Metal Sheds?

[Vamp-A-Billy Princess]

I have an old metal shed in my yard. Its probably my age...29ish. I need more coop space because I am about to get 50+ eggs in the mail. It is embedded in the dirt so I dont think I could raise it. Maybe I could wire the floor and do some reinforcement around the outside. The doo is a problem. It is off the trackas and gappy and wont shut very well. I guess I can figure out how to make a door. I want to build a new coop myself but I am very petite and not very strong so I dunno. My husband is going to add two more pens to my existing coop but that still wont be enough space. Glad to know my shed idea can work. Maybe I'll go start cleaning it out tonight.

 

[onecent]

yeah, the doors were gone on mine too!! the metal shed the neighbors gave me was very old also, so my brother in law put 2 make shift wooden doors on it, works so very well!!.. i also had a problem with someone going in my shed getting eggs! the person must not have known i had an "attack" rooster....lol they had rigged up a board to keep my roo from entering the shed, while they were getting my eggs!! so now i have to keep my shed locked too........

 

[Rhett&SarahsMom]

alright.. so it is up. I have put chicken wire on the ground and under the walls of the shed. I look like I was attacked by a cat from all the cuts I got from the wire

So the shed is 8x6. The run,which my husband wants to start/finish building this weekend will be 10 ft long x 4feet wide x 4 feet high.
I am thinking this will be big enough for the 4 girls(3 buff orps and 1 black cochin) and maybe another 2/3 Since I really want a Golden Sebright

And my hubby will want another "big egg" layer Will it be big enough to handle that many standards?

I will take pics tomorrow of the shed, the floor and the area where the run will be. And let ya all know how I plan on landscaping it etc to make it pretty. My mom wants me to paint a mural(farm scene) on it. We will see

 

[Vamp-A-Billy Princess]

Got mine all cleaned out today. Just need floors and a new door!

 

[muesky]

I have an 8x10' metal shed for my coop and plan to get another on to keep the turkeys in. Mine is off the ground with a cinderblock stemwall and wood platform (with about 10 coats of paint and a tarp over that which can be taken out and sprayed down, making cleaning easier. I personally recommend using metal and plastic materials because they are not affected by the poop the way wood is and can be easier to sanitize. I built a fully enclosed run on the northside (with a door built in for human access and to open for the chickens to go out to the yard). There is a tarp over the top so the birds can be outside even in the rain. My partner cut a hole so they can access the run which has a metal door I can close at night (this is good for extra security and to block out the breeze in the weather. The doors on the front is facing the house and I have put hot wire around the top of the fence around the chicken yard. There are also jingle bells wired to the top of the fence around the yard which are to alert our two Pyres in case something tries to go under or over. Nothing but a human can access the coop or run since I buried the fence about a foot and have bricks around the perimeter. We have alot of trees and the coop, the run and half the yard is shaded all day.
I know this sounds extreme but I lost 25 chickens and 5 turkeys in one night to raccoons and really do not want to experience that kind of heartbreak again.
In the summer we take off a panel on the south side of the coop and put up a panel of chicken wire with a fan to keep the coop from getting two hot. Last week we added an awning over the southside to keep the sun from shining directly into the coop and plan to put a mister up later this week or next. The birds seem to enjoy this alot and misters are cheep, I mean cheap.

The inside of the coop, I have 5 gallon buckets screwed together for nesting boxes, 55 gallon barrels cut in half with a front on it for my turkey mamas and some plastic stacking shelves. Everything can be taken out cleaned and sterilzied quickly and easily. Lets face it chickens and turkeys are not the cleanest animals in the world.

Once I get a chance I will post some pics of our set up.Well sorry this turned into a novelette, just I am pretty proud of it. Most of it I have done on my own. I even painted it to look like a red barn with a green roof and floor. Yes I am a bit obsessive compulsive.

 

[muesky]

Quote:
The nice thing about working with a metal shed is they are really not very heavy. Of course I can pick up over a hundred pounds which is not bad for a woman. I would recommend you get some kind of flooring in there. You could pour concrete inside and make the floor. This means that the shed will not be moved ever again.

 

[calee]

WHOA, muesky! Can you post pics? My DH is really worried about the predators around here & it sounds like your setup would be right up his alley.

edited to add: I told my DH about this, and he said he still thinks computerized machine guns nests controlled by motion sensors are the way to go.

 

[Rhett&SarahsMom]

Quote:
LOL! When I lived in NC we looked at a house in one neighborhood that was rural, but still close enough to base that there were a lot of Marine families. One neighbor not only had a HUGE privacy fence(Stockade fencing On top of a brick wall!) But he had also run what looked like constantine wire on the top of that! When we did a drive by later that weekend, to check the neighborhood out without a real estate agent telling us how great it was. We stopped and asked another neighbor about the house. She told us the house we were looking at at great. But most of the neighbors there were new, Hence the reason the guy had fortified his home. He was protecting his EGGS from the newbies!!!! I can only imagine what was over the other side of the fence! Landmines? Rifles sticking out the house windows. Needless to say we didnt move into that neighborhood!

 

[Vamp-A-Billy Princess]

I am totally putting out landmines and razor wire and wearing camo face paint to feed the chickens. Putting concrete might be cheaper than building up the floor. I'll ask my mom how much a little bag of concrete is. I'll go out there and smooth the dirt out today maybe. I have to put some new doors on it though.

 

[Davaroo]

No reason why you cant. With chickens you can do just about whatever you want - their needs are basic.
Lost of people have done it and more than a few chickens have adopted such sheds as "home."

They are nothing but cheap sheetmetal, though, so can do with some reinforcement and pred-proofing. I would also recommend you add as much venting as you can. I'd include extensive gable vents and/or side wall ventilation. The term "hot box" doesn't exist for nothing, after all.