Modified Hoop Coop Design Development

[aart]

@Victoria-nola I hope you're just too busy to post....
.......but hopefully not too busy to work on the high hoop and are taking pics along the way to update here later.

 

[Victoria-nola]

@Victoria-nola I hope you're just too busy to post....
.......but hopefully not too busy to work on the high hoop and are taking pics along the way to update here later.

Hi! Glad to hear from you. Have been frantic, still doing my freelance editorial work at home but also getting set, and starting yesterday, the buildout of the interior of the cabin shell we bought for my mother to live in, here on our property. Husb Bill has been working on it but ran out of hardware cloth just for the front door, and now he's needed for the cabin work (he's a saint). I will get pictures of the HC cladding (and the bent metal plates holding the cross-ties on the panels) before we put on the tarp. Will get photos. Thanks for checking in!

 

[RonC]

Nice looking hoop coop. Glad you got the height you needed. I was going to suggest using hog panel for the stem walls as they are 34 inches tall instead of 50 and realized you had already finished your project. Might help someone else though. I was researching how wide to make the base and aart's post pretty much told me what I wanted to know about how tall it would turn out. I'm short too but hate bumping my head.

 

[Victoria-nola]

Nice looking hoop coop. Glad you got the height you needed. I was going to suggest using hog panel for the stem walls as they are 34 inches tall instead of 50 and realized you had already finished your project. Might help someone else though. I was researching how wide to make the base and aart's post pretty much told me what I wanted to know about how tall it would turn out. I'm short too but hate bumping my head.

Hi, and thanks. Yes, hog panels would be an option for the stem walls/base if you didn't need quite so much height.We wanted all the height we could get, though, because we are trying to house guinea fowl who are notorious for hating their coops. So by addressing through design some of the issues, such as that they prefer being high in trees, we are hoping they will be more willing to love their coop. We'll be posting more pictures soon with the clear tarp on it.

If you make the base 7' wide on a standard hoop coop, you get a 6' high roof-- I think that would be plenty for chickens. We made our high-hoop-coop 8 feet wide and have a 10+ foot high roof.

 

[Victoria-nola]

Just a couple more pictures. We are moving the guineas in tomorrow, but I don't have any photos of the finished coop yet. Will get some. Meanwhile:

Was asked to show a close up of what we used to connect the 2x4 cross-ties to the cattle panel:


Then here are a couple of the coop with the hardware cloth laid on. The door has rabbit-type fence (1"x2" holes) under the hardware cloth, we felt the cattle panel would be too heavy:





More soon!

 

[aart]

SWEET!!
Man, that is TOO cool!

Thanks for the framing detail.
How about close up of the edge between side and end....how did that go?
How was putting HC over Tposts? Looks pretty smooth.
Did you use 48" HC?

Do you think they'll have any trouble jumping/flying down from that high?
What will you use for bedding?

Sorry for all the Q's.
Can't wait to see the residents in there!

 

[Victoria-nola]

SWEET!!
Man, that is TOO cool!

Thanks for the framing detail.
How about close up of the edge between side and end....how did that go?
How was putting HC over Tposts? Looks pretty smooth.
Did you use 48" HC?

Do you think they'll have any trouble jumping/flying down from that high?
What will you use for bedding?

Sorry for all the Q's.
Can't wait to see the residents in there!

Thank you! I'm just so happy with it. Everyone who has gone inside has commented that it would make a great living space for humans. You could probably use the HC as a basis for stucco, not sure though, don't know enough about it. You could definitely put fiberglass screen around it and have a summer house.

I will get close up of edges. It was no problem at the corners. We initially thought we would put t-posts at the corners, but the whole thing was so rigid already that we forewent. So the cattle panel is zip-tied together. Getting the HC to bend around the edge a curved arch takes time and futzing (i.e. the HC on end and wrapping up over the arch).
Because of the Tposts, the HC was a bit wavery going on, but once the zipties are added, it smoothes out and the eye doesn't complain, not really.

Yes, 48" HC on the floor and over the arches, wound up overlapping it about an inch, Bill just felt it needed the overlap, possibly because of the t-post wavering. We wound up using some scraps on the back end but it's ok because you REALLY have to look to see that was done.

We used a product called LifeTime Wood Treatment on the upper lumber, which is not treated (only the bottom perimeter is treated). It's a totally nontoxic powder you mix in water, doesn't hurt anything or anyone, and does something to the wood so that it seals it and makes it not rot. It's pretty expensive but it worked great on our previous coop. And, if you wet the lumber after the treatment application has dried, it speeds up the silvering effect that the treatment initiates. So that's why the lumber is looking silvery already. We knew it would get rained on and in fact had to scramble to find an afternoon to do it when it wasn't going to rain.

I don't think they will have any trouble jumping/flying up or down, but I guess we'll find out! Guineas are very big on very high roosting, so they have to be able. We have put roosts in that interconnect with the cross-ties so they have something of a ladder to go up. And lower and higher roosts. The roosts are done very ad hoc with natural branches, bale-twine, and zip-ties, so those may be changing.

We have partially filled the back half of the floor with sod that was taken from the veggie garden and dumped in the field previously, then the pile of sod became a hazard for mowing the field (duh!), so it was convenient to move that sod into the coop. The back half of the floor sinks 12" or more due to slope of land. The sod with grass etc will entertain the guineas at least for a while during the confinement period to ensure they are connected with the coop as home before letting them start to free range during the day. The front half will be filled with pine shavings using the deep litter method, and eventually the back half will be as well. I have been extremely happy with the deep litter method and wouldn't choose to do it any other way. In our climate, where winter temps fluctuate and rarely freeze, I have found that all I have to do is stir the litter periodically and add some new shavings from time to time. I changed out the shavings once in 6 years in our old place, and that was because I thought I ought to-- later I realized actually nope, didn't need to. The composting works so well because it's year round. Where we are now has a bit colder winter temps, so I will be learning how that goes.

I'm really just so thrilled with how this turned out and look forward to sending more pictures very soon.

--V

 

[aart]

Great!

Yeah, I used an 1-1.5 inch over lap on HC on top/sides.....and I think you saw how I bent it 0.5" over the 'corners', from end first and then side.

"Because of the Tposts, the HC was a bit wavery going on, but once the zipties are added, it smoothes out and the eye doesn't complain, not really."
Good description....I thought that might really cause some grief, glad to see it didn't, not really-haha!

 

[Victoria-nola]

Do you think they'll have any trouble jumping/flying down from that high?
What will you use for bedding?

Sorry for all the Q's.
Can't wait to see the residents in there!

Love the Q's!

The residents being guinea fowl, it turns out they have absolutely no difficulty flying up and down and anywhere they want to be inside the coop. Tonight they are ALL roosted in lines across the first 3 cross-ties. I forgot my camera. But I'll get pics soon.

They were all over the coop today. Very happy.

--V

 

[aart]

Quote: Wasn't concerned so much about their ability to fly as for the coop/roosts having enough space for them to spread their wings to provide a soft landing, sorry didn't really word it clearly.
Looking forward to more pics.