Little Tykes Playhouse coop - ventilation question

[PeepsBMobbin]

So cool! I have the one with the pink door and the blue shutters. It is our "day coop" to get the 5 wk old chickies out of the brooder during the day. I haven't left them in it at night. Mine leaks right down the ridge where the roof joins. I decided not to use it for the big coop because I needed more room for the number of chickens I wanted. I NEVER thought about using two together! That is so creative. It looks like a little village.

 

[azmotogirl]

Travilah.... here are the other pictures I told you I would post..... hope they help!

 

[Judy]

Travilah, where are you? If you are concerned about summer heat, you may not really need insulation.

 

[Batty about Banties]

I am so jealous! I wanted to use a playhouse for my ducks/chicken brooder but ended up building something myself! These r super cute!

 

[Travilah]

Quote:
I am in Myersville, Maryland, so we get hot summers and cold winters.

But the location of coop will be in dappled shade, and a roof can be added to run over house to help shade if needed. The run is a dog chainlink kennel. I am also considering growing grape vines on kennel, over the top, which would add more summer shelter. The girls free range all day with plenty of area for summer shelter. The playhouse I got is one of the simplist designs. It has a halfdoor, two windows, and back wall is the chimney (no openings). I am always on the lookout for a "cooler" model, but it appears, around here anyway, folks on CL have greater pricetags (150 or more!!) on their little houses. I am shopping at a much lower range - got the one I have for $25.

I have 4 happy Golden Comets. hahaha - for now anyway!

AZ - what kind of screws/tacks did you use to secure hardward cloth in windows?

And thank you all for your ingenuity and willingness to share ideas.

 

[Luke13:34]

I have a Little Tikes Coop. I started out trying to put hardware cloth on the windows and stuff spray foam in the hollow area of the walls. Decided it just wasnt worth it. My coop is inside a Ft Knox-secured run, so I don't worry too much about predators.

Here's what I did do.


1. Put brick down for a "floor" to keep it from getting muddy in the rain.
2. Spray foam around the joints of the house and up under the eaves on the sides, but not the front and back eaves which were left open for ventilation.
3. Put silicone caulking across the top joint of the roof for weather-proofing.
4. Screwed a long board from side window to side window for the roost. It even sticks out of the window about a foot - the girls love to take turns sitting there during the day.
5. Put an old wooden box in for the nesting box. (they all share the one box and it just sits on the floor - not screwed in anywhere)
6. Found some spray paint meant for plastic the same color as the house to cover up the spray foam - this keeps them from pecking at it.
7. Put a piece of plywood at the back window that has no shutters.
8. For winter I screwed a piece of plexi over the front door windows and used duct tape to tape the shutters closed and keep out drafts.


I have Welsummers and Easter Eggers (cold hearty birds) and the six of them did just fine over the winter - even with three feet of snow on the ground. I did move them to the garage two nights when it went below 0, but I probably needn't have done so. For warmer months, I just keep the shutters open 24/7 unless it is raining, then I close them partially depending on the angle of the rain. Again...I feel I have a VERY secure run that this coop sits inside of.

 

[azmotogirl]

We used wide head (I think they may be called "pan head") screws. They were very short and self tapping. They worked great and kept us from having to use washers with the screws to hold the wire. If you explain to the hardware guys at Home Depot or Lowes what you are trying to do they can show you the correct screws to use.