My Coop..built by a pro carpenter!

[Katanahamon]

Thought I’d post my coop now that I have my new iPad up and running. When I decided to get chickens, I shopped on Thumbtack site, found a local professional carpenter who was looking to do an interesting side job. I was so lucky..he was a super guy, I helped where I could, he was very fast and we used a basic design from Cleancoops dot com, their Shiloh design, a 10 by 6 floorplan with nest boxes on the exterior wall. We changed a few things, he simplified the roof, and pitch, eliminating truss building, which was super lucky because my local ordinances said coops couldn’t be taller than eight feet, this brought the roofline to exactly eight feet..lucky! The only negatives turned out to be the windows purchased don’t open fully, only half the window opens, and the laying box lids are way too heavy, so,I sealed them off with glue and caulk as I decided to clean in there every day anyway. We expanded the run to fit the site to be as large as possible without digging up a new apple and walnut tree. I also had electricity run to it, it’s very cold and very hot, I used two large sweeter heaters at five to six weeks to acclimate the chicks to the big coop, and have a portable swamp cooler to cool the building off as it has been up to 106F here. I installed an auto door as well..I cut the main ppl door and installed hardware cloth for a half screen door to increase summer ventilation..

It‘s double walled, insulated..

edit..the heater on the wall I moved to the lower north wall, the narrow side, I haven’t used it yet..I used the infrared sweeter heaters though, they were fantastic. Lately it’s all been about keeping them cool! If you like the exterior paint colors, you can find them in the Sherwin Williams home ideas section..I have lots more photos, think I ran into a limit though..!

 

[BlueBaby]

It look's good so far. I like having the padlock on the door, and have one on mine also.

 

[Tonyroo]

Nice looking shed style coop.

 

[Katanahamon]

It look's good so far. I like having the padlock on the door, and have one on mine also.

Thanks, yes, I changed it to an even more secure one. I also locked my gate, and my wood fence has no gate. I couldn’t bear to allow a bird to be stolen, at least this way I’ve done all I can do short of security cameras!

 

[Katanahamon]

Nice looking shed style coop.

Cleancoops dot com is local to me in Salt Lake, they have three designs, this was the largest. My reasoning was that a future homeowner could convert it to storage, a small studio, etc instead of just a smaller chicken coop only type design they would just want to tear down..

(plus..more chickens..!)

 

[saysfaa]

I like the dutch door. I wanted them but the builder said it would make the doors too heavy with the style we gave.

 

[Katanahamon]

I like the dutch door. I wanted them but the builder said it would make the doors too heavy with the style we gave.

I just cut what was there and installed hinges..clearly you can tell I did a crummy job of cutting it! It’s functional though..any way you can just cut a hole and hinge it?

 

[MissE]

Where is your ventilation? It's more important to properly ventilate your coop than it is to heat it, even in very cold areas like mine.

The structure itself is very attractive.

 

[saysfaa]

Probably not because it is board and batten, the cross pieces and diagonals do more than if it were made of plywood. I'm making a second wall inside out of screen and wire fencing that will let me leave the entire main door open. That will do most of the function side of it.

But the dutch doors are cool! We had them in one of our big barns when I was growing up

 

[Katanahamon]

Where is your ventilation? It's more important to properly ventilate your coop than it is to heat it, even in very cold areas like mine.

The structure itself is very attractive.

There are two vents at the north south roof, three windows, a half screen door and the chicken door. I’ll do a test this winter, if it needs any additional, I’ll install some sort of small automatic venting fan..