Key Design Pointers

[JerryR708]

Go with a walk in.
Run would be best on ground, but a roof there would be handy in winter.
Will pole barn have a floor?

Here's some design tips to consider:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/coop-stack-up-how-high-stuff-works-well.73427/

http://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1048597/ventilated-but-free-of-drafts

http://www.backyardchickens.com/a/how-much-room-do-chickens-need

Welcome to BYC!

This is just what my walk in coop needed! Everything right now is on the floor and much wasted space from the knees up. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Folly's place]

Local building codes are designed to keep the structure standing in the face of local conditions, like snow load. I look on them as minimum standards, and try to do better. Having anything fail, especially while I'm in it, has no appeal. And having it fall down on my critters isn't good either. And there's no way I'll be out there in a blizzard sweeping snow off the roof!
When a 30+ ft. mature spruce fell on my coop, it held up fine, with a few punctures in the roof only.
Mary

 

[Ted Brown]

Mary, all good points that I very much agree with.

I have read Wood's book several times. He built prototypes of his K-D (knock down) coop as part of his design process and from other reading I have done it was adapted and used successfully for decades starting in the early 1900s. Part of the design was simplicity and low cost, the goals did not translate into an unsafe structure as far as I can find.

I have a fair bit of experience building and renovating wood structures so am confident that I will know if a structure is unstable. I will be using 1" by 4" pine boards for the walls, this will produce a structure that has strength comparable or greater than modern 16" OC (on center) stick frame with 1/2" OSB (chip board) sheets. Also in many of the Woods design structures I have looked at on this and other forums folks use 24" OC that has less strength.

The image below shows the structure of the 4 wall sections of Woods original design, they seem to be well braced and therefore strong:

 

[Folly's place]

I don't know a lot about construction, so tend to overbuild everything!
Are you going to add plywood to the walls, or battens?
Mary

 

[Ted Brown]

The cracks need to be "sealed" so something is required. The original Woods coops appear to have used shakes on the outer walls to achieve air tightness.

I have not decided, will use either 1.5" battens or pine shakes although they will be 2nds usually sold for use as shims but the same 16" length as shakes (4" overlap). My miller makes both but the shim bundle of 25 sq ft. is $25 vs $50 for the better grade.

 

[Folly's place]

Also consider possible predator issues; more layers of wall makes for increased safety.
Mary

 

[Ted Brown]

One of the reasons to use shakes is that would allow me to wrap the pine boards with HC and then cover it completely.

Preds are 2nd on my design list (I am in a rural area so we have the gamut). I will use HC, for aprons, windows, etc. at a minimum. Still reading and scratching my head on this, 1/2" seems to be the preferred choice but I do see others using larger openings for aprons and runs. Seems mice can enter through the 1/2"?

 

[aart]

Seems mice can enter through the 1/2"?

Very small mice...most not so much.
1/2" is fine for most rodents.

 

[Folly's place]

Immature mice can get through 1/2" sometimes, although they can also get hung up in it, not good for them.
Mary