My first coop (not done yet, but habitable) - looking for weak spots

[DaveD]

Folks, Here are pictures of my coop, at the moment. I am trying to cover all my bases, so I will tell you what is still on the "to do" list and if I miss anything, please let me know.

Thank you
David

I am still missing the outside walls, which will be 1x something tongue-n-groove, screwed in - I'm not a fan of nails
In this picture, you can see where the 3 nest boxes will go and above that I have boarded over where a window will be - gotta pull it out of my basement wall, first. The 1x4 along the ground isn't complete yet, due to not being ready to finish - it is pressure treated, as are the 4x4s posts. All other wood is not pressure treated.

here is the people door into the run. I will be putting an inner frame (out of 2x2s) for it to be closed up against:

I have a temp piece of wood up to slide the latch into, it will be a 1x4 with thescrews going through and into the post. Do I need a padlock or will these d-rings be sufficient?

I buried hardware cloth about 1' down, where possible (wasn't possible everywhere) and am in the process of putting a skirt around the whole thing out 18":

The roof over the run - still working on it. do I need to be concerned about the spaces in the waves between the roof and the support? I made the supports out of 2x4 from high to low, 16" on center, with horizontal bracing 24" on center and about 30+ screws into each panel (mfr recommended max of 36" support for this product with 8 screws per panel)

gable vents, covered with hardware cloth:

soffits covered with hardware cloth:

hardware cloth over the insides of the windows:

I put fiber panel board over the floor (water proof) :

I put vinyl baseboard around the bottom edge for washing out the floor, with a slide out section across the door for sweeping/washing out:

I haven't made the ramp into the run, yet. But I plan on installing a slide-up door, which I will leave open all spring/summer/fall and only close at night, when it's winter. My reasoning is that with the windows covered with hardware cloth and a people door into the house, is the run really any less safe being covered in hardware cloth and with a door? Or am I being not too bright about this?
I will possibly add a pop door from the run into the outside world for the times that I want my ladies to have freedom, so they have a "safe haven" to get to if they are scared. I might put a plastic flap over it for a visual barrier, when it's open.

 

[kfchickenlady]

Very nice! I see you have HW cloth over your soffits, is that to keep predators out? Might be a good idea for me...

 

[ElioraImmanuel]

That coop looks like Fort Knox to me!

 

[ElioraImmanuel]

Ooops, Double Post!

 

[Happy Chooks]

Quote:
I think so too.

I love the shape of the run! It all looks very nice!

 

[Keri78]

Are you serious????

I think you're just showing off This "coop" is like "Chicken Utopia"!!!

Way to go...all of us non-handy people are drooling right now!

 

[gryeyes]

Even with the necessity of turning my head sideways, I can see you did a GREAT job! (Pleased to see you protected the soffits, too, as I did with mine. That's about all I can say that resembles my far less impressive coop!)


GREAT JOB!!! I have coop envy.

 

[smarsh]

other than it being on it's side, it looks most excellent. I have to improve mine now.

 

[Dogfish]

That coop is going to slide down that sidehill eventually. Nice job getting it to stick to a 90 degree slope.

Looks pretty darned good.

The only thing I would have done differently would be to give the end overhang a bit of framing support. You should at least trim out the underside with a 2x4, and then add some facia. That will add some stability to the roof, because if you don't do that, the roof plywood will deform over time. Be careful when to shingle it. Approach that end from a ladder, or from the center of the roof.

 

[patandchickens]

The coop in general looks great!

A couple suggestions (the first one is IMPORTANT):

1) Your plastic run roof is installed incorrectly. You have very-excessive unsupported overhang both on the side edges and the bottom edge. Wind will tend to rip this apart. You NEED TO fix this. With your slightly unconventional roof structure I am not sure whether it'd be easier to cobble together a way of sistering in little extensions to the existing roof lumber (remember that the overhang supports still need to be quite firm and rigid), or whether it mightn't be simpler to just remove all the plastic roofing and install correct-length purlins over them. You need to have no more than 1/2" unsupported plastic overhanging along the sides of the roof, and no more than 1-1.5" overhanging unsupported at the bottom. Seriously.

If you take the roof off, you might consider putting some 2x4 wire on underneath it if you plan on leaving the coop popdoor open at night during parts of the year -- although I have not (yet) read of anyone having predators go thru plastic roofing panels, they are so easily cut by scissors (and so brittle in the cold) that I have a hard time envisioning them as genuinely raccoonproof.

2) make sure the edges of the apron are well pinned down and/or hidden under wieghts or soil, just so's not to give predators any ideas of how to defeat it

3) how is the door hardware (hinges and latches) attached? It needs to be either screwed into at LEAST 2" of wood (preferably more), or better yet bolted all the way through at least 2" of wood. The screws they sell with those type hinges and latches are frequently short and your wood looks not overly thick, so I am concerned about 6the possibility of a predator just wrenching the whole thing apart?

Good luck, have fun, great job!

,

Pat

Good luck, have fun,

Pat