Our potential new coop, suggestions, and advice

[Diesel81]

So when my wife and I bought our house, this building was already here, and it obviously needs some TLC. We thought about repairing it, but thought it might be easier just to tear it down, and buy a new building. We have planned on getting chickens since our move, and finally have our chicks. Now we are trying to figure out the best coop for our chicks. My wife wants them to have lots of space, which comes with a price, even if you build it yourself. So the more I looked at the inside of this building, all the framing on the inside is fine, even some of the outside walls are ok, but most have rotted at the bottom(can be seen in the pics), and roof needs to be replaced. So my new plan is to turn this 10'x14'(I think that is right, I do need to remeasure it) into our coop. I actually have tons of post, some sheathing, 2x4's, 2x6's, and some other wood I can use. So before I start tearing into this beast, I would love to hear any advice, or suggestions the knowledgeable people on this site have. I've thought about doing it two ways, turning the whole thing into the coop, which would be huge, or turning half into the coop, and half into the run, which would new a little more tweaking on that half. Thanks in advance

 

[barred2rock]

How about tearing it down, salvaging what you can and using the salvaged materials & what you have on hand to build a smaller but more functional coop & run?

 

[fightingbunny]

Do you need any storage? If so, you could put a divider up and make half of it coop and half of it storage.

I think chickens need to get outside for fresh air, so keeping them just inside a shed seems not ideal, so I would add a run regardless.

 

[ChxLadyCass]

I think this building has so much potential! I think you should keep it and fix it up. The half storage/half coop idea is a great one. You could also have additional room if you decide you need a chicken jail, chicken hospital, broody cage, etc. Like I said, so much potential!

I would be thrilled to have bones like this. You could create a pop open door on the side and fence out a nice run for your chickens. Since you need to redo the roof anyway, you could put in a skylight! I am so envious as we have too much hail to ever put in a skylight without some costly materials. With the rotting bottom, you could potentially add some venting that opens and closes depending on the climate where you live.

Our coop is completely DIY and nothing fancy. I say you save the money and go with this gift! Good luck!

 

[RPClark]

I'm with the folks who would rehab the building.

If the framing is good (check the roof structure, too!), you'll save a LOT of work and dollars.

If it was me, I'd:

- Re-skin the whole thing. Moisture is wicking up the current siding. That tells me the entire panel is beyond it's service life.

- Re-roof, Replace any roof decking that is rotted and then standard roofing will put it right.

- Check flooring closely for rot. Replace portions as needed.

- Once the building is weather-tight again, I'd make the back half the coop portion. Front half would be storage for feed, bedding, etc. Whether or not the partition is solid or just fence is up to you. A real wall provides more options for hanging things on.

- Attach a fenced run outside with hatch access. Our run is partially covered, but we don't have any trees nearby to provide shade in the summer.

Good luck.

 

[sheetmetaltom]

great size building. i would replace roof and sheathing, tear off all the rotted siding and put on new. split the inside to a size you need for storage(front). add 2nd door in back for access to chickens and a pop door on one side for chickens to enter a secure run. good luck

 

[Mr Pink]

Great starting point and easy rehab .... Half coop / half storage looks like a gem to me !




I was given this old shed for free and My wife and I spent about a week turning into this

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[21hens-incharge]

Rehab that diamond in the rough!

You will need to add some more windows and ventilation too. I agree with all new siding. Having a portion to store feed and shavings is something I wish I had room for.

 

[Diesel81]

So think you guys/gals hit the nail on the head. We decided to put up a partition wall with a door, use the back as the coop, and the front for storage. The building was bigger than I thought, it's 10'x16', the walls are a little over 7'. So the coop part will be 8'x10' and the storage area would be the same. We are just going to build the run ourselves, and we are thinking about 8'x8'x4' run.

 

[Diesel81]

So I have some more pics that I took today, The wall framing, and rafters overall look pretty good. There might be a place or two on the rafters that needs some work, where the roof was leaking(last two pics), but overall pretty good. The floors are in decent shape, I would guess they were replaced at some point, but have had some water leak on them, so they aren't perfect, but good enough. I think the roofing is going to come off pretty easy, roof board is pretty soft. My two big concerns now, I want to move the building, because it's in a terrible spot. So I'm hoping once I demo a lot of it, that might be possible with just some manpower, will see. lol Second, if you look at that close up of the worst side(pic 3),looks like that board needs to be replaced. I got a shot of that wall from the inside too(pic 4). So it looks like the walls might have to temporally come down to fix that, but that actually might help with the moving it part. I'm guessing demo will begin on it this week, and I'll keep pics coming on progress. Thanks for the advice, and suggestions.