Opinions on this coop?

[U_Stormcrow]

I saw the outbuilding, its got as lot of promise. How are you on local predators? Willingness to potentially lose some of the flock to predation? Budget?

Goats don't need much, its something I've been researching for a while.

If you can convert the outbuilding to a coop, fence the property in a way that keeps the chickens in and the ground-based critters out (not sure how much property you need to enclose), and use the existing outbuilding to provide one side to your goat pen - so you need two corner posts, a basic roof structure, and perhaps low walls on two sides to block drafts - you can let your birds free range and eat bugs all day long, while still ensuring they have a safe space, not under goat feet, to nest at night and lay their eggs.

That's my plan, mostly - only the coop is attached tot he back of the barn, and the fenced goat pen is being built around the chicken run - so any predator which gets past the electric fence, and the fields, must still get past the goats (and their fence) then the run (and its fence) before it gets the chickens.

Of course, that does nothing for the hawks. But nothing is perfect.

and on that happy note, I need to go play with the chainsaw. Have already spent WAY too many hours online today.

 

[aart]

Aframes......not great.
Hard to protect from weather and have good ventilation.
Shed is probably a much better option.

 

[3KillerBs]

I have shed envy! The one we had on this property that we thought we could convert turned out to be so badly-built and so damaged that we had to destroy it and could only salvage limited materials.

If you post more photos, inside and out, and give us the dimensions we can help you figure out how to convert it -- especially how to add ventilation and attach a run.

 

[Ann Perkhens]

Okay. Maybe too many pictures, lol, but pictures! It is probably 100 ft from the house at least so I’m not sure about running electric out there. I’m not great with American standard system but my guess is 6 ft wide, 12 ft long and 8 ft to the roof. Roof is metal...small vents on each side. Not sure what other info would be helpful.

 

[aart]

And little goats can be fantastic jumpers or climbers... well, any goat can....

So good fencing is extremely important.

Little Squeezy Sneakers!
If a fence won't hold water, it won't hold a Nigerian Dwarf goat

 

[aart]

The goats would eat the chicken feed, and no, that wouldn't be good.

Building and 'runs' would need to be split with sturdy fence to keep goats from gorging on chicken feed(it can kill them).

 

[countryladyNH]

Okay. Maybe too many pictures, lol, but pictures! It is probably 100 ft from the house at least so I’m not sure about running electric out there. I’m not great with American standard system but my guess is 6 ft wide, 12 ft long and 8 ft to the roof. Roof is metal...small vents on each side. Not sure what other info would be helpful. View attachment 2491836View attachment 2491837View attachment 2491838View attachment 2491839View attachment 2491840View attachment 2491841View attachment 2491842View attachment 2491843

Wow! This would be great! Wish we had had something this good existing for a coop when we got our hens.
We would cover the roof rafters with ply. for a ceiling. (MUCH easier to keep clean.) Scrub down everything, all walls, etc., and PAINT THE ENTIRE INTERIOR WITH SCRUBBABLE SEMI GLOSS PAINT. (We did ours in a sunny yellow). This made it much easier to scrub off poop etc. I guarantee if you don't paint you will have lots of dried poop and stuff over time that will only stick to bare wood and smell and be impossible to get off.)
Cut out and frame for windows/door/ chicken door. We did this ourselves, never having done it before and installed nice shed windows we got new for a song on Ebay, and it worked out great and was not hard! I even built batten doors from scratch myself and hubby and I hung them. They were not hard!
We would also buy remnant of sheet vinyl and cover the floor with it. This will make your life so much easier and you will be SO glad you did it. We had no trouble finding some at a flooring store for a really low price! (Most places usually have partial rolls of their not-the-most-popular sellers for a give away price.)
Build in some perches using a 2 by 4, flat side up (It gives hens room to roost on and they like it better than a skinny branch, etc.) We made 2 nest boxes with slanted tops and installed on one wall. I made a 'poop tray' from a leftover foot wide board and installed under the perch. It is removable, and I covered it with lefover sheet vinyl. We clean it every single AM and it's so easy! MAKE SURE TO PAINT EVERYTHING---NEST BOXES, PERCH, WALLS, WINDOW AND DOOR TRIM, CEILINGS...Adapting this shed will still cost less than buying a really nice, big new one, and you will have a super coop!
You said you are getting chickens first, so I would do this. Don't worry about the goats until the time comes to add them to your menagerie. You don't know what your circumstances will be then...One thing at a time.
For a run, we have extended a run and attached to existing. We never had any experience doing this but we did not have the money to hire someone and we did some research and did it. We framed the run with 3 x 3s and used 1/2 inch hardware cloth on the entire thing, including door, and some buried a foot down all around. We used corrugated clear plastic sheet for roof (slanted). On Some of the run we did the roof of plywood, and we shingled that outside, connecting it to the plastic roof. We used leftover cedar shingles we had. (Looks amazing!) This also gives some sun and some shade. (On the inside of the run, where it has the plywood ceiling, I painted it sky blue semi gloss and hand painted clouds on it, lol!)
Believe me, we had no experience, no help, not a lot of $$, and all of our tools are old and lame, and the 2 of us managed to do a really great job! You can do it!

 

[jreardon1918]

The original poster mentioned a tractor. I have no experience with tractors. I will say our 4x8 raised coop "fits" our current flock of 6. We think 8 is a good fit for us. So a tractor with attached run would need to be pretty big for our requirements. YMMV

 

[jreardon1918]

I was thinking you could extend the roof on the right to make a nice enclosed run. Add windows under that roof. That is going to workout just wonderfully.

 

[Sally PB]

The pictures included with those A-frame coops show a LOT of chickens crammed in them! I like your shed much better. Please post more pictures of it: all sides, and from the inside too. Dimensions, descriptions of materials and floor help as well. In case you didn't know... @aart is very good at looking at a shed and visualizing it being a coop.