I finally got the
from my husband to convert our yard barn into a chicken coop. It's a 12x20 gambrel roof from Menards. I originally had rabbits in it, but the rabbits are gone so it's now going to be my coop. My coop section with be half the buidling, or 8x12.
The barn already has electric, a kick butt agriculture exhaust fan, and glass board (I think that's what it's called) on the walls for easy cleanup. It's fully insulated. I plan to add a screen door to the front for more ventilation.
Here's a picture of the building: (exhaust fan is not in this older picture of the barn)
Here's a view from the deck of my house, looking down towards my yard barn and our horse shelter (we don't have horses, but we are getting goats and are also trying to get a new fence put up). The little building in front of the horse shelter is getting moved and will be my new banty coop. I love to sit on my deck and dream about what to do with my little "barnyard".
Back to the conversion:
Here's a view from the people door to the back of the shed. My mom and I are NOT carpenters but we're willing to give it a go, scratching our heads quite a bit. We rolled up the rollup door in the back (hubby said NO it cannot be dismantled) and are building a wall to enclose it. In this new "wall", we planned for a window, a pop door, and a clean out hatch.
Here's the wall put in place. I can see we probably should have added another support for under the window, but once we get the plywood put on it should be okay. Too hard to add it now.
Here's the window we bought (I splurged - it's a utility window from Menards and cost $69). I am now wondering if the silly chickens will try to sit on the window when I have it open. If so, I'll have to figure out a way to prevent that from happening.
Yet to do:
1) enclose the back wall with insulation and build the clean out door.
2) interior dividing wall with integrated nest box and feeder,
3) roosts with poop shelf
4) find some vinyl on sale for the floor.
5) build the run
That's as far as we got yesterday. If it would STOP RAINING we'd be farther along. Any suggestions are always welcome as I may not have thought of something.
The barn already has electric, a kick butt agriculture exhaust fan, and glass board (I think that's what it's called) on the walls for easy cleanup. It's fully insulated. I plan to add a screen door to the front for more ventilation.
Here's a picture of the building: (exhaust fan is not in this older picture of the barn)
Here's a view from the deck of my house, looking down towards my yard barn and our horse shelter (we don't have horses, but we are getting goats and are also trying to get a new fence put up). The little building in front of the horse shelter is getting moved and will be my new banty coop. I love to sit on my deck and dream about what to do with my little "barnyard".
Back to the conversion:
Here's a view from the people door to the back of the shed. My mom and I are NOT carpenters but we're willing to give it a go, scratching our heads quite a bit. We rolled up the rollup door in the back (hubby said NO it cannot be dismantled) and are building a wall to enclose it. In this new "wall", we planned for a window, a pop door, and a clean out hatch.
Here's the wall put in place. I can see we probably should have added another support for under the window, but once we get the plywood put on it should be okay. Too hard to add it now.
Here's the window we bought (I splurged - it's a utility window from Menards and cost $69). I am now wondering if the silly chickens will try to sit on the window when I have it open. If so, I'll have to figure out a way to prevent that from happening.
Yet to do:
1) enclose the back wall with insulation and build the clean out door.
2) interior dividing wall with integrated nest box and feeder,
3) roosts with poop shelf
4) find some vinyl on sale for the floor.
5) build the run
That's as far as we got yesterday. If it would STOP RAINING we'd be farther along. Any suggestions are always welcome as I may not have thought of something.
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