My Coop is done....With PICS

[Relleoms]

Also, I failed to mention, if you have more than 2 bantam chickens, there is NO way your birds would be able to stay cooped up in the loft during the crappy winter weather we’re having, let alone in actual winter. There were days my girls couldn’t come out for a week at a time, and my coop now is much larger & they still went crazy!

 

[Cloudlover]

Yeah I know That's sort of the problem, I don't have access or skills for power tools or a truck to haul lumber, haha. I priced out building a coop from scratch (with new materials because I didn't know how long it would take me to acquire scrap) and it was over $600 not including the labor I'd need to pay someone to actually build it. I still want to build my own after allowing time to gather stuff without paying a ton up front but with the weather we've been having there is no way it was going to happen in 6 weeks. The other frustrating part is is I don't even think I can buy a second hand or locally made pre-built coop because anything already constructed will be impossible to get into my totally fenced in back yard. Like I would need a crane to lift something over my 6ft wooden fence or I'd have to take the whole thing apart! Oy! Thanks for listening to my conundrum! I'm already got the thing in my basement so I'm just going to do the best I can with it and see what happens.

 

[Relleoms]

If you could find a sturdy shed, or even dog house, you could modify it pretty easily. Keep an eye on Craigslist or offer up. Good luck!!!

 

[Soon2BChixMom]

Well crap. I was planning on giving it a few coats of vinyl paint and caulking any obvious weak spots, plus mounting the whole thing on pressure treated 4x4s. I live in Chicago so there is plenty of everything weather wise. Where did yours leak- like the sides or roof?

Hi. I have this same coop. The op added a run extension as that isn't included. We made our own. I have had mine since the end of Oct. I think what has helped mine survive so far is that I used Thompson's water seal on it. We also used roofing caulk at the seams where the roof met the frame. In addition I added eye screws and carabiners to reinforce the locks. I have 4 full size chickens in it. Their food and water are outside the coop in the run. I bought a pvc chicken feeder so that it wouldn't take up as much space.
There are a few spots my coop leaks, but it depends on the direction of the wind and rain. It leaks inside the side door if the rain hits it just right. For the winter, I put plastic up around the portion under the coop for a wind break. I am leaving it to keep the area dry during times when it is raining. It also sits up off the ground on landscape pavers. Oh and we reinforced the hw cloth with more hw cloth. Anyway, just wanted to say, that if it is in an area sheltered and with the right care, it could last. We are in the middle of building a new coop with scraps around the farm. However, it is definitely a process especially if you don't know what you are doing. But, even with the mistakes we have made, the built coop is 400 times stronger than the prefab.
@Kuntry Klucker has a whole village of prefabs. She likes them well enough. Take a look at her article and profile.

 

[Cloudlover]

I think I saw some of your posts in another thread- so helpful! I'm going to do basically everything you said you did which will hopefully buy me time to build a better coop. I can't let chicken math win because I'm in a city lot so I've got to stay sane or else the entire lot is going to be a chicken yard, haha.

Which thompsons did you use? I was sort of dumbstruck by the options and grabbed a sealant but the can said it needed a special pre-wash and I wasn't sure how that was going to work- so maybe I grabbed the wrong thing. I am hopeless when it comes to anything construction related!

 

[Soon2BChixMom]

Mine was for decks as it was leftover. It had a stain in it, so it has a bit of color to it. Can you take a pic of what you have or tell me the exact title? I would just wipe down the wood if you are worried to remove dust. But, other than that, I used an old t-shirt torn up to wipe it on. It is messy, but much easier - so do it outside or on cardoard.

 

[Soon2BChixMom]

Did you buy the coop already? If not, there is another one that I would recommend as the roosts are higher and the run is walk in. It is producer's pride prairie ranch (I believe).

 

[Cloudlover]

That’s the one I wanted but they won’t deliver it and I have no way to get it (would need to rent a truck and drive to Indiana, lol). I’m planning on removing all but one of the nesting boxes in the one I’ve got and mounting the roosting bars higher and at different angles to maximize space. I might even take the nests out completely and bolt one or two on the outside of the coop area. I’m also waffling on just ordering the one that’s like the next size up (the green walk in) but I’m mostly nervous about the visual footprint of that thing in the yard. I’m literally in the city with neighbors right next door and I want to keep to coop as attractive and low profile as possible. I’m torn between adding a low extension to the run and securing everything so the chickens have basically 24/7 access to the run OR just running a chicken wire fence around the whole coop/run combo and letting them out into that “yard” during the day locking them back into the structure at night. I can’t let them free range in my yard because they would turn it into a mud pit in about an hour, haha.

I’m attaching pictures of the Thompson’s I bought and also the corner of the yard I’m planning to set everything up. There’s a lily bed there now under a giant mulberry tree but that tree basically shades most of the yard so those lilies don’t thrive anymore, so pulling them out is fine. Thank you so much for all the insight!

 

[Soon2BChixMom]

My run extension is made out of lattice and hardware cloth.
We open up the end door to the run and let them in there throughout the day when I am not out there. I have a rope tied to the extension door and hooked up with a carabiner for a type of pulley system to open and close.
I have an apron of hw cloth all around the main coop. In the evening, I close the run extension door. And, then once they roost, I close the sliding pop door. I just feel more secure for them that way. But, they would probably do fine with it open too. With winter winds and such, I know they wait for me to close the coop up to branch out a bit. Otherwise, they huddled in a corner until I closed it.

 

[Cloudlover]

I would feel MUCH better about having them fully "enclosed" (roof, sides, hardware cloth apron all around the full run) all day long, but if I don't do the full enchilada I could give them something a little bigger. Like a cross between a run and a free range situation. And then lock them up in the fortress at night.

My pics didn't attach to the last post so here is the water seal I grabbed and then the area in the yard where I'm thinking of putting them. The bricks around the sad lilies is where I'd just create the chicken yard. Let them pull the lilies up for me, lol. If there was an easy way to get those bushes up against the garage out of the way I'd put it alongside that, but those would be a pain to get out (I can't just yank them out with a pickup, haha). So I'm thinking of orienting the coop parallel to the wood fence with the run and "yard" in that lily bed area. We have neighbors on the other side of that fence so I'd have to tuck the chicken wire into the dirt to keep them from digging through. Hopefully that corner will serve as a bit of a wind block in the winter and the mulberry tree will give a ton of shade in the summer. That's the east side of my yard. I haven't measured that exact spot but it's probably about 15' by 5'.