Making one section of shed into a coop--pointers?

[deepbluesea]

Hello! So, I'm going to turn one section of my shed into a roomy new coop for my girls. It's a separate area from the main room, and has a roof, one solid wall and a back wall that's got ~1' gap at the bottom.

I will need to cut in windows/ventilation and I'm contemplating having the front of it mostly open and mostly hardware cloth. I'm going to make the run along the fence out of cattle panels, I think.

Take a look and see what you think. I'll take all the advice I can get--never built anything like this before.

 

[deepbluesea]

Forgot to say--7'W 12'L 6' high at doorway, higher inside.
There are three shelves and a loft. Dirt floor. Please excuse the mess in the yard.

 

[aart]

How's the drainage off the roof and the surrounding area?

Mesh front would be good for ventilation in your climate,
might want to extend roof over 6' or so of run to shield open front against rain infiltration.

How much space between coop and fence?
You'll need room to put down and anti dig apron.
Good examples of apron installation, tho I'd not recommend 1/2" HC...go with 14ga 1x2 or 1x1, will hold up much longer and is easier to lay flat.
http://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1110498/wire-around-coop#post_17093528
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/new-coop-project.1169916/page-2#post-18481208

Just some first thoughts.

 

[deepbluesea]

I was hoping you would answer me, aart--you always have excellent suggestions to other people. Thanks!

Good to know about the 14ga 1x1. My current coop has a HC apron and it FINALLY laid flat once grass grew through it to hold it down.

The fence is leaning, but about a foot away. I'm going to have a tricky time setting up the run because of it. Drainage is ok where the coop will be, but it gets soggy during storms in the area in front. That said, I've had a berry trellis there for ten years and the 4x4s are still in good shape.

Just got the Sheds and Garages book by Sunset. Pretty sure I'm not going to pull off anything that fancy.

 

[lazy gardener]

Sweet! Lovely kayak. One of my favorite places to be is in my kayak, especially when the mist is rising off the lake in the morning.

Does the fence wrap around the long side and the back of the building? How many birds are you hoping to house? I'm assuming the fence runs parallel to the long wall? Are you planning to cut in a egg nest access door? I like aart's idea about putting a roof extension over at least part of the run. If drainage is an issue, you might want to install a gutter system along with a drainage ditch to keep the water away from the coop/run. Your skirt will be the most important safety feature. I also suggest that you put one floor level vent, and put some high level vents, aiming for 8 - 16 s.f. of ventilation. (Your windows count as part of that total. If drainage is not an issue, and you put in a rat proof skirt, a soil floor would be great for DLM. You could coat existing framing and siding with black jack to water proof them. Make sure the shed is structurally sound before putting a lot of effort into the re-do! Looks like a fun project.

 

[deepbluesea]

Hi LG! I was typing while you were typing. The book you recommended came yesterday--eek! It's inspired me to paint my shed, at least.

The man I bought my house from those many years ago was a roofer and contractor, so the shed is wicked solid. This is the only part of the shed with a dirt floor.

Floor level vent--I didn't think of that. Thanks!

Drainage will be my key issue, I think, for the run if not the coop. Definitely going to work on DLM.

I've got eight girls now and I'm getting five day-old chicks and August. Planning to do MHP in there so I'm going to section a bit of it off.

In my kayak is one of my favorite places to be, as well.

 

[kmalone95]

We are still in progress of a shed to coop conversion. We havent started our run yet but our babies are only 6 weeks old still. Hard to tell in the picture but the roof does come out a couple of inches and it is slanted to run off to the left away from the opened side.