting box up in the coop on the same level as the roosting bar. It's about to rain but I'll get pics later to give a sense of what I mean.

Nests need to be lower than the roost so they don't think it's a good place to sleep.

 

[topochico225]

Nests need to be lower than the roost so they don't think it's a good place to sleep.

I'm not sure how it would fit if I did that, they'd just poop on top of it. Hm. Maybe if I turned the coop on its side, screwed a panel in through the bottom, then put a panel on top of that for a roof so they wouldn't poop into it from the roost.

Alternatively, I could just put a plastic bin in the bottom and stick some hay and fake eggs in it.

 

[electrycmonk]

Honestly, you're probably right. The extent to which I own power tools ends at a power drill, staple gun, and hacksaw. I'm trying to find a pre-fab coop, but everything is so flimsy/expensive/wooden that it's hard to find one worth purchasing.

Well, debatably I could likely build a rather solid “coastal style” coop/run with just those “tools” with the obvious addition of a few measuring tools.
A) tape measure 20-30’ size
B) an “L or T square” that has one side 48” long (I prefer “Tee” now a days)
C) sharply (all 3 sizes), chalk sticks, real pencils and pens
D) plan on buying 2-3 of the $29 boxes of “head head screws” & possible one box of roofing screws

the hardware cloth is mandatory for the bottom 2-3 feet of wall space if finances are very tight and getting a big roll of the avian netting like I did off Amazon for the upper 2/3’s of the airspace to be “net covered.”

the wisdom said about looking at the contestants on previous coop builds is also quite wise. There is the thread/forum for coop building advice as well…

as for free materials- how close is your TSC? Ours let’s me freely get all the pallets they are done with. This includes the metal ones as well!

a spool of bailing wire will also help you with temporary repairs as well as “holding things together while you “screw them together.” Etc.

As for detailed pictures of what I mean for use of pallets. Some of them are the sides of the lawnmower pallets and they are pre build for ideal interior wall separations or door frames.

in my build threads you should be able to they
M in the different areas of the run and the latest mod inside the coop.

relax, breathe…. You got this.

Like others have said, find a foundational wall to build off of for securing it to the ground for dealing with winds.

Oooooh final thought for now:
Use a satellite view of your property and surrounding area to reference the “usual wind direction.” Then keep that front and center to also minimize the chance of the “coop” becoming a parachute and being blown away in major gusts. In plane speak, what hard wall you do build, have it face the prevailing winds….

 

[electrycmonk]

I'm not sure how it would fit if I did that, they'd just poop on top of it. Hm. Maybe if I turned the coop on its side, screwed a panel in through the bottom, then put a panel on top of that for a roof so they wouldn't poop into it from the roost.

Alternatively, I could just put a plastic bin in the bottom and stick some hay and fake eggs in it.

Stop. Relax. Think stacking milk crates.

looking at how the little roosting box is built, I would suggest you clone it. Then once it’s built, the next leveling up in your skill set is cutting a long rectangular sheet of plywood into a pair of identical triangles. Once cut, you could flip then around and they would be twins… this would be the Side walls from the “upstairs roosting box that slip down to the top of the run section.” Then you make a nice ladder ramp for then to gently walk up to the roost and do a sheet across the top…..

this is just a general idea. Later this week I could drop up a real picture for ya.

 

[electrycmonk]

BTW the gentle slope ramp needs to stay less than 45 degrees. Otherwise it’s to narrow of a space to let them feel comfy walking up a very narrow ramp.

case in point… the one I built for the main coop roosting ramp is “almost” too steep when the litter method gets “deep enough” then it’s got a better slope to it. The silkies ramps are closer to 30-35 degrees.. exact is not the issue here. Never will be. Comfy is.

 

[electrycmonk]

Oops I see you already read before my edit to add….

 

[electrycmonk]

As for coastal style I’m thinking of the ideas posted by someone else that had 5 or was it 6 great designs you could copy the goal and not the detailed design.

metaphor = make your own t-shirt not their “izod” collared short sleeve shirt…

 

[sdm111]

Whatever you do consider 2x4 welded wire with hardware cloth about a foot or so from the ground up for predators it'll keep costs lower than the entire thing hardware cloth

 

[sdm111]

Better yet an electric fence wire would be a second defense and it'll still be less expensive

 

[Sally PB]

In case nobody mentioned it... Zip ties. Half of the stuff in my run is held together with zip ties. My run is built on a metal frame and all of the fencing is zip tied on.

I've also used zip ties as "a pair of hands" to hold something in the right place while I do something else with the other end.