Lean to Coop conversion designing help

[RR1011]

I saw JackE's coop last night and read through a whole lot of open air coop threads. His coop is beautiful! Im thinking we could just HC the south side, frame it, add a door (like aart orig. suggested). Move the south wall to the north side. Reading through Woods book, the Tolman house plan would compare more to mine and the smallest was 8 ft x 14 ft. That lean to measures 9.5 ft x14 ft.

I have a 20"x9' window that I want to put on the open 14' side. The lean to is pretty dark. Then put the run on that side.

I read a lot of opinions that dont think the open air would work in a northern climate without a wind barrier on opened south side during the winter. Tolman said his open airs were fine in his Mass. winters without barriers, but that makes me uneasy. Our winter last year was so harsh and long. What do you think, aart?

 

[aart]

If you have a box, open on only one side - no other cracks or crevices, wind won't blow into it because of the pressure created by the closed back of the box. The wind might fill the box with air but then because it can't blow through it, no more blows in. It's hard to explain, not sure if that makes sense.

I've heard a couple people tell about their 'run-ins' out in the horse pasture, open sided boxes for shelter, and how the snow does not blow more than a few inches into to the run-ins because of the same concept.

I believe the Woods was developed in Maine way back in the day...like the 1930's? Nasty weather there in looong winters.

You could make all the windows operable and change what was open and closed depending on the weather. You won't really know what kind of air movement your coop will have until you built it and stand in there during a big blow.

Just some babbling thought.

 

[RR1011]

Thanks so much for all the help, aart! Your analogy makes sense. I did like the hinged at the top windows. I think Im going to try the open air out, do some more reading & planning.

 

[aart]

Take your time to think it all out, better to rework thing in your mind and on paper than once it started being built.

That old barn looks pretty nice, what's the story there?

 

[RR1011]

Yes, definitely have time to think and read more.

The barn is original, probably 100 yrs old. As you can see, its needs restoration or torn down. The 2nd owners owned sheep & did 4h. They lived here I believe from 59-02. We didnt know how old our house was (public records building burned down). We took out some old wall paper in the livingroom and found the (who I think was the first owners) signature with the date of 1915 so I assume the barn is atleast that old. We only have 1.25 acres so I dont know that we need a barn? I do love it and its still standing. Its full of old junk (and our basement). It is fun to find old treasures. I dont know, maybe we'll do 4h sheep or goats some day. For now we're leaving it alone.

 

[aart]

If the framework is structurally sound, make the roof tight and keep that puppy.....you always need another building.
Heck I'd put the coop in there and tear down the leanto.

 

[Free Feather]

You could have a massive coop if you used that barn. Stalls for segregation for breeding, storage space, tons of room...Trade me?

 

[RR1011]

The structure looks good and the barns roof is newer, but the siding is rotted, falling off, & drafty. We dont have the money to fix up the barn yet sadly. We've been remodeling indoors. Im a DIY'er but I think the barns siding might be out of my league.

A massive coop! My husband would kill me. He's already mad at me for getting 9 chicks when I originally said 4....hehehehhe. He's not thrilled about the chickens. I think he'll end up loving them.

 

[Michael Apple]

That coop has lots of potential. The other posters here made good points about ventilation and such. Good luck with it. It should be an enjoyable task to work with what you have in such a good location. I built on a large coop room to the outside of my barn and built my other coop from scratch. You'll appreciate it as it progresses. I sure did. Now, if only I stopped being a caveman and ran a few more electrical circuits and conduit, it would be appreciated even more.

 

[bigmrg74]

The structure looks good and the barns roof is newer, but the siding is rotted, falling off, & drafty. We dont have the money to fix up the barn yet sadly. We've been remodeling indoors. Im a DIY'er but I think the barns siding might be out of my league.

A massive coop! My husband would kill me. He's already mad at me for getting 9 chicks when I originally said 4....hehehehhe. He's not thrilled about the chickens. I think he'll end up loving them.

Yeah, I'm going to guess that the barn is all timber?? I would mostly just worry about keeping the roof on it and check the bones of it. Make sure none of the old timbers are sagging, cracking, or coming out of joint. Worst comes to worse you could always just tack on some cheap drop cloth plastic on the sides of it.

You might also want to poke around online a bit. there are a few old historic barn preservation groups out there. Odds are there should be someone near you that could at least give you an inspection for what all of the old timbers in it and what would need fixing right away, and might be an extra labor source for when you do go through and reside the barn.